Reflect cultural awareness in work practice
People who identify with a particular culture have a lot of things in common, eg food, traditional costumes, music and so on. However, there are also lots of ways in which people within one culture differ.
Their differences may occur due to when they (or their ancestors) arrived in Australia, how long they have been living in Australia, their socio-economic background, their level of education, whether they live in a rural or urban area, the religion they identify with, and their different life experiences, which includes the experience of migration.
If we are to develop our cultural awareness, where do we begin? An understanding of the migration process itself is a good beginning. This is because migration is a key influence on a person’s life.
Some migrants undergo a relatively easy transition. However, there are many who experience at least some (if not many) challenges in adjusting to life in a new country.
Demonstrate awareness of culture as a factor in all human behaviour by using culturally appropriate work practices
Migration
First we look at migration and at some potential reasons behind both the decision to migrate and factors leading to a forced migration.
The term ‘migration’ comes from the verb ‘to migrate’, meaning to move from one country to another. People may migrate for many reasons, with each reason affecting each individual in a unique way.
In this resource, we will look at two broad categories of migrants:
• those who migrate voluntarily
• those who are forced to leave their country of origin and seek refuge elsewhere.
Voluntary migration
Reasons for choosing to migrate voluntarily may include:
• better access to education and health care
• greater freedom of choice
• social equality
• democratic participation
• better quality of life and longer life expectancy
• climate
• work opportunities
• adventure and/or new experiences
• family reunion.
Those who are forced to leave their country and seek refuge elsewhere are generally fleeing persecution, war and conflict.
Activity 1
Activity 2
Effects of migration on Australia
Part of the process of understanding the effects of migration on you, your clients and co-workers involves recognising how our own lives and the very society we live in have been affected by migration.
The benefits of cultural diversity to the majority of Australians become obvious when we look at the way our country has been shaped by migration. Once we recognise these benefits, it is easy to value the unique input that different cultures have in our lives—the diversity of experience offered at our doorsteps.
Australia is a nation of migrants. Indigenous Australians comprise 2.4%, that is, 5501,236 of the population (June 2006 census).
While migration to Australia has had many positive effects on Australian society generally, it has led to the dispossession of Aboriginal people of their land and, in many parts of Australia, to the loss of language, traditional social structure, law, culture and religion.
For more information about traditional Aboriginal culture go to the Aboriginal Benchbook website: www.aija.org.au/online/ICABenchbook/BenchbookChapter2.pdf
Aboriginal culture: www.aboriginalculture.com.au/index.shtml
Australian Museum: www.dreamtime.net.au/indigenous/index.cfm
Voluntary migration: Effects on the individual
It is important to recognise and understand some of the common effects of migration on the individual who has migrated because such experiences can have a lasting impact on the person.
Understanding yourself and the people around you (such as your colleagues) can help with the forming of satisfying interpersonal relationships and thus make your time at work more fulfilling and enjoyable.
Migrating to another country, while often exciting and offering the promise of a new and different life, can be an enormously stressful and difficult process. Some of the difficulties associated with the migration experience are listed below:
• communication and language difficulties
• difficulties adjusting to different foods
• difficulties adjusting to the new culture and society: socialising, work practices, housing arrangements
• feelings of isolation and loss of family and friends who did not migrate
• fear of the unknown
• nostalgia for home and feelings of homesickness
• facing stereotyping and prejudice in the new country.
Activity 3
Forced migration: Effects on the individual (refugee)
While it is common to hear about ‘migrants and refugees’, it is important to recognise that the two terms refer to very different groups of people. While both groups have effectively moved from one country to another, the circumstances leading up to that move are markedly different for each group.
Under existing Australian and international law, a refugee is defined as a person who has been forced to leave their country of origin due to the experience, or valid fear of, persecution on the grounds. These grounds may be:
• race
• religion
• nationality
• political opinion
• membership of a particular social group.
The person must also feel unable to return to their country of origin due to the experienced or anticipated persecution.
What do you think are the major differences between migrants and refugees in terms of their migration experiences?
Reflect on the following statements about refugees. Consider where the statements apply to migrants as well.
A refugee:
• runs away from their homeland
• is rarely able to choose the country they will go to
• is rarely able to prepare for the move
• usually has little understanding of the culture, language, job and study opportunities available in the country they will go to
• may have to keep their plans to leave secret
• may not be able to say goodbye to family or friends
• may have to leave members of their immediate family behind
• may have to flee with no notice and only the clothes on their back
• has little opportunity to prepare themselves for their new life
• cannot go home to visit or stay without risking their lives or well-being
• often cannot keep in contact with family and friends in the country of origin
• may have experienced severe trauma such as imprisonment in prisoner of war camps, detention centres, and/or refugee camps, torture and rape.
In addition to the difficulties commonly faced by any person after moving to a new country, refugees may also experience a number of other concerns as a result of the circumstances leading to their flight.
Some of the specific difficulties faced by adult refugees include:
• lack of knowledge about the new culture and society
• lack of knowledge about support services
• housing and employment difficulties
• financial hardship
• difficulties overcoming the impact of trauma, which can lead to depression and other mental health problems
• social isolation and loneliness
• concern for family and friends left behind.
Seeking refuge places great demands on coping skills, especially when a person has experienced trauma.
Personal healing after highly traumatic experiences generally increases over time. However the ability to recover may depend on the number of traumatic events a person has experienced. The greater number of traumatic events experienced, the harder it is for a person to recover. Note that the specific difficulties facing adult refugees reflect the difficulties still faced by many Aboriginal Australians as a result of dispossession and loss of cultural identity.
For refugees who arrive in Australia as elderly people, it is important to note that they have not had any opportunity to become familiar with Australian society and may have no social support network here. It is important to note that increased reminiscence with age can lead to distressing recall of traumatic events and that this group of people may experience depression and other mental health difficulties related to imprisonment and torture.
For recently arrived refugees, traumatic experiences are likely to still be a vivid part of daily life.
Case study: Juana
Drawing of a woman in her 50s
Before Juana sought refuge in Australia, her parents and two of her brothers had been imprisoned for years by the state militia. They died in prison. Maria believes that their political associations and activism had brought the attention of the state militia on them. Juana’s father had been a newspaper journalist. One of Juana’s brothers was a university lecturer and another was a doctor in a rural community when they were arrested. Juana’s only sister simply disappeared. She was in her early 20s and had been a student leader and working as a volunteer in a women’s refuge. One day, she did not return home from work. Juana says she was arrested by the secret police and there had been witnesses. A number of relatives and friends had also been detained without trial or had simply ‘disappeared’.
Juana was 19 and was about to begin a nursing degree when she was imprisoned for three months and tortured to extract information about the whereabouts of various family members. After her imprisonment, she and her husband, Santos decided to flee the country. They arrived in Australia in the mid 80s, leaving family behind.
In Australia, Santos and Juana worked as a cleaner in hospitals. Later, the couple had a child and Juana had to stay home to look after him. She resumed working when their son was in primary school. Juana still does not have the time to study English. Santos died a few years ago. Juana has continued to work as a cleaner in hospitals. Her son is in high school. At home, Juana prefers speaking in Spanish to her son and sometimes she takes him to cultural events organised by the Spanish and South American communities.
Refer to the STARTTS website: www.startts.org.au/
Activity 4
Rituals, celebrations and spirituality
We all have rituals in our life. A ritual is an established or prescribed way of doing certain things that are important to us. Rituals are predictable; they have a pattern. They are usually performed on a regular basis.
Collage of drawings showing champagne, menorah, gift, candle, cross, cup of tea
Symbols of rituals and celebrations
We all develop our own personal little rituals, such as the way we get ready for the day every morning.
Familiar rituals can give great comfort. Social and religious rituals are particularly important because they are shared by a group of people and provide a sense of belonging and continuity.
Religious rituals can be very powerful because they involve the person at different levels: sensually, intellectually, emotionally and spiritually.
Rituals have an essential role to play in the quality of life of older people. They are particularly important for older people because they have bearing on all the senses. For example, a ritual may involve listening, seeing, smelling, tasting, and touching. Thus, rituals will still be enjoyed by people with cognitive or sensory impairments.
In addition to rituals, many people have spiritual needs that may be in the form of:
• formal and informal religious observances
• the need for privacy and an appropriate environment to reflect and/or participate in spiritual activities
• ceremonial observances.
It is essential that we respect other people’s rituals, even when we do not understand them; they are no less important or less normal than our own.
All rituals are the product of a place, environment, and historical events and circumstances, just as our own are.
There are differences between rituals and routines:
• A routine is a specific way or order of performing a task/action; a regular course for performing certain acts.
• A ritual may be a routine with significant meaning attached to it; a solemn observance or act.
Use work practices that create a culturally and psychologically safe environment for all persons
Cultural safety
Cultural safety acknowledges and embraces the unique cultural and linguistic background of individuals.
It means providing opportunities for people to express their culture, have their cultural needs met and share their cultural heritage. Cultural safety means that a person is confident that their culture is accepted and respected and that service provision will embrace cultural considerations.
When people feel culturally safe, they feel freedom from fear, anxiety and feelings of discomfort. They feel comfortable, accepted and included.
Cultural competence at work
What is cultural competence?
Cultural competence relates to the way we interact with people, at work or outside of work.
Culture: way of life and worldview of a particular group of people at a particular point in time.
Competence: capacity to function effectively—of being capable.
So, most simply, cultural competence refers to the ability to function effectively in cross-cultural situations. This will most commonly involve the ability to effectively interact, or communicate with people from a different cultural background to our own.
An important thing to remember here is that cultural competence does not just refer to Anglo-Australians working and interacting with people from non-English speaking backgrounds.
The concept refers to all people working and interacting with anyone from a cultural or linguistic background different to their own. It also includes people who are different from you in any other way, eg economic class, gender, sexuality, age, religion, ability and so on. Whatever the background of our clients, we need to interact in a respectful, sensitive and appropriate way.
The underlying principle is recognition and acceptance of differences between people and seeing such differences from a positive perspective.
Cultural competence is a developmental process—no matter how culturally adept we may be, there will always be room for improvement.
To be culturally competent at work, we must have the ability and the will to respond to the unique needs of each individual that arise from that person’s culture.
Culturally competent practices and principles demonstrate an acknowledgement of and respect for people of all racial, ethnic, linguistic, religious and cultural background.
Cultural competency consists of:
• awareness and acceptance of cultural differences
• awareness of one’s own cultural values
• recognition that people from different cultures may have different ways of communicating, behaving, interpreting and problem-solving
• an ability and willingness to adapt the way we work so it is sensitive to the needs of co-workers’ cultural background.