Voice and Representation

I always feel hesitant to give my opinion on what other cultures should be doing. I'm aware of my own privileged status as a white male, and tend to get irritated with others like me for speaking out on issues that are either none of their concern, or they can't possibly fully understand.

However, given that, I have some general thoughts on culture and the Arts and the merits of distinct voices being given an opportunity to tell their stories. Essentially, I see opportunities for everyone to benefit in a number of ways. The mainstream / dominant culture is broadened and benefits from seeing other perspectives, while the minority / indigenous culture is empowered and given a voice. There are also opportunities for collaboration - as was pointed out in the Raheja reading - a valuable process in terms of both strengthening relationships between the participants and also the results it can generate (Raheja 2011: 195). Collaboration is also a learning experience and has its own value to the individual as well.

Another perhaps overlooked aspect of the Arts is that given the general lack of funding, any program or endeavour that creates opportunities to work shouldn't be rejected out of hand, purely because it doesn't live up to an ideal of how we as the mainstream feel about how indigenous people should be represented / should represent themselves. Deborah Mailman's character in The Secret Life of Us for example, was a strong character that happened to be Aboriginal, yet was multi-faceted and had depth beyond that.

In my experience, indigenous and non-indigenous artists (both actors and musicians) tend to understand that to be paid to create is a privilege that doesn't extend to everyone that would like the opportunity. Individuals can always say no, but shouldn't necessarily be judged too harshly for opting for the money every now and then.





Raheja, M.H. 2010. Visual Sovereignty, Indigenous Revisions of Ethnography, and Atanarjuat  (The Fast Runner). In Reservation Reelism : Redfacing, Visual Sovereignty, and  Representations of Native Americans in Film. University of Nebraska Press. Ch. 5, Ebook.