One cultural experience that stands out to me now that I am back in the USA is the prevalence of acknowledging country in relation to indigenous Australians. An acknowledgement of country essentially involves paying respect to the indigenous people who inhabited the land prior to colonization. These acknowledgments focus on the specific community that occupied the land prior to colonization, so an acknowledgment of country by the University of Newcastle would acknowledge the Awabakal Nation rather than all indigenous nations collectively. From what I saw during my time in Australia, the use and wording of acknowledgements of country is fairly universal across Australia. The wording involves acknowledging the specific indigenous community that traditionally owned the land as well as paying respect to that community’s past, present, and emerging elders.
I first saw an acknowledgment of country in emails from the University of Newcastle prior to leaving for Australia. Initially, I believed that this was something that only the university did. However, I soon learned that it was common across most Australian institutions and companies. Now that I am back in the USA, I think that these acknowledgements of country show that Australia is more connected with its indigenous people as opposed to the USA. Personally, I have no idea what native American nations inhabited the places where I have lived and worked, so the fact that Australian companies and people do know indicates a higher level of connection to Indigenous Australians. I believe that this higher level of connection is a good thing because it means that the Australian people and government would (in theory) be more in touch with the issues that their indigenous populations face, and thus they would be better able to work with indigenous people to solve those problems.
From what I saw, most Australian people are supportive of these acknowledgments of country. I never did ask any Australian people about the specific reasons why they are supportive of these acknowledgments of country, but if I had to guess, I would say it is because the Australian people generally feel bad about the way that Indigenous people were treated in Australia’s history. So, they feel that acknowledging country is the least that they could do to try to right wrongs. However, I did also see some “progressive criticisms” of acknowledgements of country in the Australian media. The people who agree with these criticisms state that acknowledgements of country do not go far enough to help indigenous people, they simply serve to make the Australian people feel less guilty about their colonial history.
I think that this exercise helps me think more critically about different cultures, especially within the USA itself. Even though Australian culture is not that different compared to American culture, the ability to analyze cultural experiences, such as acknowledgements of country is crucial for analyzing and understanding cultures that are more significantly different compared to American culture. So, I am ultimately glad I got the opportunity to study for a semester in Australia and experience its culture.