indigenous people / minorities

Olympic Games: ‘Great Fun for Savages’

Published on August 15, 2004 by lorenz Posted in anthropology (general), anthropology in the news, history, indigenous people / minorities, Us and Them

The Globe and Mail

One hundred years ago, three Ainu couples, a lone male and two young girls travelled to the United States to take part in a living exhibit arranged for the crowds at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. They lived in a large thatched hut on the fairgrounds, part of a global village in which peoples from around the world — called the primitives — were on display.

In a run-up to the third Olympiad being held in conjunction with the world fair, U.S. officials organized something called Anthropology Days. “Hairy Ainus” were pitted against “savage Zulus” and other aboriginals in sporting contests to determine strength and speed. Anthropology Days was organized by the heads of the anthropology and physical education departments of the world exposition. The idea was to test the popular notion that “the average savage was fleet of foot, strong of limb, accurate with the bow and arrow and expert in throwing the stone.” The two-day contest was held in mid-August when many scientists were attending the fair.

The crown jewel was a 47-acre site organized by the U.S. government to display the conquered peoples of the Philippines, the newest American possession acquired during the recently concluded Spanish-American War. An homage to imperialism, the exhibit was designed to show how America would bring progress to savage peoples. >>continue

The Globe and Mail

Riddu Riddu Update: Nunavik rocks Norway

Published on July 26, 2004 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, Arctic / Northern Regions, indigenous people / minorities, music, Saami

Nunatsiaq News

Nunavik performers had enthusiastic audiences at last week’s Riddu Riddu festival in Arctic Norway, where attendance at the circumpolar arts, music and culture bash broke all previous records.

Some Sámi now consider Riddu Riddu to have more political importance than Norway’s Sámi Parliament or the Nordic Sámi Council. This year Sámi political leaders, including Sven Roald-Nystø, president of the Norwegian Sámi Parliament, and Ole-Henrik Magga, who heads the United Nations Permanent Forum for Indigenous Issues, were both on hand to underline the festival’s importance to the North. >>continue

Nunatsiaq News

Nunavik performers had enthusiastic audiences at last week's Riddu Riddu festival in Arctic Norway, where attendance at the circumpolar arts, music and culture bash broke all previous records.

Some Sámi now consider Riddu Riddu to have more political importance than…

Currently in Geneve: Meeting of the UN Working Group on Indigenous Population

Published on July 23, 2004 by lorenz Posted in anthropology (general), anthropology in the news, indigenous people / minorities, Native American

Main theme for the annual meeting is conflict resolution, the UNPO (Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation) writes.

A report was launched at the meeting in Geneva that states the potential for indigenous people to help curb the destruction of forests is being overlooked by the international community, according to a report, the BBC reports.

– The Guaraní community of Tentayapi, in southern Bolivia, one of the last bastions of the indigenous group’s traditional way of life, is fighting to keep a foreign oil company out of its ancestral territory. One of the community’s leaders, Saúl Carayury, told the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations, meeting this week in Geneva, that Maxus Energy, a subsidiary of the Spanish-Argentine firm Repsol-YPF based in Spain, intends to explore and drill for hydrocarbons on communally-owned indigenous land in Tentayapi according to One World England

Main theme for the annual meeting is conflict resolution, the UNPO (Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation) writes.

A report was launched at the meeting in Geneva that states the potential for indigenous people to help curb the destruction of forests is…

San Update: Defying Ban, Kalahari Bushmen Return to Reserve

Published on July 23, 2004 by lorenz Posted in Africa, anthropology in the news, indigenous people / minorities, San-bushmen

National Geographic

Botswana completed a multiyear process of relocating Bushmen outside the reserve. Xuxuri Johannes, a leader of the ragtag Bushmen’s rights group First People of the Kalahari claimed the move was designed to “create space” for diamond mining.

When I visited earlier this year, dozens of Bushmen had returned to the Kalahari to take up their old lives as hunter-gatherers in defiance of government edicts. Then, during a media tour orchestrated in March to show off the quality of life in the resettlement areas, reporters say they witnessed widespread hunger and more Bushmen streaming into the reserve. By late spring, the number of returnees was headed into the hundreds. >>continue

National Geographic

Botswana completed a multiyear process of relocating Bushmen outside the reserve. Xuxuri Johannes, a leader of the ragtag Bushmen's rights group First People of the Kalahari claimed the move was designed to "create space" for diamond mining.

When I visited…

Study examines how Inuit coped with contact

Published on July 21, 2004 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, history, indigenous people / minorities, inuit, Us and Them

CBC North News

A unique anthropology project is under way in Holman – part of a growing trend to try to understand history from an Aboriginal perspective. Anthropologist Don Johnson is studying the adaptations Copper Inuit made after Europeans arrived in the Arctic. He says in some ways his job is to re-write history – in this case, from the Copper Inuit perspective. >>continue (Link updated)

CBC North News