English Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

English Paper - Essay Example This can be forced or voluntary and can often have severe effects on the minority culture. Such effects may include the loss of unique traditions and or other cultural aspects. The assumption that assimilation may be considered necessary or even desirable demonstrates an ethnocentric view of the minority culture – that is, that they are judged according to the standards of the dominant culture. In the case of the Australian Aborigines, assimilation was initiated largely as a result of such ethnocentric views, as will be explained. The British colonists who arrived in Australia towards the end of the 18th century saw the Aboriginal people and their lifestyle as lazy and degenerate. Partly due to the unpredictable climate of their environment, the Aborigines had long ago chosen not to adopt an agricultural style of subsistence, instead opting for a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. (Clarke 17) As a second consideration, agriculture is more demanding than the hunter-gatherer lifestyle, because cultivation and animal husbandry take up significant amounts of time. It never occurred to the British settlers that the natives had chosen their lifestyle for specific reasons. They simply saw the Aborigines as lazy people because they did not work all day. This label has persisted in the national consciousness of Australia and is still not completely eradicated in the present day (Clarke 18). Lingering attitudes such as these indicate that the incomplete understanding that began in the 18th century is still a part of modern Aus tralia. In the nineteenth century the welfare of the natives was not an issue in the minds of settlers, and they were often exploited as well. The following passage highlights not only practices of kidnapping and mutilation, but also the prevailing attitude of the settlers towards the natives: Aboriginal men and women were routinely kidnapped to