Acknowledgement Of Country Analysis

In the future I will have a level of authority in students’ lives as their teacher. I believe the best way to encourage positive values in my students is to not just state my own values but truly embed these values in my identity and exhibit this in everything I do. I affirm, given the following definition of an acknowledgement of Country that I will do an acknowledgement in my classroom in order to represent the importance of valuing culture and relationships. I will incorporate my own narrative and experience of connection to place to enable students to recognise the role place, space and dominant representations of culture have on the development of their own identities. By using knowledge gained as a listener of Aboriginal authors, and knowledge sought from other sources I will not speak of or for Aboriginal culture, but represent aspects of this culture I have been privileged to experience with authority and the appropriate respect. I use the terminology of ‘do an acknowledgement’ over the more formal ‘perform an
My understanding of an acknowledgement of Country has been informed by multiple definitions. I define it as a short, often verbal action given at the beginning a meeting or gathering. It is an action a person can undertake to ensure they are practicing cultural awareness, and are expressing their identity defined by their position within a culture and Country. An acknowledgement recognises the way in which we are all connected by space, relationships with each other and the land we live on and in. Most importantly, an acknowledgement of Country is not a token to use in order to be politically correct (Blair 28). The Department of Community Services (DoCS) states it is important to recognise the special position of Aboriginal peoples as the first and traditional custodians of the lands of Australia,