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For Gilbert, the Aborigine is alienated from his own identity
This type of chaos, this human pain and confusion,
results in loss of identity, loss of confidence in
identity (ibid:9).
Paul Coe theorizes about *metho drinking’ as a symptom of
despair:
...a manifestation of .a cause, the alienation of
people from the land, the alienation of people from
their own culture, people denied any right to decide
their own future, denied the basic powers every white
man has in the country (Paul Coe, in Tatz, 1975:104).
Cries of pain and confusion such as these, proclaiming a loss
of identity, a loss of culture, a loss of the ability to control
one's destiny, are evidence of a deeply perceived feeling of anomie.
23.10 The location of Aborigines in mainstream society
The case of Aborigines in some ways appears similar to that
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of the Stranger, described by Schutz (1971),. looking into an alien
society, trying to establish how to enter it.
However, the essential difference is that, in Australian society,
the dominant group displays its values at the level of rhetoric, and
V
encourages the minority group to participate. 'Aborigines will choose
to live like other Australians'. 'We will not have a race within
a race'.
Australia has actively encouraged a policy of assimilation/
integration. It is only when the individual tries to enter, applies
for a job or housing, that the door is closed in his face, the offer
removed.
I find that job opportunities for Aboriginal children
after they leave school are very limited, even in the
metropolitan area. An Aboriginal person (and I have
witnessed it many times because I have applied for jobs)
sees 'Position vacant'. They don't even bother asking
you such things as where you worked before. They say,
"What's your education?""Fifth-form education, into
Tech. College, studied electrical engineering." "Well,
look, I'm sorry but the position is taken". So you