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What does it mean to be Indigenous? Watch the 2 video clips and share your ideas below in a comment

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What does it mean to be Indigenous? Watch the 2 video clips and share your ideas below in a comment

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A Conversation With Native Americans on Race | Op-Docs

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Quotes from  “Body Ritual Among The Nacirema.” by Horace Miner (1956)

I was able to establish sufficient rapport with the natives to examine these shrines and to have the rituals described to me

The daily body ritual performed by everyone include a mouth-rite. Despite the fact that these people are so punctilious about care of the mouth, this rite involves a practice which strikes the uninitiated stranger revolting. It was reported to me that the ritual consists of inserting a small bundle of hog hairs into the mouth, along with certain magical powders, and then moving the bundle in a highly formalized series of gestures.

Our review of the ritual life of the Nacirema has certainly show them to be a magic-ridden people. It is hard to understand how they have managed to exist so long under the burdens which they have imposed upon themselves.

Looking from far above, from our high places of safety in the developed civilization, it is easy to see all the crudity and irrelevance of magic. But without its power and guidance early man could not have mastered his practical difficulties as he has done, nor could man have advanced to the higher stages of civilization

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Read the quotes of the study and then give your opinion below. What kind of Indigenous Society do you think this is? What are their rituals? 

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Read the quotes of the study and then give your opinion below. What kind of Indigenous Society do you think this is? What are their rituals? 

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Body Ritual of the Nacirema *Spoiler Alert*

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What do you now now about the Nacirema? What surprised you?

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In your journal (here in the comments below, in your physical journal or on your class notes google doc), answer the following questions

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What is the role of language when learning about different cultures?

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What is the role of language when learning about different cultures?

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As an “outsider”, can we know and speak about the knowledge held by a different cultural group?

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As an “outsider”, can we know and speak about the knowledge held by a different cultural group?

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To what extent does looking at another culture as “The Other” affect the way we judge and value it?

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Tribe Faces Extinction Over Colombian Oil Reserves (2001)

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Watch the video about the U’wa dispute with the Colombian government regarding oil and answer the following questions below / in your journal OR google doc,

How important is their land and oil to the U'was, compared with the western view? Do you think that one of these two visions is biased? Why?

Could a different perception of nature imply a different way of living? Can you imagine what your perspective would be like if you had a different perception of nature, such as the Uwa’s have?

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Do you agree with the statement: ‘oil is the blood of the “mother nature” (pacha mama) and that is why it can’t be extracted’

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Do you agree with the statement: ‘oil is the blood of the “mother nature” (pacha mama) and that is why it can’t be extracted’

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To what extent does our culture determine our actions? To what extent are we free when making our daily decisions?

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To what extent does our culture determine our actions? To what extent are we free when making our daily decisions?

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My example: Sámi people of Finland. The EUs only indigenous tribe

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My example: Sámi people of Finland. The EUs only indigenous tribe

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UN finds Finland violated political rights of indigenous Sámi people

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The UN’s Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has been looking into the sensitive issue about who is eligible to be included on the Sámi electoral roll.

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The day of 9 August is celebrated as the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples. On this occasion, we will have a look at the folklore of the ethnographic, ethnic and national minorities living in Poland as well as the Poles living in other countries.

Although Poland is considered a relatively homogenous country with regard to the nationality and religious affiliation of its citizens, some of them declare a dual national and ethnic status. Such a situation is quite common in the province of Silesia (Śląsk), where according to the Statistics Poland (GUS) data of 2011 close to 390,000 people stated dual nationality, and Kashubia (Kaszuby), where a similar status was declared by 214,000 local inhabitants. Dual Polish-Jewish nationality was recorded for close to 5000 people, Polish-Lemko 2600 and Polish-Romani 4500. The National Census of late March 2011 also found that almost 3000 people thought themselves as Polish Highlanders.

National and ethnic identification other than Polish was specified by nearly 680,000 people in total, including:

- Kashubian (17746)

- Kocievian (19)

- Lemko (7086)

- Masurian (252)

- Highlander (96)

- Silesian (435750)

- Greater Polish (468)

- Jewish (2488)

In terms of population, Silesian national and ethnic identification comes second after Polish.

The Lemkos used to populate the area of the Low Beskids (Beskid Niski) and the Bieszczady Mountains. Similar to other Ruthenians - the Boykos and the Hutsuls, they were persecuted after the Second World War and were driven away from their own households. Some of them were forcefully relocated to western and north-western Poland as part of the so-called Operation Vistula in 1947.

Lemko music reveals Polish, Slovakian and Ukrainian traits. One of its most characteristic features is the use of polyphonic singing. The earliest type of Lemko ensemble consisted of a fiddler and a bass fiddle player, who were later augmented by a second fiddler playing either a third part (kontra) or doubling the first fiddle (husli).

Interesting samples of Lemko music, including instrumental pieces, can be found on a CD album released by Polish Radio, Mniejszości narodowe i etniczne w Polsce cz. I (National and Ethnic Minorities in Poland Part 1).

The borderland is an exceptionally fascinating part of the country as far as different nationalities are concerned. It is a mixture of languages and cultures, and people often describe themselves simply as 'local', e.g. the Belarusians from the province of Podlasie (Podlachia) often characterise themselves as 'Orthodox local'. The region itself is an immensely exciting ethno-musical area inhabited by Poles, Ukrainians, Belarusians (the last two differing from the native Poles not only because of their languages but also their Orthodox Christian faith) and formerly also Jews. The people often sing in the so-called gwara chachłacka (a Podlachian microlanguage). It exhibits a mixture of Ukrainian, Belarusian and Polish elements, and basically exists only in the spoken (oral) form. Originally, the designation Chachły (Khokhols) was commonly used as a Russian slur for the Ukrainians.

There are some interesting bilingual songs that still exist in Masuria (Mazury). In the past, the area absorbed both Polish and German idioms and these two languages are needed to understand the songs. Anna Lorkowska (born in 1906 in Nowa Kaletka, Olsztyński Poviat, who lived in the village of Przykop) sang the song called Nasz parobek unser Knecht zabił pieska das war recht
Nasz parobek unser Knecht / Our farmhand unser Knecht zabił pieska das war recht / killed a dog das war recht Na kamieniu auf den Stein / On the stone auf den Stein Kele wodi Wasser lein / Near the water Wasser lein
Before the Second World War, Jews made up 10% of all the citizens of Poland, which roughly amounted to 3 - 3.5 million people. At that time, the Jewish folklore was diligently documented by Menachem Kipnis, but sadly his collection was later destroyed during the war. Post-war recordings are scarce. The Phonographic Collection of the Institute of Art, Polish Academy of Sciences houses recordings with a Jewish-born violinist, Barbara Wolfowicz. Polish Radio (Polskie Radio) is in the possession of materials featuring Majer Bogdański from Piotrków Trybunalski. However, the artist did not learn to play until after the war when he was eager to perform folk music saved in memory.

Worth mentioning here are publications by Michael Aylward, who was an enthusiast of Jewish music, including the repertoire performed in Poland before the Second World War.

I wrote about the interrelationships between Jewish folklore and Polish folklore in one of my earlier essays. Today, Jewish types of polka, such as żydóweczka and szabasówka, can only be heard in the repertoire of native Polish musicians.

When discussing minorities, we must not forget about the large Polish diaspora abroad. What can we say about Polish folklore practised in other countries? Extensive ethnomusicological studies relating to the topic have been conducted in the academic and scholarly centre in the city of Poznań (notably represented by Prof. Bożena Muszkalska, Łukasz Smoluch and formerly also Prof. Jan Stęszewski). Polish Radio has released several CD albums dedicated to the Polish diaspora in Kazakhstan, Romania, Ukraine, Brazil and Argentina.

Our fellow Polish countrymen first arrived in South America in the late nineteenth century. The bulk of them came from the northern part of the Polish province of Mazowsze (Mazovia). There were so many of them that the whole period was dubbed the 'Brazilian fever' ('gorączka brazylijska'). The theme of Polish emigration to South America was extremely popular in the inter-war period too.

As Prof. Piotr Dahlig points out, Polish music recorded in Argentina and Brazil often resembles the domestic Polish repertoire. The main difference, however, lies in the fact that the tempo of the tunes seems to be demonstrably slower, although it is hard to say whether it indicates the original tempo used in the nineteenth century or an evolutionary step developed in South America. I warmly recommend listening to a CD released by Polish Radio (Polskie Radio), which contains music performed by Polish-Brazilian conjunta (ensembles).

Poles do not only live in South America - they form quite a sizeable diaspora in North America as well. There are numerous archival recordings of Polish folk artists from the Chicago area, where most of the Polish Americans come from. Especially intriguing is the phenomenon of the so-called polka chicagowska ('Chicago polka'), a topic I will pick up in my next essay. In the meantime, you may want to enjoy watching the comedy The Polka King to gain some contextual knowledge.

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The day of 9 August is celebrated as the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples. On this occasion, we will have a look at the folklore of the ethnographic, ethnic and national minorities living in Poland as well as the Poles living in other countries.