Defining Indigeneity and Multiculturalism

Defining Indigeneity

• ILO Convention No. 169 (1989) defines indigenous groups based on pre-colonial ancestry, distinct culture, and self-identification. This highlights potential for both empowering and limiting definitions.
• Martinez Cobo (1981) emphasizes indigenous people as non-dominant groups preserving ancestral territories and collective identity.
• Defining indigeneity poses challenges due to its reliance on historical, cultural, and subjective self-identification, influencing political and policy implications.

Integration to Multiculturalism

• 1950s integration policies (ILO 107) aimed to 'civilize' indigenous people, often with discriminatory outcomes.
• This is exemplified by policies like Brazil legally classifying indigenous people as minors unless integrated and Colombia exempting them from national laws under missionary guidance.
• A shift to pluralism and multiculturalism occurred in the 1980s-1990s with strong indigenous movements.

Key International Legislation

• ILO 169 (1989) rejects integration, promoting indigenous autonomy, pluralism, and cultural ties to land. It recognizes collective rights and natural resource access.
• 1990s reforms in Latin America strengthened constitutions to recognize indigenous autonomy, land rights, cultural practices, and justice systems. This strengthened collective rights but sometimes coincided with state withdrawal and neoliberalism.

Politics of Indigeneity

• Identity and authenticity are complex issues. Villaman & Hale highlight the limitations of an "authorized Indian" concept, while Ramos critiques the "hyperreal Indian" stereotype and Bessire discusses "hypermarginality."
• Recognition versus redistribution (Honneth & Fraser) shows ethnic politics often demanding recognition and difference, unlike other class-based considerations.
• New forms of discrimination against Indigenous people persist, sometimes through stereotypes ("good natives") and policies like Australia's cashless welfare card promoting paternalism.

Post-Development Thinking

• Escobar and De la Cadena advocate for place-based territorial projects respecting diverse worldviews, questioning development as a universal paradigm.
• Multiculturalism's limitations are also discussed, as inclusivity may often impose external development definitions.

Indigenous Communities in Colombia

• Indigenous participation in illicit economies (e.g., coca farming) is noted, creating paradoxical dilemmas regarding funding cultural traditions and exclusion from programs like crop substitution projects due to assumed victimhood.
• This demonstrates the tension between public perceptions and local realities.

Conclusions

• Indigeneity is a politically and legally constructed category with real-world impacts.
• Policies aiming for collectivity and equality can unintentionally disempower indigenous communities, obscuring the complexities of indigeneity.
• Essential questions about policy design—avoiding stereotypes and recognizing liberation under imposed categories—remain relevant.

Indigenous Peoples and Modernity

• Global indigenous populations are estimated at 370 million (UN). Indigenous groups are defined by concepts of seniority, non-domination, cultural distinction, and self-determination.
• Stereotypes persist regarding indigenous peoples being either backward/violent or simplistic/harmonious.
• Modernity/tradition dichotomies are a globally impacting and debated perspective on indigenous peoples.

Critique of Modernity/Tradition Dichotomy

• The dichotomy is often irrelevant because traditional cultures adapt and use modern elements and modern economies/industries hybridising traditional cultures.
• Change is often perceived as loss.

Colonial Present

• Ecuador's development discourse embodies colonial legacies which created social hierarchies persisting through modernization policies favoring urban populations over Indigenous counterparts.
• Indigenous women faced compounded oppression by gender, race, and class.

Gender and Development (GAD)

• Gender is socially constructed and hierarchical, favouring male identity. Gender intersects with other identities.
• GAD critiques WID, highlighting structural constraints as a contributing factor to gender inequality.
• Unpaid labour demonstrates women's disproportionate burden, while labor market segmentation leads to feminized poverty.

From WID to GAD

• WID (Women in Development) focused on women's roles in informal economies and entrepreneurship; GAD addressed structural causes of inequality and equitable gender relations.
• Reproductive Justice expands on reproductive rights to include the right to have children, parent safely, and address structural needs.

Decolonial Critiques of Gender and Development

• Critics like Mohanty challenge universalizing narratives and the idea of "Third World women" as solely victims.
• There are situations like the weaponisation of gender, evidenced by Laura Bush's rhetoric (2001) which reinforce colonial views on different cultures.

This quiz explores the definitions of indigeneity as outlined by key international conventions and scholars, examining the implications of these definitions on indigenous groups. It also investigates historical integration policies and the shift towards multiculturalism in the late 20th century, highlighting the struggles and achievements of indigenous movements.