by admin | Aug 12, 2014 | Australia, Colonialism, Cultural safety, Indigenous, Inequalities, Nursing, Power relations, Racism, Writing
In August 2014 there was a wonderful story of how “people power” had freed a man in Perth, whose leg had become caught in the gap between a platform and train on his morning commute. You can watch the video here. What struck me about this story was...
by admin | Aug 24, 2013 | Australia, Colonialism, Food, Indigenous, Multiculturalism, Racism, Refugees, Writing
I’m interested in what moves us from being bystanders and witnesses to injustice to being moved to act. This has been prompted by several incidents since I arrived in Australia and a few days ago, the savage beating to death of a transgender woman of colour. In...
by admin | May 30, 2013 | Cultural safety, Food, Indigenous, Inequalities, Media, Multiculturalism, Problem gambling, Racism, Writing
Over the last few years I’ve been involved in various public health and health promotion programmes related to healthy eating and weight management (Clinical Guidelines for Weight Management in New Zealand Adults and the Clinical Guidelines for Weight Management...
by admin | Jan 28, 2013 | Australia, Colonialism, Food, Indigenous, Inequalities, language, Media, Migration, Multiculturalism, Racism, Refugees, Writing
My first stuffed toy as a child in Nairobi was a koala bear and I’ve been besotted with them ever since. So you can imagine that I was captivated by this meme where the koala realises that she’s not a bear but a marsupial. To draw a very long bow, I think...
by admin | Dec 27, 2012 | Colonialism, Indigenous, Inequalities, Migration, Multiculturalism, Power relations, Te Tiriti o Waitangi/Treaty of Waitangi, Women, Writing
When my parents were considering migrating from East Africa, their focus was on the white settler contexts of Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States. For a bunch of reasons I won’t go into here, they settled on Aotearoa New Zealand. A part of me...
by admin | Nov 24, 2012 | Colonialism, Indigenous, language, Migration, Multiculturalism, Power relations, Racism
So if you really want to hurt me, talk badly about my language. Ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity—I am my language. Until I can take pride in my language, I cannot take pride in myself —Gloria Anzaldua. Language maintenance and pluralism mean...
