“Why should i feel guilty?”: Reflections on the workings of guilt in white-aboriginal relations

Abstract

Statements by various public figures that White people ought not to feel guilty about Aboriginal dispossession, and although many Australians assert that they feel no guilt in the matter, this paper asserts that White attitudes to the Australian Aboriginal people are strongly influenced by guilt. The nature of a guilt that ostensibly does not and ought not exist is examined. Persecutory and depressive aspects of guilt are considered, and the history of a two-factor theory of guilt in the psychoanalytic literature is outlined. The workings of the two types of guilt are charted in the group dynamics of a psychology class studying Aboriginal issues.