The Image of the Aboriginal in Modern Australian Children’s Fiction: A Survey of the Writing in the Last Ten Years
Abstract
No person can grow up in Australiaian society without having learned the stereotypes assigned to the major ethnic groups. Such stereotypes appear part of the social heritage. They are an economical means of ascribing certain characteristics to groups with whom one rarely comes into close contact. Under such circumstances, it is not surprising that stereotype attitudes show marked stability over time. In particular, stereotyping has been a feature of the contacts of white Australians with Aboriginal Australians. The effects that such stereotyping and associated attitudes of prejudice have had on the aspirations, motivation, and achievement of Aboriginals in the past are no less real because they were not able to be measured.
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