The Challenges of the Future: Incorporating Aboriginal Strengths and Resilience

Despite significant historical progress, social indicators reveal a deep-seated malaise affecting the well-being of Indigenous Australians. Programs and services directed to Aboriginal people have failed to make a dent in the appalling statistics associated with almost all elements of their lives – health, education, employment, incarceration, justice, youth suicide and so on. The chapter asserts the need for universities to more directly engage in pragmatic practices that “make a difference” to the distressing dynamics evident in the lives of Aboriginal people. The lessons of history embedded in previous chapters, focusing as they do on the principles and practices so successful in past eras, point to the need for programs of education and research that are controlled by Aboriginal people and directed to the real-world issues and problems inherent in the diverse contexts in which they live. While mainstream programs continue to serve the needs of many Aboriginal people, they fail to provide for the needs of marginalized Indigenous groups most in need of innovative and culturally appropriate services. Policies and practices directed to the assimilation of Aboriginal people into society’s mainstream must be tempered by the need to provide practical solutions to problematic issues while concurrently strengthening the identity and culture of Indigenous people.