nPostednon August 9, 2016
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n Itnis a tricky thing to talk about “Indigenous Peoples” – because indigenous means “originating in a particular place.” Whennwe talk about a plant or animal that is indigenous to a particularncontinent, region, or island, we mean that evidence shows that thatnparticular species of plant or animal originated in that place.
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nFornexample, a kind of bird with a strong beak that can crack open nutnshells might evolve on an island because there are nuts available innabundance there, and there is no competing species eating those nuts.nn
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nWell,nwhen we are talking about people, we are all one species, and thatnspecies evolved in (originated in) Africa.
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nSo, what does it mean to talk about peoplenindigenous to Australia, or Alaska, or Brazil?
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nArenthose people some other species, with a completely separate evolutionnfrom the rest of us?
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nOfncourse not! Like I said, humans are humans – just one species –nHomo sapiens sapiens. Like I said, our species originated innAfrica and spread out all over the world:
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nStill, Indigenous Peoples means something!
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nI’ve been focusing on thenword indigenous…but what about the word peoples?
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nNow,npeople is a tricky word. We usually use it as the plural formnof the word person: There is one person waiting to see thennext president of the United States…now there are five peoplenwaiting…now there are lots of people waiting in a long, twistingnline. (This usage is made more complicated by the fact that we can also usenpersons as the plural of person!)
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nAndnit is this cultural group that has originated in a particularncontinent, region, or island. We are not talking about a separatenbiological species, but rather a separate social group.
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| These days, many Indigenous People choose to wear modern clothes that are commonly seen all over the world. Some at least at times choose to wear traditional clothing, or a mix of traditional and modern clothing. |
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n2016nInternational Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples n
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| “Education” isn’t just for kids (above). It’s for adults, too (below). |
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nThisnyear’s theme is Indigenous Peoples’ right to education. People arentrying to make sure everyone has equal access to all levels ofneducation and vocational training. Along with people withndisabilities, refugees, and people in war-torn countries or othernunstable situations, Indigenous populations in many places in thenworld often face gaps in educational access.
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| Sugata Mitra didn’t just “think up” this philosophy – that kids can learn anything (or almost anything?) by themselves – he has shown it over and over again in some marvelous experiments! |
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nAlso on this date:
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nAuthornP. L. Travers’s birthday
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nAnniversarynof Jesse Owens’s fourth gold medal
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nSmokeynthe Bear’s birthday
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nTanabata 2016
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Plannahead:
Plannahead:
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Checknout my Pinterest boards for:
Checknout my Pinterest boards for:
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n Augustn holidays
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n Augustn birthdays
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nn Historicaln anniversaries in August
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nAndnhere are my Pinterest boards for:
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n Septembern holidays
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n Septembern birthdays
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nn Historicaln anniversaries in September
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