Queensland Aborigines, Multiple Realities and the Social Sources of Suffering Part 2 Suicide, Spirits and Symbolism

Abstract

This is the second part of a paper that explores a range of magico-religious experiences such as immaterial voices and visions, in terms of local cultural, moral and socio-political circumstances in an Aboriginal town in rural Queensland. This part of the paper explores the political and cultural symbolism and meaning of suicide. It charts the saliency of suicide amongst two groups of kin and cohorts and the social meaningfulness and problematic of the voices and visions in relation to suicide, to identity and family forms and to funerals and a heavily drinking lifestyle. I argue that voices and visions are used to reinterpret social experience and to establish meaning and that tragically suicide evokes connectivity rather than anomie and here cannot be understood merely as an individualistic act or evidence of individual pathology. Rather it is about transformation and crossing a threshold to join an enduring domain of Aboriginality. In this life world, where family is the highest social value and where a relational view of persons holds sway, the individualistic practice of psychiatric and other helping professions, is a considerable problem.

Contacts with mental health services before suicide: a comparison of Indigenous with non-Indigenous Australians

“…The historical marginalization of Indigenous Australians has resulted in their disconnection from land and cultural traditions; still today, they appear grossly disadvantaged in terms of health, education and employment [12][13][14]. Their suicide rates have been found to be at least twice as high as in non-Indigenous populations, with particularly alarming levels recorded among young males [15].…”

Contextualizing Mental Health Nursing Encounters in Australian Remote Aboriginal Communities: Part I, History and Customs

“…Any given individual in a particular social encounter reckons their loyalty on their particular place within a family network" (Cox, 2010, p. 246). This is not static as there is fluidity in positioning and orientation consequent on community, family disputes, and shifting alliances, depending very much on context and current concerns, a kind of segmented solidarity (Cox, 2010). "A person's position of seniority (and the attendant roles and responsibilities) in their family network is fluid and shifts when those related to them become sick, are incarcerated, otherwise absent or die" (Cox, 2010, p. 246).…”

Contextualizing Mental Health Nursing Encounters in Australian Remote Aboriginal Communities: Part 2, Client Encounters and Interviews

“…Nurses need to know who the client considers to be family, extended family, and clan, and who, therefore, can be consulted when someone is ill. Aboriginal families are wider, definably more embracing, and complex. Social structures, such as families, clans, and tribes, can all be constituted differently and loyalties can change, depending on the fluid nature of relationships and harmonies (Cox, 2010).…”