TY - JOUR T1 - Using Indigenous Australian drama to break cultural barriers in healthcare relationships JF - Medical Humanities JO - J Med Humanit SP - 47 LP - 53 DO - 10.1136/jmh.2008.000364 VL - 35 IS - 1 AU - K Matharu Y1 - 2009/06/01 UR - http://mh.bmj.com/content/35/1/47.abstract N2 - 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. ER -