'Emu Men': a new way to recognise and celebrate Indigenous fathers
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Thursday, August 31, 2023
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For many Indigenous peoples, this includes our biological father, adopted fathers, as well as our grandfathers, uncles, brothers, cousins, friends, and more.
Key Points:
- For many Indigenous peoples, this includes our biological father, adopted fathers, as well as our grandfathers, uncles, brothers, cousins, friends, and more.
- These false representations can be deeply damaging to the psyche of Indigenous men, and potentially erode the fabric of our communities.
- Indigenous fathering has emerged as a key priority in my research examining Indigenous men and masculinity.
Indigenous traditions of fathering
- Fathering traditions are also evident in some Indigenous languages and kin structures.
- In the late 1700s, some European explorers observed and recorded the centrality of fathering in Indigenous societies.
- Yet casting an eye over these various recordings of history, from both Indigenous and European records, reveals the existence of strong, consistent and widespread traditions of care, nurture and love between Indigenous fathers and their children.
Breaking the bonds of fatherhood
- The introduction of foreign diseases, violent frontier conflict, removal of people from Country, and removal of children are well established historical truths.
- Legally, Indigenous fathers were replaced as agents of care and responsibility through various protection acts in Australia’s colonies.
- Discourses of “protection” broke apart Indigenous families, which affected mothers, fathers and extended family and their roles caring for their children.
Social and political assaults on Indigenous men as fathers
- The 2007 Northern Territory Intervention demonstrates how demonising Indigenous men can be used as a political weapon.
- This was done by portraying Indigenous men as neglectful, violent, unsafe, and in need of heavy-handed government responses.
Positive representations of Indigenous Dads matter
- These intensely personal homages of Indigenous fathers presented an antidote to the tsunami of negativity towards Indigenous fathers.
- Indigenous performers such as Luke Carroll and Hunter Page-Lochard now feature regularly on the ABC’s Play School.
- It is clear Indigenous fathering carries its own meaning and interpretation.
- I suggest a new term – “Emu Man” – as an apt description of these deeply embedded Indigenous male roles.