Understanding the term “indigenous”

Understanding the term “indigenous”

The term indigenous is derived from the Latin etymology meaning "native" or "born within". It is defined as a body of persons that are united by a common culture, tradition, or sense of kinship, which typically has common language, institutions, and beliefs, and often constitute a politically organized group".

Considering the diversity of indigenous peoples, an official definition of “indigenous” has not been adopted by any United Nation system body. Instead the system has developed a modern understanding of this term based on the following:

·         Self- identification as indigenous peoples at the individual level and accepted by the community as their member.

·         Historical continuity with pre-colonial and/or pre-settler societies

·         Strong link to territories and surrounding natural resources

·         Distinct social, economic or political systems

·         Distinct language, culture and beliefs

·         Form non-dominant groups of society

·         Resolve to maintain and reproduce their ancestral environments and systems as distinctive peoples and communities.

Indigenous Peoples

Indigenous Peoples

Indigenous peoples are peoples defined in international or national legislation as having a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory, and their cultural or historical distinctiveness from other populations that are often politically dominant. The concept of indigenous peoples defines these groups as particularly vulnerable to exploitation, marginalization and oppression by nation states that may still be formed from the colonising populations, or by politically dominant ethnic groups. As a result, a special set of political rights in accordance with international law have been set forth by international organizations such as the United Nations, the International Labour Organization and the World Bank. The United Nations have issued a Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to guide member-state national policies to collective rights of indigenous peoples—such as culture, identity, language, and access to employment, health, education, and natural resources. Although no definitive definition of "indigenous peoples" exists, estimates put the total population of post-colonial indigenous peoples who seek human rights and discrimination redress from 220 million to 350 million.

Who are indigenous peoples?

It is estimated that there are more than 370 million indigenous people spread across 70 countries worldwide. Practicing unique traditions, they retain social, cultural, economic and political characteristics that are distinct from those of the dominant societies in which they live. Spread across the world from the Arctic to the South Pacific, they are the descendants - according to a common definition - of those who inhabited a country or a geographical region at the time when people of different cultures or ethnic origins arrived. The new arrivals later became dominant through conquest, occupation, settlement or other means.

Among the indigenous peoples are those of the Americas (for example, the Lakota in the USA, the Mayas in Guatemala or the Aymaras in Bolivia), the Inuit and Aleutians of the circumpolar region, the Saami of northern Europe, the Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders of Australia and the Maori of New Zealand. These and most other indigenous peoples have retained distinct characteristics which are clearly different from those of other segments of the national populations.

HAZARDS OF WOMEN'S WORK

Regarding the health of women in industry, much has been said and some definite investigations have been made. The influx of women into occupations to which they were unaccustomed caused great concern lest the hazards of their employment be too great. Scientific inquiries have been undertaken on certain questions about which there has been much conjecture, such as: 1. What are the relative effects of the industrial poisons upon men and women? Some poisons such as lead and mercury have already been shown to be more injurious to women than to men. 2. What is the peculiar effect of bad posture upon women? 3. What are the effects of fatigue upon women not found in the case of men? 4. Do the hazards of heat, dust, humidity, devitalized air, and weather exposure react particularly upon women workers? Many of these questions have heretofore been considered primarily in relation to the child-bearing functions. However, this point of view must be extended to facilitate the discussion of other factors whose importance arises from individual and industrial effects rather than racial effects; but which relatively are of great importance in dealing with the situation.

Industrial Workers and their Health: An Anthropological Reflection and Vision

Health problems in industry have been freely discussed during the independence period and some preliminary standards have been defined and partially applied. Beginnings have been made which promised much for the solution of some vexed labor questions. How much good will finally result now depends upon the way the temporary experiences are moulded together into a permanent labor policy.

Health problems were forced upon the attention of the country by the national exigency. Immediate independence needs required maximum production on the part of every industrial agency. It soon became evident that this level of production could not be reached or maintained except by the physical fitness of every unit. For the first time in generations man power was valued at its full worth. The old system under which men disabled by sickness or accident were scrapped and new men took their places, rapidly broke down. A "new industrial day" came for the worker. He was raised to the level of the machine on which he worked. Clear-headed people saw that the provision for care must be extended to keep the worker fit, just as care had always been extended to keep the plant machinery in the best running order and the dumb beasts well fed and efficient.

Herbert Spencer said more than a half century ago: Not only is it the event of a war often turns on the strength and hardiness of the soldiers, but it is that the contests of commerce are in part determined by the bodily endurance of producers. Already, under the keen competition of modern life, the application required of almost everyone is such as few can bear without more or less injury. Already, thousands break down under the high pressure they are subject to. If this pressure continues to increase, as it seems likely to do, it will try severely all but the soundest constitutions. Dr. Victor Vaughan said more recently: That government is the best which secures for its citizens the greatest freedom from disease, the highest degree of health and the longest life, and that people which most fully secure the enjoyment of these blessings will dominate the world (1).

Prof. Thomas Nixon Carver expressed more exactly the national significance of working power: The most valuable resource of any country is its fund of human energy, that is, the working power, both mental and physical, of its people. It is safe to say that any capable race of men who will conserve, economize and utilize that fund will be able not only to extract a living but actually to prosper in the midst of poor natural surroundings. On the other hand, if they fail to economize their fund of energy, if they waste and dissipate it, they will certainly decay in the midst of the richest geographical and material resources. With the return of peace and the demobilization of labor, there is danger that we may revert to the old standards and begin again our progress along the weary road toward industrial health. There are some clearly marked milestones, however, which will stand as guides.