#Changethedate: Advocacy as an on-line and decolonising occupation

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Advocacy promotes equity and social justice and, in Australia, this involves decolonising colonial hegemony and dominant practices. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people use the Change the Date campaign as one mechanism to raise awareness of ongoing inequities resulting from colonisation. Although the literature highlights Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s advocacy, it does not capture how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s advocacy operates within the context of ‘occupations.’ This research aimed to explore how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experience and express advocacy as an occupation, via an on-line platform.

Method: Indigenous Standpoint Theory and cultural interface provided a methodological framework, privileging Indigenous knowledge and culture and underpinning the decolonising documentary analysis. Data were collected from eight Facebook pages managed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and analysed using thematic analysis.

Results: Three themes describing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s experience and expressions of advocacy emerged. The first theme focused on the Australian context and identity, where racism was the common thread. The second theme related to the protective and risk factors of social and emotional well-being. Finally, the third theme related to advocacy as an occupation, highlighting how this occupation occurred via Facebook.

Conclusion: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continue to survive the harsh environments created by Australian contexts. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people's advocacy illustrated how decolonising occupations are essential to address systemic issues, and additionally provided an opportunity to participate in cultural occupations.

Introducción: Las actividades de incidencia fomentan la equidad y la justicia social. En Australia, esto implica impulsar la descolonización de la hegemonía colonial y las prácticas dominantes. Los aborígenes y los isleños del estrecho de Torres promueven una campaña llamada “Cambiar la fecha”, un mecanismo para concienciar sobre las desigualdades permanentes a las que se encuentran expuestos como consecuencia de la colonización. Aunque la literatura académica destacó la incidencia realizada por los aborígenes e isleños del estrecho de Torres, no capta cómo opera la defensa de los mismos en el contexto de “ocupaciones”. Empleando una plataforma en línea, el presente estudio se propuso examinar la forma en que estos indígenas de Australia experimentan y expresan sus actividades de incidencia como una ocupación.

Método: La Teoría del Punto de Vista Indígena y la interfaz cultural proporcionaron un marco metodológico que privilegia el conocimiento y la cultura indígenas, apuntalando el análisis documental descolonizador. Se recopilaron datos de ocho páginas de Facebook administradas por aborígenes e isleños del estrecho de Torres, a los cuales se aplicó un análisis temático.

Resultados: Se identificaron tres temas que dan cuenta de la experiencia y las acciones de incidencia de los pueblos aborígenes e isleños del estrecho de Torres. El primero se centra en el contexto y la identidad australianos, cuyo hilo conductor es el racismo. El segundo se relaciona con los factores de protección y riesgo vinculados al bienestar social y emocional. Por último, el tercer tema se vincula con la incidencia como ocupación, destacando cómo esta ocupación tuvo lugar en la plataforma de Facebook.

Conclusión: A pesar de los difíciles ambientes creados por los contextos australianos, los aborígenes y los isleños del estrecho de Torres continúan sobreviviendo. Las acciones de incidencia que realizan ilustran que, para enfrentar cuestiones sistémicas, resulta esencial descolonizar las ocupaciones, lo cual, además, ofrecería la oportunidad de participar en ocupaciones culturales.

简介：争取促进公平和社会正义。在澳大利亚，这涉及殖民霸权和主流习俗的去殖民化。原住民和托雷斯海峡岛民用“更改日期”运动作为一种机制来提高人们对殖民化造成的不平等现象的认识。尽管文献着重介绍了原住民和托雷斯海峡岛民的争取，但并未捕捉到他们的争取是如何在“生活活动”情境下运作的。本研究旨在探讨原住民和托雷斯海峡岛民如何将争取作为通过在线平台进行的活动来体验和表达。

方法：土著立场理论和文化界面提供了一个方法框架，使土著知识和文化享有特权，并成为去殖民化文献分析的基础。从原住民和托雷斯海峡岛民管理的八个Facebook页面上收集数据，并使用主题分析法进行分析。

结果：出现描述原住民和托雷斯海峡岛民关于争取的经历和表达的三个主题。第一个主题关于澳大利亚背景和身份，在此，种族主义是共同议题。第二个主题涉及社会和情感福祉的维护和风险因素。最后，第三个主题与争取作为一种生活活动有关，强调了这一活动是如何通过Facebook发生的。

结论：原住民和托雷斯海峡岛民继续在澳大利亚主流造成的恶劣环境中生存。原住民和托雷斯海峡岛民的争取说明了去殖民化活动对于解决系统性问题至关重要，此外，它还提供了参与文化活动的机会。

KEYWORDS:

• Occupational science
• Racism
• Advocacy
• Occupation
• Decolonisation
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
• Social and emotional well-being

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 We appreciate that there is not one preferred term for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. We mostly use the term Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in our paper, as it is one of the preferred terms in Australia. We also use other terms like First Nations People and Indigenous people to reflect the terminology used in resources, like Facebook posts and the literature. In addition, we use the term Indigenous people to refer to Indigenous people around the world. It is worth noting that many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people find the term Indigenous people to be offensive, unless it is being used in the international context.

2 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are inextricably linked to Country and these connections with Country support positive social and emotional wellbeing (Gee et al., 2014). Being on Country includes being physically located on Country, and depending on the purpose of being on Country, it may include being on your own Country or someone else’s (Gee et al., 2014). Being on Country may include a range of activities, such as observing/connecting with country, participating in ceremonial business or collecting food.

3 Each of the authors acknowledges our cultural connections, which include the Bundjalung, Wiradjuri, Yuin and Kamilori nations. We acknowledge Wangal peoples of the Eora Nation, where this research was conducted. We pay our respects to Elders past, present, and future. We honour Indigenous people who advocate in Australia and across the world. We know that Indigenous people’s advocacy is very successful, but the advocacy process often comes at a price.

4 In Australia and many other colonised countries, legislation enforced the removal of Indigenous children from families, which had a devastating and transgenerational impact on families (Dudgeon et al., 2014). During this legislation era, many Indigenous families lived in fear that their children would be removed (Gibson, 2020).