This newsletter focuses on indigenous peoples of the world (In Danish: Oprindelige folk). According to the UN, approximately 400 million indigenous people worldwide comprise more than 5,000 distinct tribes,
spanning over 90 countries. While
indigenous peoples total 6% of the world’s population, they represent 90% of the cultural diversity. (kilde mangler)
There is no rigid definition of what makes a group indigenous, but there
are characteristics:
“- We are descended from the pre-colonial/pre-invasion inhabitants of our
region.
- We
maintain a close tie to our land in both our cultural and economic practices.
- We suffer from economic and political
marginalization as a minority group.
Why it is important to focus
on indigenous peoples:
1: Indigenous peoples have a
right to exist according to the ”United Nations Declaration of Human Rights of
Indigenous Peoples”. These rights are often violated, however, and there
is need for worldwide recognition and support to the fight for these rights.
- 3 films: “Indigenous Peoples and the
United Nations”
- This yearbook contains a comprehensive
update on the current situation of indigenous peoples and their human rights:
2: Indigenous peoples practice
sustainability, but have not been widely respected for their practices. Now, in a number of projects, scientists
are working on combining scientific and traditional indigenous knowledge.
- The Inuits in the Arctic understands the
ice and seasonal changes of the ice as the breath of life called Sila. This
exemplifies that “oral traditions convey understandings that are much broader
than data”. Hastrup & Schaffer in "Communicating Climate
Knowledge" (Chicago Journals, website)
3: There is a wealth of
inspiration and knowledge on the richness of culture and human ability to
develop diverse answers to big questions that all humans have to find answers
to.
“ ‘Any existential human
problem will have found diverse solutions, which must be worth knowing about,
thinking about, and comparing’ (Barth 1994:5). It is this respect for the
diversity of solutions that may eventually dethrone our culture as the
yardstick for others and expand the world in which we all live.” Quote from Hastrup & Hervik: Social Experience and
AnthropologicalKnowledge. Universiy level textbook. (204 pages pdf)
- “Rocks or hills
can never meet. Only our peoples can come together”
A Pokot saying
from the biography of a Pokot man told by himself: Red-spotted Ox. A
Pokot Life. (395 p. pdf)
- A textbook on social & cultural anthropology ”Small Places, Large
Issues” by Thomas Hylland Eriksen is recommendable for high school and higher
education (Norwegian version :”Små steder-STORE SPØRGSMÅL”)
Films
etc. for observation and dialogue from
kindergarten and up:
- Women Potters. "As a girl I would
watch my mother working clay. She learnt from her mother and later taught
me". A film on the production of pottery by the Awajun women of the
Peruvian Amazon and its social, cultural, and economic significance. Film, 7 minutes.
Learning materials to take
into use from secondary level and up:
- ”Amazonia for sale” The Awajun people have inhabited the Amazon rainforest
since time immemorial, living in harmony with nature. This ecological balance
is now being threatened, but the Awajun fight back. Documentary 36 min.
- “Malaysian Indigenous Youth in the City … let us have a peek into their lives as they see it, eight Orang Asli and
Kadazandusun youths were given compact digital cameras and a little instruction
to document their lives, and the urban world they now find themselves in. The result is a collection of images
that tell powerful stories of life in rapid transition and of how indigenous
identities are being shaped and re-shaped”. Photobook, 109 pages. pdf
Learning
through actions:
- Help buy a bicycle for paralegals (Danish:
Advokatfuldmægtige) & learn about indigenous peoples in Tanzania click here
-Voice your support for the most vulnerable tribal peoples, those
who have the most to lose. They often face complete destruction from disease
and land theft. Deepening
Join http://www.survivalinternational.org/, check out the campaigns (more than 30). You can join a campaign by
writing a letter: A premade text is available and you may change and fill as
you find is best. Then the text is emailed to you as a pdf–file and it is up to
you to mail your letter to the responsible authority.
This process of taking your own stand and
write your own version is suitable for project work, where students do their
own fact checking, then take a stand and act.
… and finally ”The Good news :
…
Things are changing”. See some of the reasons for optimism: Link
This text is ”Teach GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP” Network Newsletter no. 6 ___________________________________________________________________
This text is ”Teach GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP” Network Newsletter no. 6 ___________________________________________________________________
To read any of the
previous newsletters simply visit the blog http://teachglobalcitizenship.blogspot.dk/
Yours
Egon Hedegaard,
Independent instructor and Developer of Education
Email: eghedegaard@gmail.com
____________________________________________________________________
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