What could be meant by multiple realties or situated knowledges?

Question

I'm reading a lot about racism and colonization of the aboriginal people of Australia if that helps...

Answer 1

emic vs etic perspectives of the same reality.  be reflexive when looking at ethnongraphies.  Be aware that magic is just as valid an explanation as illness, especially if you are dealing with tools such as structural functionalism.

when the aborigines were colonised, their lives, history and culture disappeared and were described in eurocentric ways, completely.

Answer 2

If the issue is racism, the colonization(civilizing) of a culture wouldn't do anything to change that. Only to bring them closer to feel the full brunt of it. On multiple realities, and situated knowledge. Civilised man goes out in the world fighting nature and the elements. If he survives, he takes claim to winning a battle, and pats himself on the back, waiting his reward. The uncivilised man lives there, doing his own labors, providing for the health and safety of his family and friends. And civilised man being educated and wise, with a piece of paper that claims he is a smart person, often wants to show this people the way to live a this world that is harsh and unforgiving, that they can't survive or feed themselves in without things they bring with them. civilised man owns property around people he doesn't know. He worries about crime, garbage, urban blight, and contributes money to save a wilderness environment he doesn't understand. Often making the activities of indigenous people illegal.

Answer 3

Oh, I get it. This is another trick lead in to the old story about the blind guys describing an elephant. One has it's tail, the other a leg, and the other the trunk. Depending on where they are, their knowledge comes from where they are and what they are experiencing...

If this isn't a lead in question... be cautious. Your instructor may be suffering with schizophrenia.