Self-Identification Is it the smallness in the population that matters? Or is it the proximity to one’s own land, and the corresponding longevity, and a conventional non-industrial lifestyle that make up the indigenous identity? An element of uniformity was achieved on defining certain groups such as the First Nation/Native American of North America, the residents of the Amazon jungles, Inuit from the far North and the indigenous groups based in Papua New Guinea. Out of the multiple attempts in search of a universally recognized definition, the one by Julian Berger, a UN official, stands important.
According to him, “the notion of belonging to a separate culture with all its various elements – language, religion, social, political systems, moral values, scientific and philosophical knowledge, beliefs, legends, laws, economic systems, technology, art, clothing, music, dance, architecture, and so on – is central to indigenous people’s own definition”. He further states, indigenous peoples: How about a compromise? We Keep the land, The mineral rights, natural resources, fishing, and timber, and we’ll acknowledge you as the traditional owners of it. ) Are the descendants of the original habitants of a territory which has been overcome by conquest; ) Are nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples, such as shifting cultivators, herders and hunters and gatherers, and practice a labour-intensive form of agriculture which produces little surplus and has low energy needs; ) Do not have centralized political institutions and organize at the level of the community and make decisions on a consensus basis; ) Have all the characteristics of a national minority: they share a common language, religion, culture, and other identifying characteristics and a relationship to a particular territory but are subjugated by a dominant culture and society; ( ) Have a different world view, consisting of a custodial and non-materialist attitude to land and natural resources, and want to pursue a separate development to that proffered by the dominant society; ) Consist of individuals who subjectively consider themselves to be indigenous, and are accepted by the group as such.
The contemporary understanding is that the indigenous peoples, in general,