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This thesis presents an ethnography of white researchers who work at the Darwin Institute of Indigenous Health Research. This group of ‘proximate advocates’ is made up of predominantly middle-class, educated and antiracist white health professionals. Their decision to move from more populated areas to the north of Australia, where Indigenous disadvantage is most pronounced, is motivated by the hope of enacting postcolonial justice so long denied to the nation’s first peoples. / This ethnography thus contributes to the anthropology of postcolonial forms, and specifically benevolent forms. The Darwin Institute of Indigenous Health Research is an example of a postcolonial space where there is an attempt to invert colonial power relations: that is, to acknowledge the effects of colonisation on Indigenous people and remedy them. / The thesis begins with an account of suburban life in contemporary Darwin focused on the figure of the ‘longgrasser’ who threatens to create disorder at my local shops. This is an example of the postcolonial frontier, the place where antiracist white people encounter radically-different Indigenous people. Part 1 develops a conceptual model for understanding the process of mutual recognition that creates the subjectivities of Indigenous people and of white antiracists. / Drawing on critiques of liberalism and postcolonial theory, in Part 2 I describe the knowledge system dominant in Indigenous health discourse, postcolonial logic. It is postcolonial logic that prescribes how white antiracists should assist Indigenous people by furthering Indigenous self-determination. I argue that postcolonial logic can be understood as the junction of remedialism (a form of liberalism) and orientalism. The melding of these two concepts produces remediable difference: a difference that can be brought into the norm. / In Part 3 I describe how white researchers at the Institute experience radical difference, or at least its possibility. These experiences challenge the concept of remediable difference. If Indigenous people are not remediably different, but radically different, the process of mutual recognition breaks down, and the viability of a white antiracist subjectivity is called into question. The ensuing breakdown of postcolonial logic threatens to expose white antiracists as no different from their assimilationist predecessors. / Part 4 explores the underlying dilemmas of the postcolony that are revealed when postcolonial logic unravels. The dilemma of historical continuity emerges when the discursive techniques that enact historical discontinuity between postcolonisers and their predecessors break down. The dilemma of social improvement is the possibility that the practices of the self-determination era not only resemble assimilation, but are assimilation. It is the possibility that any attempts to extend the benefits of modernity enjoyed by non-Indigenous Australia to Indigenous people will erode their cultural distinctiveness. The postcolonial condition is the experience of living with these aporias. / In the conclusion, I consider the implications of my argument for the current Australian political context, for the project of liberal multiculturalism, and for the broader problem of power and difference. I look to friendship as a deceptively simple, perhaps implausible, and yet powerful trope that can relieve the postcolonial condition and offer hope for peaceful coexistence in the postcolony.

Purpose: Health literacy and obesity are major global issues. Vulnerable populations, such as those with low health literacy, have the highest rates of obesity. Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander (NHOPI) nations have the highest prevalence of obesity in the world. This study describes the relationship between health literacy and demographic variables in a sample of NHOPI caregiving adults. Methods: We conducted a correlational study of 364 NHOPI adults. Each was a caregiver of at least one NHOPI child. Data were collected at grocery stores and a preschool in two Hawaiian Islands (n=209) and at NHOPI events in Utah (n=155). Our questionnaire included demographics, the Newest Vital Sign, and questions about caregivers' food-serving and activity promotion. Results: 45% of the sample had limited health literacy. There was no significant difference between participants' health literacy in Hawaii and Utah. Other demographic variables (gender, age, income, BMI, and education) had a significant relationship with health literacy. Conclusions: Many NHOPIs have limited health literacy. This is concerning as limited health literacy can reduce an adults' ability to use health-related materials including nutrition facts labels.Implications for Practice: Health care providers should not assume NHOPIs understand nutrition facts labels. Instruction on nutrition facts labels should be available in schools and communities. Future research should examine effective interventions for this population.

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<p>Narratives of undocumented students reveal that, commonly, a shared concern of such youth is a sense of powerlessness in the school environment; this lack of control predominantly stems from legal restrictions and anti-immigrant sentiment among peers and staff (Chang, 2017). However, there is a danger in treating undocumented youth as a monolith, as well as in failing to recognize their agency (Abrego & Negrón-Gonzales, 2020). Autoethnography, as a methodology, is by its very nature an act of agency which allows vulnerable populations to deeply explore their own sensitive identities (Philaretou & Allen, 2006). This thesis thus highlights my own voice as an undocumented student by combining the temporality, sociality and place of narrative inquiry (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000) with critical autoethnography’s attention to social inequities (Adams, 2017). Critical reflections on my educational experiences, as they compare and contrast with narratives in existing literature, imagine possible futures in which pre- and in-service teachers may more equitably support undocumented students in the classroom. Additionally, research on undocumented students predominantly focuses on immigrants of Latinx origin, who constitute almost eighty percent of the undocumented population (Migration Policy Institute, 2019); under a queer theoretical framework, my identity as a White immigrant of European origin uniquely problematizes naturalized attitudes towards the racialization of undocumented status. </p>

Community based youth programs play a significant role in promoting positive youth identity development outside of the classroom. This can be particularly important for racialized groups such as Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI). Based on ethnographic research conducted at Asian American LEAD, this thesis explores the effect of a five week summer program on AAPI youth identity development. Data collection methods include participant observation, a pre- and post- survey, and semi-structured interviews with staff, participants, and program alumni. The research findings highlight how ethnic and racial identity development is fostered through the creation of safe spaces, shared struggles with peers and staff, and recognition of one's AAPI identity.

Background: High prevalence of mental health problems and underutilization of mental health treatment are more severe among the Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander (NHPI) population and remain misunderstood and understudied. Examining mental health literacy (MHL)–the knowledge and beliefs about mental disorders which aid their recognition, management, or prevention–has been shown to identify barriers to seeking and receiving care. Objectives: This study aimed to assess the level of MHL in Polynesian NHPIs and identify associated demographic variables. Methods: Data for this pilot cross-sectional study were collected from 298 US Polynesians via an online questionnaire of the Mental Health Literacy Scale (MHLS). Results: The overall mean MHLS score was 121 (standard deviation = 17.3), with statistically significant higher scores in female participants, > 31 years old, Tongan, more educated, and with higher income. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that overall MHL is comparable among Polynesians compared to the current literature. However, Polynesian men < 30 years old and with lower income had lower MHL, which may be linked to the mental health disparities specific to this population. Current interventions should focus on increasing knowledge of risk factors, causes, self-treatments, and available professional help regarding mental disorders. Efforts to improve the MHL of Polynesians should target men < 30 years with lower income (<$50,000).

HIV-positive, Asian Pacific Islander (API) men who have sex with men (MSM) experience triple minority stigma including HIV, sexual orientation, and minority ethnicity. To date, there is no research that examines the influence of cultural factors, level of acculturation, social determinants of health, and other confounding variables (e.g., age, education, level of income, and length of time since diagnosis) on HIV-positive disclosure behaviors, attitudes, and intentions to casual sexual partners for API MSM. The theoretical framework for this study was based on Hofstede's original cultural values and Triandis's cultural dimensions. In this 2-phase, mixed methods, sequential explanatory study, 24 API MSM participants who are members of Fridae and other API organizations in the United States completed an anonymous online survey and 8 participants in Southern California completed in-depth semistructured phenomenological qualitative interviews. None of the regressions produced significant findings at the requested significance level (i.e., p < 0.5). The findings from the 2 phases of the study were integrated to facilitate a deeper, richer, and better understanding and explanation of those results than either approach alone. This mixed methods study was unique because it addressed an under-researched and poorly understood population of API MSM. The findings from this study have implications for positive social change for practitioners to incorporate culturally sensitive counseling strategies and for policymakers to develop or modify existing HIV preventive health education and health promotion programs for HIV-positive API MSM to negotiate safer sex behaviors, improve well-being, provide informed choice, and protect life that would promote competent quality care.

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In this thesis a platform of knowledge is provided for the development of enhanced Indigenous cultural heritage legislation by examining the specific nature of the cultural heritage of a Queensland Aboriginal group, the Dajarra Aboriginal community of Northwest Queensland for whom the Georgina River is a heartland in their cultural geography. The thesis was conducted during a period when the Queensland Government began to recognize demands for more effective Indigenous cultural heritage legislation. Queensland's latest Aboriginal cultural heritage legislation, introduced in 2004, emerged from a history of legislation dominated by an archaeological model of cultural heritage. However, despite some improvements this new legislation has maintained a physically orientated model of cultural heritage. Therefore Queensland's Indigenous societies, their places, place knowledge and certain types of place-specific behaviours continue to be exposed to imposed change. The thesis examines the 'lifeworld', the 'everyday' experiences of place of the Dajarra community. A broad definition of culture and an interactive model of place, coupled with a phenomenological approach provide a theoretical framework to engage with and describe cultural heritage as Dajarra people themselves experience it. The cultural heritage of Dajarra people involves interactions with a diversity of places and various combinations of behavioural, knowledge and physical properties. All of the places examined were interrelated with other places to form both small and large-scale place complexes. This dissertation reveals that the cultural heritage of an Aboriginal community lies not just in the physical environment but also in the diverse everyday people-environment interactions of that community. Effective cultural heritage legislation must be capable of encompassing this diversity. Cultural heritage is essentially dynamic, it is found in processes of change, it is found in ongoing people-environment interactions as well as those of the past. It is argued that Aboriginal people hold 'active cultural heritage rights'; these are rights to interact with places and rights to control action in places. Ideal cultural heritage legislation would recognize these active rights and provide for Aboriginal control of them, that is, Aboriginal defined and controlled change. This study reveals that it is difficult to separate places in time and space from other places with which they are co-dependent or inextricably intertwined. Studies of Aboriginal people-environment interactions and legislative measures must respond to the broader place complexes within which individual places are embedded and within which the everyday experiences of place are had. It is shown that there is a range of ways that an Aboriginal cultural heritage community can be defined and a range of Aboriginal people that might have interests in the cultural heritage of an area. Lastly, the thesis calls for the adoption of an interactive model of place as a foundation to cultural heritage studies and legislation in order to respond to the cultural heritage of Aboriginal people as they themselves experience it and wish to experience it.