Post Colonialism Theory

Why is post colonialism relevant in understanding the phenomena of the Stolen Generation?

Post colonialism is a relatively new concept of international relations. It appeared in the 1990s after that of theories of feminism which will be competitively analysed in this case study of the Stolen Generation phenomenon. Post colonialism theory has long played a significant role in literary studies, cultural and anthropological studies but its recent introduction into international relations shows an important theoretical shift. The postcolonial theory in international relations draws upon the existing writings of feminism, Marxism and post modernism. With its main focuses being gender, race and class and their relation to power (Chowdhry and Nair,

Its primary aim was to achieve political, social and economic equity for women. At the end of the cold war the theory was developed into the academia (Tickner and Sjoberg, 2011). These theories when compared to others in the international relations field are most relevant when discussing the atrocities of the Stolen Generation because they allow for the accountancy of a historical context. For two centuries Aboriginal people in Australia have been on the receiving end of never ending destruction of culture, history and families Apart of this was federal and state policies which caused the creation of a Stolen Generation. The short version of the policies was essentially the removal of mixed race children from the aboriginal community and their mothers to be brought up under white institutions. While this policy was brought in 1909, the practice had already been going on for a century and remained apart of government policy until 1969. This piece will attempt to discuss why post colonialism is the most relevant theory than feminist theory. Though a comparison of the foundational structures, operational appearances as well as

The rationale behind these polices was to protect children, a though that aboriginal people would die out and the belief that aboriginal people frowned up miscegenation. Other claims suggest that this was part of the attempt to whiten Australia. The horrific irony here is that there are few if any aboriginal families which have not been impacted by these child removals. It has created an array of psychological issues, an increased risk and exposure to sexual abuse, a taught rejection of their culture, a loss of links to the land, an inability to participate in cultural and spiritual life with their communities and not being able to have a native title. Quite often the intuitions and families in which these children were placed with were more damaging and detrimental to their health and wellbeing that if they had remained with their families. These events have left a long term festering wound on a severely disadvantage proportion of the country. Which has gone way past call the question of justification but rather what compensation is needed and what reconciliation can be done. With postcolonial theory it challenges the dominate and submissive expectation that comes with a colonising and colonised population and reflects the results of a forced