Gang Violence in Melbourne Australia in the Last Two Decades - Essay Example

Gang violence Name Course Institution Date Gang violence in Melbourne Australia in the last two decades Introduction Assorted policies of child removal and forced assimilation have been called genocidal on the basis of ‘measures intended to prevent birth within a group’. It could be argued that Indigenous peoples of Melbourne have suffered direct, gang violence from other groups since colonization over the last decade. The Melbourne Territory ‘intervention’, which has been dubbed ‘one of the worst policies ever inflicted on Aboriginal people’, will be analysed according to psychology of gang violence, communications, and power theories, concluding that broader power structures facilitated by the media continue to permeate the relationship between Settler and Indigenous Australians. Following this, prospects for moving towards social justice and positive peace will be presented. Direct violence refers to intentional, personal, physical violence. Structural violence refers to indirect violence where there is no subject intentionally carrying it out, but violence is built into a structure, manifesting in society as unequal opportunity. The aim of this research is to examine how college students in Melbourne conceptualise ‘violence’ in relation to gang violence. This will be examined using focus groups and interviews. Discourse network analysis will be used as a means of analysing and codifying the data. The results of this study have the capacity to inform public policy and strategies by order for any oppressed group to achieve liberation, they must ‘perceive the reality of oppression, not as a closed world from which there is no exit, but as a limiting situation which they can transform. Literature Review The nature of the settler-colonial context can be identified as an early form of culturally-informed direct violence that contributes to lingering culturally violent attitudes and structurally violent policies in contemporary Australia. At the time of colonization the land was declared ‘terra nullius’, meaning ‘land belonging to no one’. It has been suggested that upon arrival, Indigenous peoples were viewed as savage, uncivilized, and unorganized, leading to the rationalization that the land was not formally occupied and no treaty would be necessary, arguably constituting Aboriginal Australia’s first experience of cultural violence. It is worth noting that Indigenous identity itself never existed until the colonial event. Since then, it has been argued, Indigenous identity has transformed from a colonial construct to a politicized identity as Indigenous peoples continue to struggle for recognition of their rights. In the Australian case, the significance of Aboriginal people’s dispossession of their territory is compounded by deep cultural and spiritual interconnectedness with the land. This suggests continued suppression of Indigenous peoples, appearing today in the form of structurally and culturally violent policies and attitudes, is required to maintain the security of the settler colonies’ original interest. The Northern Territory ‘intervention’ by the Australian federal government makes an excellent case study for analysing such policies and attitudes. In terms of structurally and culturally violent attitudes evident today in Australia, the media plays a highly important role. In the 21st century the media is a central and critical realm in which social meaning is constructed. War Journalism refers to conventional reporting structure that relies on official sources and dualistic tug-of-war conceptions of conflict that ignore root causes, various stakeholders, local perspectives, and processes taking place in a conflict. In Australia cultural violence that continues to legitimize structural discrimination against Indigenous Australians is largely facilitated by media representations of Indigenous affairs, an effect that is multiplied due to the comparative size of the Indigenous population to the rest of the country, as well as the intense concentration of media ownership. The aforementioned characteristics of War Journalism often neglect the complexity of conflict situations, framing information in a way that appears objective and politically neutral (Stokoe, 2000), but in fact perpetuating a dualistic, dichotomous, good/bad, left/right, self/other construction of conflict that fails to present the audience with a contextual basis and viable solutions. A feedback loop occurs when culturally violent attitudes are distributed which justify the structurally violent system, creating more circumstances that can be reported in a way that compounds both. This process has been described by Galtung as an ABC conflict triangle wherein the Conflict itself, Attitudes and Behaviour are interrelated in a causal chain operating in both directions. Conflict resolution therefore necessitates attention to all three aspects. Methodology The view that we live in a fair society wherein individuals interact on a level playing field, termed a ‘just world view’, facilitates the belief that gang violence’ circumstances are a result of personal failings. The oppressed are regarded as the pathology of the healthy society’. Some other psychological mechanisms that contribute to gang violence: dehumanization and desensitization. Both are internal processes that can occur semantically or through moral disengagement and psychological distancing. Dehumanization occurs when the victim is blamed or is perceived to be less than human, potentially influencing psychology so that an individual or group is perceived as unworthy of moral treatment or immoral treatment is excused. The overarching theoretical framework of the research is social constructivism. This is appropriate because we are primarily concerned with understanding what meaning individuals give to ‘responsibility’ in regards to gang violence in Melbourne. Semi-structured interviews In finding out the viability of semi-structured interviewing as a methods for research in gang violence, I allude to Assefa, (2005), who keep up that the semi-structured interview is maybe the favored decision for researchers wishing to "decipher" reactions from interviewees. This kind of interview does not need a rundown of pre-determined inquiries, there being an "adaptability" involved which permits the interviewer, as Assefa, demonstrates, to control the interview topics instead of essentially depend upon set inquiries. Various tests, prompts and open and shut question forms can be made which result in the researcher having the capacity or "free form" (Assefa, 2005) to separate and change or preclude regions already brought up in interview. Rather than other interview sorts, for example, an unstructured one which is a totally "open circumstance" (Widdowson, 2008), the semi-structured sort has adequate structure inserted in its accumulation of topics and issues to go about as a guide through the interview. In any case, it ought to be noticed that the legitimacy of any picked way to deal with conducting research might be influenced by not just the adjusted interview structure and cultural components involved in being interviewed by a ns instructor, additionally by normal issues inborn in any interviewing in which the communication is recorded on tape. Assefa, calls attention to that such interviews convey the perils of being "off-putting", "tedious to interpret" and "conceal by immaterialities". Besides, there is the "likelihood of information overload" and no record of the "specific circumstance", the last indicate being one which i will return later in this review. Assefa, (2005) additionally takes note of that interpretation conveys the peril of predisposition and exhorts that editing may lessen this. Galtung, (2006) addresses this issue by recommending that interview information ought not to be viewed as static after one tuning in but rather ought to be permitted to develop over time and further considerations. This appears to recommend that any understanding of interview information depends on the attention to the individuals who dissect it right then and there in time. Taking after this claim of potential irregularity, a similar recording may in actuality be translated, and additionally interpreted, diversely at a later time. Discourse and frames: Reframing' is an approach to discuss backpedaling and re-deciphering the significance of the primary sentence. Outline analysis is a sort of discourse analysis that asks, what movement are speakers occupied with when they say this? What do they think they are doing by talking along these lines right now? Consider that it is so difficult to understand what you are hearing or perusing in the event that you don't have the foggiest idea about who's talking or what the general point is. When you read a daily paper, you have to know whether you are perusing a news story, an article, or a notice with a specific end goal to appropriately decipher the content you are perusing. Turn-taking: Discussion is an endeavor in which one individual talks, and another tunes in. Talk analysts who think about conversation take note of that speakers have frameworks for deciding when one individual's turn is over and the following individual's turn starts. This trade of turns or "floors" is motioned by such semantic means as pitch, delaying, and expressing. A few people anticipate an unmistakable delay before starting to talk, however others accept that 'slowing down' is a solicitation to another person to take the floor. At the point when speakers have diverse suspicions about how turn trades are flagged, they may unintentionally hinder or feel intruded. Talk markers 'Talk markers' is the term etymologists provide for the little words like 'well', 'gracious', 'yet', "and" that split our speech up into parts and demonstrate the connection between parts. "gracious" readies the listener for a shocking or just-recollected thing, and "however" demonstrates that sentence to take after is contrary to the one preceding. Be that as it may, these markers don't really mean what the lexicon says they mean (Assefa, 2005). A few people utilize "and" just to begin another idea, and a few people put "yet" toward the finish of their sentences, as a method for trailing off delicately. Discourse acts: Discourse act analysis asks not what shape the articulation takes but rather what it does.. Contemplating speech acts, for example, complimenting permits discourse analysts to ask what considers a compliment, who offers compliments to whom, and what other capacity they can serve. For instance, the primary obstacle to the reconciliation process between Settler and Indigenous Australians is achieving acknowledgement among the wider public that a conflict has and is still happening in this country. Furthermore, the official reconciliation process has been a mostly top-down approach that is reflective of the colonial project from which the current system derives. Lederach assures that advocacy, such as in the form of peaceful protest and activism is a way of ‘bridging the gaps’ and empowering local actors for holistic peacebuilding. Discourse analysts would like to make a commitment to enhancing culturally diverse comprehension. Discussion analysis Discussion analysis is a way to deal with the investigation of social cooperation, grasping both verbal and non-verbal lead, in circumstances of regular daily existence. As its name suggests, discussion analysis started with an attention on easygoing conversation, yet its strategies were in this way adjusted to grasp more undertaking and foundation focused collaborations, for example, the impact of media portrayal and labelling during the event on the Indigenous community also deserves mention here. In relation to media reports at the time, concerns have been voiced about the portrayal of Aboriginal families. Claims about the existence of paedophile-rings in remote communities, later found to be false, are understandably damaging to self-esteem, identity, and social life. The media largely excused the targeting of Indigenous communities in regards to these issues by labelling it as ‘positive discrimination’. However, a number of academics suggest the situation could and should be analysed as social categorization, perpetuating cultural violence and self-other distinctions. Conclusion In conclusion, gang violence against Indigenous Australians must be addressed in order to move towards conflict transformation in Australia. This will be investigated through semi-structured interviews. Data analysis will use Discourse analysis in this research in order to show the importance of fighting gang violence. An awareness of self-in-context, however, must be adopted by all parties, along with an increased awareness of issues, needs and interests of all involved, in order to overcome structural and cultural violence that persists in Australia today. This research paper will be given a pass by the (ARC) on the basis that it has good implications for policy against gang violence. Bibliography Assefa, H. “The meaning of reconciliation” in People Building Peace: 35 Inspiring Stories from Around the World, Utrecht: European Centre for Conflict Prevention (2005) Stokoe, E. H. (2000) Constructing topicality in university students’ small-group discussion: A conversational analytic approach Language and Education Vol. 14;3, pp 184 – 203 Entman, R. “Framing: Towards Clarification of a Fractured Paradigm”, Journal of Communication 43:4 (1993), pp. 51-58 Galtung, J. “Cultural Violence” in Peace by Peaceful Means: Peace and Conflict, Development and Civilization, Oslo/London: PRIO/Sage Publications (2006), pp. 196-210 Lambourne, W. “Post-Conflict Peacebuilding: Meeting Human Needs for Justice and Reconciliation”, Peace, Conflict and Development, 4:1 (2004), pp. 1-24 Lynch, J. A Global Standard for Reporting Conflict, New York: Routledge (2013), p. 93 Widdowson, H. G. (2008). Discourse analysis. Oxford [u.a.: Oxford Univ. Press. Johnstone, B. (2011). Discourse analysis. Malden, Mass. [etc.: Blackwell Publishing. Coulthard, M. (2014). An introduction to discourse analysis. Read More