PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - K Matharu
TI  - Using Indigenous Australian drama to break cultural barriers in healthcare relationships
AID  - 10.1136/jmh.2008.000364
DP  - 2009 Jun 01
TA  - Medical Humanities
PG  - 47--53
VI  - 35
IP  - 1
4099  - http://mh.bmj.com/content/35/1/47.short
4100  - http://mh.bmj.com/content/35/1/47.full
SO  - J Med Humanit2009 Jun 01; 35
AB  - Since colonisation, the marginalisation of Indigenous Australians has adversely affected their language, culture and health. Mainstream society has failed to address social differences and establish culturally-appropriate health programmes for these groups. This paper extracts important humanistic themes within the context of health from four Indigenous Australian plays written during a period of social unrest in response to past oppression: (1) The dreamers, by Jack David; (2) Murras, by Eva Johnson; (3) Coordah, by Richard Walley; and (4) The keepers, by Bob Maza. These plays will be analysed to (a) illuminate human suffering from an indigenous perspective, based upon social and cultural planes of analysis; (b) understand the socio-cultural basis of poor health; and (c) instruct healthcare professionals that health is a social construct that can be interpreted as the product of select plays that are not solely based upon an illness narrative.