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We are not myths of the past, ruins in the jungle, or zoos. We are people and we want to be respected, not to be victims of intolerance and racism.

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We are not myths of the past, ruins in the jungle, or zoos. We are people and we want to be respected, not to be victims of intolerance and racism.

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Rigoberta Menchú

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We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, We borrow it from our Children

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We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, We borrow it from our Children

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Indian Proverb

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Debating Imperialism is a bit like debating the pros and cons of rape. What can we say? That we really miss it?

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Debating Imperialism is a bit like debating the pros and cons of rape. What can we say? That we really miss it?

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Arundhati Roy

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The role of globalization is to homogenize all cultures, and to turn them into commodified markets, and therefore, to make them easier for global corporations to control. Global corporations are even now trying to commodify all remaining aspects of national cultures, not to mention indigenous cultures.

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The role of globalization is to homogenize all cultures, and to turn them into commodified markets, and therefore, to make them easier for global corporations to control. Global corporations are even now trying to commodify all remaining aspects of national cultures, not to mention indigenous cultures.

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Jerry Mander

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One major difference between our people and those of the dominant society today is humility. Among our people, no matter how far or how high a person goes, they know they are small in the presence of God and the universe.

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One major difference between our people and those of the dominant society today is humility. Among our people, no matter how far or how high a person goes, they know they are small in the presence of God and the universe.

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Lincoln Tritt

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Although we are in different boats you in your boat and we in our canoe we share the same river of life.

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Although we are in different boats you in your boat and we in our canoe we share the same river of life.

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Chief Oren Lyons

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I believe very firmly that indigenous populations had a really good, intuitive understanding of why we’re here. And we’re trying to gain that same understanding through psychology and intellect in modern civilization.

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I believe very firmly that indigenous populations had a really good, intuitive understanding of why we’re here. And we’re trying to gain that same understanding through psychology and intellect in modern civilization.

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Serj Tankian

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Colonialism. The enforced spread of the rule of reason. But who is going to spread it among the colonizers?

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Colonialism. The enforced spread of the rule of reason. But who is going to spread it among the colonizers?

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Anthony Burgess

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The truth is nobody can own anything. That was an unheard-of concept among indigenous people. We invented that.

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The truth is nobody can own anything. That was an unheard-of concept among indigenous people. We invented that.

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Tom Shadyac

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We are all indigenous people on this planet, and we have to reorganize to get along.

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We are all indigenous people on this planet, and we have to reorganize to get along.

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Rebecca Adamson

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This is a coca leaf. This is not cocaine. This represents the culture of indigenous people of the Andean region.

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This is a coca leaf. This is not cocaine. This represents the culture of indigenous people of the Andean region.

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Evo Morales

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One thing to remember is to talk to the animals. If you do, they will talk back to you. But if you don’t talk to the animals, they won’t talk back to you, then you won’t understand, and when you don’t understand you will fear and when you fear you will destroy the animals, and if you destroy the animals, you will destroy yourself.

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One thing to remember is to talk to the animals. If you do, they will talk back to you. But if you don’t talk to the animals, they won’t talk back to you, then you won’t understand, and when you don’t understand you will fear and when you fear you will destroy the animals, and if you destroy the animals, you will destroy yourself.

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Chief Dan George

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To watch us dance is to hear our hearts speak.

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To watch us dance is to hear our hearts speak.

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Indian Proverb

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When a language dies, so much more than words are lost. Language is the dwelling place of ideas that do not exist anywhere else.

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When a language dies, so much more than words are lost. Language is the dwelling place of ideas that do not exist anywhere else.

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Robin Wall Kimmerer

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English is so hierarchical. In Cree, we don’t have animate-inanimate comparisons between things. Animals have souls that are equal to ours. Rocks have souls, trees have souls. Trees are ‘who,’ not ‘what.

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English is so hierarchical. In Cree, we don’t have animate-inanimate comparisons between things. Animals have souls that are equal to ours. Rocks have souls, trees have souls. Trees are ‘who,’ not ‘what.

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Tomson Highway

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To our indigenous ancestors, and to the many aboriginal peoples who still hold fast to their oral traditions, language is less a human possession than it is a property of the animate earth itself.

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To our indigenous ancestors, and to the many aboriginal peoples who still hold fast to their oral traditions, language is less a human possession than it is a property of the animate earth itself.

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David Abram

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Teachers were powerful enough to kill the indigenous languages: they are not powerful enough to bring them back to life.

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Teachers were powerful enough to kill the indigenous languages: they are not powerful enough to bring them back to life.

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Andrew Dalby

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To be native to a place we must learn to speak its language.

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To be native to a place we must learn to speak its language.

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Robin Wall Kimmerer

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It was our belief that the love of possessions is a weakness to be overcome. Its appeal is to the material part, and if allowed its way, it will in time disturb one’s spiritual balance. Therefore, children must early learn the beauty of generosity. They are taught to give what they prize most, that they may taste the happiness of giving.

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It was our belief that the love of possessions is a weakness to be overcome. Its appeal is to the material part, and if allowed its way, it will in time disturb one’s spiritual balance. Therefore, children must early learn the beauty of generosity. They are taught to give what they prize most, that they may taste the happiness of giving.

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Ohiyesa

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Only when the last tree has died / and the last river has been poisoned / and the last fish has been caught / will we realize / we cannot eat money.

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Only when the last tree has died / and the last river has been poisoned / and the last fish has been caught / will we realize / we cannot eat money.

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Cree Indian Expression

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You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.

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You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.

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Mahatma Gandhi

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For Indigenous people, the goal for our land is definitely about protection, but it’s also about use. We see ourselves as so integrated with our territory that our protection is tied to our use and our use is tied to our protection. We use the resources on our territory to live.

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For Indigenous people, the goal for our land is definitely about protection, but it’s also about use. We see ourselves as so integrated with our territory that our protection is tied to our use and our use is tied to our protection. We use the resources on our territory to live.

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Rebecca Adamson

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The forest is not a resource for us, it is life itself. It is the only place for us to live.

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The forest is not a resource for us, it is life itself. It is the only place for us to live.

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Evaristo Nugkuag

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Everywhere is the center of the world. Everything is sacred.

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Everywhere is the center of the world. Everything is sacred.

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Black Elk

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What is life? / It is the flash of a firefly in the night / It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime / It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.

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What is life? / It is the flash of a firefly in the night / It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime / It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.

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Crowfoot

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Everything on the earth has a purpose, every disease an herb to cure it, and every person a mission. This is the Indian theory of existence.

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Everything on the earth has a purpose, every disease an herb to cure it, and every person a mission. This is the Indian theory of existence.

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Mourning Dove

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So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart.

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So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart.

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Tecumseh

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Thousands of years ago, civilizations flourished in Africa which suffer not at all by comparison with those of other continents. In those centuries, Africans were politically free and economically independent. Their social patterns were their own and their cultures truly indigenous.

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Thousands of years ago, civilizations flourished in Africa which suffer not at all by comparison with those of other continents. In those centuries, Africans were politically free and economically independent. Their social patterns were their own and their cultures truly indigenous.

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Haile Selassie

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Humankind has not woven the web of life / We are but one thread within it / Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves / All things are bound together / All things connect.

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Humankind has not woven the web of life / We are but one thread within it / Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves / All things are bound together / All things connect.

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Chief Seattle

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The problem with politicians getting to know the issues in indigenous townships is that we tend to suffer from what Aboriginal people call the ‘seagull syndrome’ – we fly in, scratch around and fly out.

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The problem with politicians getting to know the issues in indigenous townships is that we tend to suffer from what Aboriginal people call the ‘seagull syndrome’ – we fly in, scratch around and fly out.

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Tony Abbott

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Use the quotes to provide students with a quick access point into indigenous societies, prompt discussions and debates in your classroom, and introduce a range of influential thinkers.

We've arranged these quotes in a way that relates to our 5 Big Question framework for TOK, which is our favoured way of structuring the course. There are other ways to structure TOK, such as the Classic structure.

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