Transcript for
Global majority: what it means and how we can use language to empower

Narrator (00:02): 

Welcome to the Emerging Minds Families podcast. 

Nadia Rossi (Intro) (00:05): 

Hi, I am Nadia Rossi and you’re listening to an Emerging Minds Families podcast. We would like to pay respect to the traditional custodians of the land on which this podcast is recorded, the Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains. We also pay respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, their ancestors, and elders past, present, and emerging from the different First Nations across Australia. 

(00:28): 

In today’s conversation we’re going to explore the power of language, and in particular the use of words which identify people with different cultural backgrounds. Global majority is a collective term for non-white people, plus people and groups who don’t experience white privilege. These people make up approximately 85% of the global population. This term can serve to flip the traditional power dynamics and provide a sense of empowerment and belonging to those often marginalised. 

(00:57): 

In this episode our host, Rosie Schellen, talks with guests Julie Ngwabi and Aunty Nancy Jeffery. Aunty Nancy is the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social and Emotional Wellbeing Advisor for Emerging Minds, and a proud Woolwonga woman from the Northern Territory. Julie Ngwabi is the Senior Child Mental Health Advisor for Health at Emerging Minds, and a person of global majority of Southern African heritage. Rosie talks with Aunty Nancy and Julie about the importance of language in embracing the true diversity and interconnectedness of our global community, and the role it can play in supporting the mental health and wellbeing of all Australian children and families. 

Rosie Schellen (Host) (01:39): 

Hi everyone, my name is Rosie Schellen. So welcome Nancy and Julie, it’s really lovely to have you both here today for a conversation. Can we start, first Nancy, by telling me a little bit about yourselves? 

Nancy Jeffrey (Guest) (01:53): 

Thanks, Rosie, it’s great to be here today. My name’s Nancy Jeffery, I am a very proud Woolwonga woman from the Northern Territory. We have only just found that out, after 35 years of searching for our roots, where we come from, where we can connect to. Although I’ve always connected to Darwin itself, being born there. I come from a really big family of 12 siblings. I often refer to us as a Zebra family, because half of us are really dark-coloured skinned, and half of us are very light skinned like myself. I have two children and five grandchildren. 

Rosie Schellen (Host) (02:31): 

Thank you, Nancy, that was beautiful. Julie, do you want to tell me a little bit about yourself? 

Julie Ngwabi (Guest) (02:36): 

Yes, happy to, thanks Rosie and thanks Nancy. So my name is Julie Ngwabi, I’m a mother of two boys. My oldest is 24, he was just turning four when we came to Australia from Zimbabwe. And I also have a six-year-old boy who was born here in Australia. So I identify as a person of the global majority, but by heritage and descent I’m from Southern Africa, and personally I subscribe to the philosophy of Ubuntu, which is what we believe, it matters how we interact and treat each other as human being, you are because I am, and together we are. So that’s one of the philosophies really that shapes the way I engage with people, whether it’s clients that I work with or families or professionals at work, I really subscribe to that philosophy because I think it’s important that we humanise each other and I think it’s a foundation for everything else. 

Rosie Schellen (Host) (03:44): 

So recently we’ve had a bit of a conversation about the terminology around culturally and linguistically diverse, and there’s not one way of doing or speaking about culture in a way, and Julie, you spoke to us about the term global majority, which was really impactful for us, and we thought it’d be really lovely to have this conversation with you today about global majority and what does that mean to you, how did that come about, basically? So did you want to tell me a little bit about what global majority means to you? 

Julie Ngwabi (Guest) (04:18): 

As we are aware, Australia, it’s a multicultural country. We’ve got rich diversity and people from different ethnic backgrounds and different cultural backgrounds, and within that, people identify themselves differently, in a way that is meaningful to them, in a way that can be connected to the way that they interact or engage with their own culture, in a way that humanises them. 

(04:51): 

So for me, basically I never found any of the terms that I use to describe me as befitting, or terms that I identify with, like culturally and linguistically diverse term, it’s a term that is used in the public and community sectors to categorise people who are non-white from different cultures and background. The reality is people within that category, they’ve got their unique experiences, they are quite diverse, there’s intersectionality to their identities as well, so grouping them under one term, whether it’s culturally and linguistically diverse, it doesn’t honour their individuality. 

(05:43): 

So for me, I always had a problem with that because I think it’s important to humanise each other and to allow the other person to self-identify and to bring their whole being and their whole self in all engagements and in all of their interactions. The reality is yes, people do face discrimination, people do face marginalisation, there are power imbalances in the society, there are power imbalances in the system, but that shouldn’t be imposed or identified with who they identify with. 

(06:22): 

So in doing research, I came across the term global majority, which is an emerging term in America and in the UK. Basically it refers to everyone else who is a non-white. So I found the term global majority was saying to me that I may be in a society where I’m seen as a minority, as an other, but the fact is globally we are part of the global majority. So I found that term really empowering, and I found this is a term that I can easily embrace for myself and for my family as well. 

Rosie Schellen (Host) (07:02): 

That’s a beautiful description. Nancy, did you want to talk to me a little bit about when you heard the term and what it meant for you? 

Nancy Jeffrey (Guest) (07:10): 

Yeah, thanks, Julie, that was amazing. So we were just coloured kids growing up in a very diverse downtown, and so when they started segregating us into Aboriginal and to all these other different groups of people, and when you look at the word Aboriginal, that too puts us all in one basket, instead of saying, “I’m a Woolwonga woman,” which I can proudly say today because we did our research and we found what happened to our people and how we are who we are today. And yeah, it excited me for my brothers and sisters because I saw their pain. For me, I could walk in two worlds, not a problem, because I could walk into a room full of white people and they’d accept me as a white person, but I’d walk into a room of our mob and they’d accept me as our mob, one of us, one of the many, many nations of Aboriginal people across this country and this nation. 

(08:11): 

So for me, it was really exciting for my brothers and sisters. It took away that pain, that victimising to segregate them into you’re this and you’re that, you’re not her brother, you’re not her sister because you’re too white, and all of that sort of stuff. And it was really difficult growing up with that, and it took me a long time to understand what was really going on out there, and what it was was, yeah, we were the minority, and I didn’t like that. And when I heard global majority it was like, oh wow, this is so exciting, exciting for my brothers and sisters, like Jules. 

Rosie Schellen (Host) (08:50): 

So you spoke to then, Nancy, beautifully about your brothers and sisters, about a camaraderie, I suppose, with those that are not white. Did you want to explain to our audience a little bit about, although Australia has a really specific context for our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, but there’s also a oneness about not being white. How is Julie’s experience similar to yours but different? 

Nancy Jeffrey (Guest) (09:21): 

So yeah, it is same same but different. Different because we’re from this country, and I guess to be segregated within a family group, not just as individuals, but as a family group, it was really disheartening growing up knowing that I would never be like my mother with the beautiful, beautiful dark skin and identifying as that’s my mother, and it was a fight all the way through. So I can relate to where Julie’s coming from with that minority feeling, that we are second to the white people. And my dad was, he was a white fella, but he had so much knowledge that he wanted to be part of this country, part of this land, part of us as Aboriginal people. Which really, I really struggled understanding where we fit in this world, until we found out our roots and where we were from, and that just made me feel so much more, I guess, empowered to be and identify and stand up strongly and say, yeah, I’m a strong Woolwonga woman, and I’m also a global majority, which is fantastic. 

Rosie Schellen (Host) (10:43): 

You described that really beautifully, thank you. Julie, do you want to talk to me a little bit about language and why it’s important to really be thinking about language when we’re talking about diversity, especially in identity and self? 

Julie Ngwabi (Guest) (11:04): 

I think it’s really important, Rosie and Nancy, because language is powerful, language is influential. We use language every day to communicate with each other, to engage with each other, to interact with each other. Even within the systems, whether it’s health or social services or community services, language is integral to that human-to-human interaction. And especially in a multicultural country like Australia, we should be interested in reviewing and examining the language that we are using when we are connecting with people from diverse cultures, because we want people to feel included, we people to feel like they are themselves, they can bring their whole self, we want to make people feel like they’ve got a voice, they belong. And when it comes to identity, people should have a right to self-identify. I think we should all ascribe to the basic human rights, really, of freedom, of justice, of respect. 

Rosie Schellen (Host) (12:21): 

Beautiful. Nancy, following on from that, what is the power of language for children and families? 

Nancy Jeffrey (Guest) (12:28): 

Okay, for children and families it’s really, really important because it sets their future up. As I said, as a young person growing up in a small place like Darwin, there was no segregation other than you’re a colour kid, or you’re a white kid, or you’re a Chinese. But we never ever looked at each other differently until we went to another state. It was so horrible. It was a challenge to get out of bed every day to go to school. It was a challenge to do sports, because I had my brother who was in the same school who was a lot darker than me, and so we fought every day against people just identifying as brother and sister, that really put a really big chip on my shoulder for many, many years. 

(13:19): 

And as a matter of fact, it was actually a white woman who actually took that chip off my shoulder and told me, “You are important as a person and as an individual,” not because they identify you as this, or whatever, it was because she made me feel like I was somebody and I didn’t feel different to anyone else around. Yeah, it was a challenge, and for my children an even more challenge, because they’re so fair, they got blue eyes, and they struggle. They struggle sometimes to say, “Yeah, I’m Aboriginal,” because they are frightened of the reaction they’re going to get from everybody else around the table. So it gives them identity and it gives them the self-worth, like Julie was saying. 

Rosie Schellen (Host) (14:13): 

Julie, how would you talk about language in the construction of, say, global majority? How would you talk to your children about that? How would you have a conversation about the terms of categorisation with your children? 

Julie Ngwabi (Guest) (14:32): 

I think it’s important for families, for parents, to normalise having these conversations, and I think these are conversations that should start at home. I always think about there’s a parenting program Circle of Security which talks about the parent being the safe and secure bigger hands. So if we are laying that foundation at home of safety, of security, of having these conversations about culture, of race, and really telling our children who they are, their identity, I think that becomes a protective factor, I think it really sets them up for life, it becomes a good foundation, so that when they go out there, because they will go out there, and sometimes out there is not always necessarily safe if they’ve got a Black or brown skin, but because they would’ve been affirmed who they are at home, they would’ve been told about their identity. 

(15:41): 

It means the impact is going to be a less negative, it means they’re able to respond when someone is saying maybe a derogatory term, or when someone is othering them, because they’ve already been told at home who they are, they know that to be the truth, they’ve accepted that, so whatever is going to be said out of there is not going to impact them as much, and we should be equipping them as well. 

Rosie Schellen (Host) (16:09): 

I think that’s a really, really important message because a lot of the time we’re preparing our children for the negative aspects of going into society. What would that mean for identity for children to be actually going, well this is something really positive, this is something really proud, I’m actually part of the majority instead of being the minority, instead of arming them with strategies on how to climb over systems and climb over. So how does being thoughtful about terminology that we use support children’s social and emotional well-being, Nancy? 

Nancy Jeffrey (Guest) (16:47): 

I’ll go back to my grandchildren. I took them for the first time to their first NAIDOC march, and I have never seen children glow and really proud to be part of, we felt like there was more of us than them, does that make sense? Because they’re very fair-skinned too, and for them to know that their identity is an Aboriginal, Scotsman, all of these beautiful cultures together, and still can connect to our culture and our people, is just amazing. And for them to stand up in school and say, “I’m a Aboriginal,” is a really proud moment for me and for them. This is fantastic, stand up and be you, don’t let anybody else put you in any basket, you go where you want to be and where you want to identify as. 

(17:47): 

And the more hear this global majority, the more I’m wanting to talk to them about that too now so they’ve got a choice of how they want their language to be spoken and how they want to present themselves. Even though we didn’t get raised in the depth of culture and language because it was all lost, it’s still instilled in us, we still connect to the country, we still know where our home is because soon as we get there we feel it, and so it’s really important for the social emotional wellbeing. And in Aboriginal communities, that’s what it’s about, it’s about everybody coming together and embracing that child for them to be brought up strong in their identity, and to really stand up proud and go, yeah, I am who I am. 

Rosie Schellen (Host) (18:42): 

And Julie, following on from that, how can unthoughtful terms and terminology negatively impact on wellbeing? 

Julie Ngwabi (Guest) (18:51): 

I think we have to, when we’re talking about children’s social and emotional wellbeing and indeed their mental health, we have to think about the whole child. What makes the whole child? What are those domains that supports positive child mental health and wellbeing? We have to think within the cultural lens the importance of relationships, whether it’s parent-child relationships and relationships within the family, relationships with the next of kin. You know that culturally, like in my culture, who is family in my culture is very important. There’s a network within who comprises the family, and each family member plays an important role in my children’s upbringing, growth and development. 

(19:44): 

We know the importance of routines, different cultures have got unique and different routines that children can tap into, and all those things feed into who they are, they add value to who they are, their identity, it brings meaning to themselves, and the importance of those connections, as we’re talking about, even connection to culture, connection to tradition, we shall be bringing all those things. 

Rosie Schellen (Host) (20:15): 

You said that beautifully. 

Nancy Jeffrey (Guest) (20:16): 

Yes. 

Rosie Schellen (Host) (20:16): 

Thank you so much. I really love listening to you both, I feel like I’m privy to this amazing knowledge and wisdom. How can parents support the use of empowering language with their culture? 

Julie Ngwabi (Guest) (20:31): 

I think parents, as I mentioned before, they have to be both intentional and also normalise the use of a language. And I think it’s important to be quite clear from the get-go, not only affirming who they are, but also giving them coping strategies, like if any level is assigned to them which disempowers them or which shows disrespect or excludes them, for them to be able to come back and really connect who they really and truly are. I think it’s an ongoing responsibility for parents and for families as well to continuously have this conversation, continuously affirm children’s identity, continuously put in them or instill in them that they are persons and human beings first, before any other label. They are human beings, they are people, before any label that can be put on them. 

Rosie Schellen (Host) (21:40): 

So it’s about control, isn’t it, for that person? It’s not about being called or global majority or calm, it’s whatever that person really wants, isn’t it? But what advice would you give to parents to have the permission to be able to have that conversation with somebody who may be white? 

Julie Ngwabi (Guest) (21:59): 

I think these are conversations that we should all have with grace and with humility as a foundation of having them to begin with. And I know that most if not all organisations or services, they’ve got policies that talk about culture being culturally responsive, that talks about cultural safety, that talks about person-centred care or family-focused care, so just reminding them that you actually have policies, or you aspire to be person-centred to honour people’s cultures, to be culturally responsive, to design services that are culturally safe, and one way you can actually apply that in practice is giving me the right to self-identify who I want to be referred as. I think this is one of the most basic and foundational requests. If you can get identifying me right, it means we’re starting off on a really good foundation, it’s going to affect the division of power between us, because we know that sometimes there’s power imbalance in engagements in these relationships that needs to be addressed. 

Rosie Schellen (Host) (23:24): 

Lovely. Nancy, did you want to follow on from that around if you were giving advice to a practitioner, what advice would you give to that practitioner that they need to keep in mind in having these conversations about the agency of the people that we work with to have language that is important for them? 

Nancy Jeffrey (Guest) (23:46): 

Look, I think it’s really important that they don’t assume. One of the experiences in my life is you go, and I’ll give an example of going to a doctor in a public system, and they assume that it’s okay for a male doctor to examine me, and it’s not okay with me. It’s not okay with me because that’s how I was raised by my mother and father, it’s just one of those things. So if you don’t know, you don’t know, but you got to ask. You can’t assume that, oh, Nancy’s just, look at her, she’s just a white girl coming in here for a service. No, did you actually read my file? Did you actually read my identity? Did you actually ask me who I identify as? 

(24:34): 

And so it’s really important to have that right at the beginning, like Julie said, let’s be able to be ourselves and be out there and open about it and not have people assume that I am not an Aboriginal woman, or I am European, or whatever. So assumptions is one thing, and to leave their cultural bias outside the door when they’re dealing with anybody and everybody of any human race. 

Rosie Schellen (Host) (25:06): 

Julie, following on from what Nancy just spoke about around cultural bias and keeping that in mind, this kind of flips that though, the term global majority flips cultural bias a little bit, doesn’t it? When you think about the cultural bias being it comes with power, and the power of the majority, of the dominant, whereas the term global majority kind of flips that, doesn’t it? 

Julie Ngwabi (Guest) (25:32): 

Yeah, I think it’s always going to be complex. It’s always going to be challenging because people are unique, people bring their unique experiences, even with services, people, they’ve got unique and different experiences in how they’ve engaged with systems of power before. So it’s never going to be easy, it’s not going to be a one size fits all, it’s just being mindful and being intentional, that we are not perpetuating that power imbalance, that we are bringing the other person in and allowing them that agency and that self-determination really. 

Rosie Schellen (Host) (26:18): 

And I suppose how we honour culture in our conversation. 

Julie Ngwabi (Guest) (26:21): 

Yes. 

Rosie Schellen (Host) (26:22): 

Why would Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander not be put in with CALD (culturally and linguistically diverse)? 

Nancy Jeffrey (Guest) (26:27): 

We have very different dialects, we have very different traditional ways across the country, and to put us all in the one basket, it’s not the right thing to do. Like I said, I’m a Woolwonga woman and I can identify strongly as that now, but I also take up the identity of my Scottish heritage as well and really proud of that because of my father and my mother and the influence of that. But to put us in as CALD is just not on, I’m sorry. But then when you put us as a global majority, like I said, it excites me because we’re not considered the minority of Australia now, because quite often Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, we’re the minority in Australia, the voice just showed us that. 

Rosie Schellen (Host) (27:21): 

In your own country. 

Nancy Jeffrey (Guest) (27:22): 

In our own country, which is really challenging for each and every one of us in a different way. And like Julie said, we want to identify as ourselves for our own internal reasons, spiritually, emotionally, everything that makes us who we are is actually there anyway already. Before we identify or know who we are, it’s already inside us spiritually, whether we know it or not, that you’re another human being. It’s not about your colour of your skin, it’s about what you are and you identify as inside and outside. 

Rosie Schellen (Host) (28:04): 

So I’m just going to finish off with, what would your advice be to parents to start the conversation? And Nancy, for you it will be, what advice would you give to a practitioner to start the conversation? 

Julie Ngwabi (Guest) (28:17): 

So my advice to families and parents is that you know yourselves better than anyone else, your know your children better than anyone else, your know your connection with your culture, your ways of being and doing things, you are the expert of that, so be courageous and brave and know that it’s your basic human right to be able to fully express who you are and to instill those values into your children, because it’s really preparing them for the real world, and these are values that we all need to be instilling in our children for the betterment of the next generation of Australians. 

Nancy Jeffrey (Guest) (29:04): 

For practitioners, as I said before, don’t assume, and don’t be frightened to ask either. Yeah, just allow that person to be themselves really, and to not even look at that person’s outside, to actually try and be curious about the inside and the belief system and them, and then that will set your relationship up from the beginning. And that’s all it is, it’s just don’t, just leave all your assumptions away, don’t look on the outside of the person. Get to feel and know the real person that’s inside there and the human side of that person, because we are all human. 

Rosie Schellen (Host) (29:46): 

I just want to thank you, Julie and Nancy, for such a wise conversation. I feel like I’ve been honoured here listening to the wisdom that’s been in this room. I think the key messages for me coming out of this conversation is that there is no right or wrong term here, it’s actually about connecting with the person that is in front of you and what they would actually identify with and what gives them value in language, so thank you very much, I really appreciated this conversation. 

Nancy Jeffrey (Guest) (30:21): 

Thanks Rosie. 

Julie Ngwabi (Guest) (30:21): 

Thanks Rosie, and thanks Nancy. 

Nancy Jeffrey (Guest) (30:21): 

Thanks Julie. 

Narrator (30:27): 

Visit our website at www.emergingminds.com.au/families for a wide range of free information and resources to help support child and family mental health. Emerging Minds leads The National Workforce Centre for Child Mental Health. The Centre is funded by the Australian Government Department of Health under the National Support for Child and Youth Mental Health Program.