What Does It Mean to Be Indigenous?

What does it mean to be indigenous?

Does it mean you have darker skin or defining facial characteristics? Do you dress a certain way or have a certain level of education? How are you viewed by the rest of the world?

There are large indigenous populations throughout the world, predominantly in the Americas, and there are a wide variety of traditions practiced by all. So, what is it that defines them as being indigenous? It is a challenging question: one that provokes interesting thought and an array of stereotypes.

The United Nations defines indigenous people as ¨those which having a historical continuity with pre-invasion and pre-colonial societies that developed on their territories, consider themselves distinct from other sectors of societies now prevailing in those territories, or parts of them. They form at present non-dominant sectors of society and are determined to preserve, develop and transmit to future generations their ancestral territories, and their ethnic identity, as the basis of their continued existence as peoples in accordance with their own cultural patterns, social institutions and legal systems.¨

I feel that this definition omits some other important, defining characteristics of indigenous people and it also leaves space for assumptions. In one of my classes last semester, during a conversation about the Zapatistas in Mexico, my professor said Subcommandante Marcos is not indigenous because he is very well educated. He actually isn´t indigenous and he is very well educated but the level of education a person has is not what defines them as being indigenous. This professor of mine may have been trying to state something else and simply misconstrued the context of her statement. Either way, I think it is important to know what makes indigenous people indigenous. I think how they are perceived is a significant factor in them being a marginalized part of society.

I would like to hear your opinions on what your view of indigenous people are. Send me an email or you can post a comment at the bottom of my blog. Thanks :)

El Cumbre de ALBA and Hugo Chavez

This past weekend was rather exciting for us!! Presidents from different Latin American countries came to have the annual Cumbre de ALBA, Alianza Bolivariana para los pueblos de Nuestra America, here in Cochabamba. It was basically a socialist gathering with a lot of blah blah and not a lot of doing anything, but I do have to admit it was rather interesting :) The main topic on the agenda was about developing a common monetary unit for all of Latin America, similar to the euro, in order to unite the Latin American economies and hopefully stabilize them. This is very unlikely to happen.....hence all the blah blah.

I'm going to have to brag for big about a little incident that occured saturday afternoon.

All of the Presidents that were here stayed at el Hotel Cochabamba, which is about five blocks down from my house, so Alanna and I made our way down to do a little President stalking. Hugo Chavez comes out, makes his way to his car, decides to have a little convo with a random lady in the crowd and then when he's about to get into his car he turns to me and says, "Where are you from?". I froze. So he repeats, "You, white woman, where are you from?". Needless to say I was in a bit of shock and also scared to say I was from the U.S. for fear of being tackled by Evo and Chavez supporters. After being yelled at by my friends to answer the man I said I was from the United States and he said, "Viva Los Estados Unidos!" (Hahaha, joke right??) Well thats what I thought so I didn't really respond and then he said, "you are my sister" and yet again I did not respond (you would think I had turned into a mummy). After that he got into his car and made his way down to the stadium to later call Americans gorillas because we are not able to think (really bad comparison). So it was more of a one sided conversation but in spite of that I was pretty excited about talking to one of the most famous anti-American, socialist presidents of our time. It definitely added to my experience in Bolivia and I owe it all to my pasty white skin and incredibly blonde hair :D

We conquered the mountain!!!!

Saturday morning we crawled out of bed bright and early to climb Tunari, one of several beautiful mountains surrounding us. We climbed for three and a half hours, a little over ten kilometers!!! It was a great adventure and a wonderful accomplishment completed with a magnificent view of the city. About half way up we encountered a park that looked like something that belonged in the jungle. The see saw was simply a huge log, the tire swing looked like something that came off an eightteen wheeler and the slide had a covering at the top of the stairs made out of straw. Needless to say, we had a great time and I believe there will definitely be more mountain climbing in our future! :)

Mallco Rancho

Hello again! Sorry for the long delay on posting a new blog……time sure does fly when you are in Bolivia!
This past week we went to Mallco Rancho, un pueblo thirty minutes outside the city, and we stayed for three nights and three days with different host families. While we were there we worked on the local school, along with Youth International, to help finish the construction of three classrooms. We were able to complete a lot of the project but unfortunately the rooms also needs roofs, something that we are not able to do because of the dangers involved. It is a bit of a discouragement knowing that the children will not be able to use the rooms for a while but here in Cochabamba, as I’m sure it is in other developing countries, that is how development goes. You build with the money you have and sometimes it can take years before the project is completed. They are at least one step closer to competing it and that is some comfort in itself. Progress was made and we now know just how much closer the children are to having new classrooms J.
The trip was a wonderful experience and I’m glad we went and stayed in the county for a while because it really put Bolivia into its full context. The majority of the population lives in the outskirts of the city and if you never experience life outside of the city you really cannot grasp how the campesinos live. Of course you cannot draw any generalizations as all of our houses varied considerably. For example, my family’s house consisted of three rooms, one being the kitchen, and we had electricity but no running water. The toilet was outside in a sort of outhouse, although the door was removable and it couldn’t stand up straight by itself so if you slanted it your bathroom experience was shared with the neighbors as well. There was no running water so you had to throw a bucket of water in to make it “flush”….quite an experience alone. I was never able to meet my host dad because he travels for work and he was gone during the three days I was there. My host mom stayed rather busy and was never home because of her long work day, so her children were left to tend for themselves. Her sixteen year old daughter assumed the role of mother once she returned home from school and continued to do her chores into the night…..a heavy role for a sixteen year hold….something I cannot imagine doing. For comparison, our friend Hannah lived in a rather large house that looked out of place in the country, and her host mom had quit her job in order to stay home with her children. The variations in poverty create different boundaries in the home life for family members, and it surely influences the quality of education they are able to receive and their future prospects.
The family structure and lifestyle is obviously very different out in the country, and the political life is interesting and intriguing as well. I had the opportunity to interview one of the community members and I gained an interesting perspective on how politics are viewed in Bolivia. Here the majority of the campesinos are Evo supporters (Evo Morales is the current president), but the man that I interviewed was not for several interesting reasons. Evo is a campesino himself and he has spent the last four years of his presidency promoting the indigenous culture. It’s great that he wants to promote the core culture of Bolivia but it has created a lot of racism between los campesinos and the people who live in the city. Evo has also promoted moving back to traditional beliefs and practices, which is great in its own sense, but it has also prevented communities from moving forward in development. Community justice is also encouraged which denies a more organized practice of justice such as a fair trial, things that we deem important in our own culture. It’s a brutal form of punishment and can often be taken out of hand, thus causing even more injustice.
It’s interesting to experience a political and family life so different from ours in the United States. I hope to learn more each day and I’ll be sure to update you all on all the exciting information that I gather!
Ciao for now!!