Ethnocentrism is the tendency to believe that one's ethnic or cultural group is centrally important, and that all other groups are measured in relation to one's own. The ethnocentric individual will judge other groups relative to his or her own particular ethnic group or culture, especially with concern to language, behavior, customs, and religion.
Ethnocentrism plays a big role in the history between the British and the Aboriginals. Long ago when the British came to establish a bond with the first Australians, the Aboriginals. The British saw the Aboriginals as a less advanced race that was inferior to them. Unlike the British who wore clothes, the Aboriginals dressed much like cavemen. The British wielded guns while the first Australians wielded spears. As we all know, a gun is definitely more advanced compared to a spear. That aside, after the British had learned about the Aboriginal’s ways, the British tried to help them. Their so-called ‘help’ meant taking the Aboriginal’s children into a white colonized school. To the British, the Aboriginals were savages. So by taking their children to a British school, they believed that they were helping them become more civilized. This act greatly impacted the land of Australia. Eventually, the Aboriginals rebelled against the British. But sadly spears were just toys to the superior British with more advanced weapons such as a gun. Today the Aboriginal race is unknown to many. The large race of Aboriginals has decreased from more than 250 clans to less than 50. The harsh life that they had lived through shows us that ethnocentrism only allows us to see the great things we have that others don’t. The colonization of Australia was a terrible act. Such a phenomenon must never be repeated again.
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