What are indigenous peoples?:
They are called indigenous peoples to the ethnic groups that inhabit a territory in an original way and that precede the arrival of other ethnic groups to it, for which reason it can be considered a native population. They generally build their identity from their language, clothing, traditions, culture and physical features. However, There are various urban indigenous groups that have modified their traditional lifestyle. Both in Mexico and throughout the world, there are various indigenous communities.
As far as our country is concerned, these peoples are a fundamental pillar for the multiculturalism and identity that we were forged as Mexicans. However, the indigenous communities They were and, in many cases, continue to be ignored due to the hostility of the “modern world”, which considers that the project of progress is better than the original and traditional way of inhabiting the land. Likewise, they are usually victims of discrimination, classism and racism derived from the colonial system, the Europeanizing governments of independent Mexico and the capitalist system.
According to the United Nations (UN), the world population of indigenous people is estimated at 300 million to 350 million people who are part of 5,000 towns in 70 countries, including Mexico, where the indigenous population is estimated at 10%.
What are the original peoples?
The denomination of original towns applies to indigenous communitiess of America. With this he refers to the groups of humans descended from pre-columbian cultureswho continue to maintain their cultural and social qualities, as well as their language.
The use of this term became popular within university chairs as an alternative “politically correct” to name the indigenous communities. This has to do with the fact that the term indigenous It was used, throughout history, in a pejorative way. With this, certain minorities were belittled.
Enrique Francisco Antonio, postgraduate professor of Pedagogy at UNAMrecognized the stigma that was generated around the Indigenous villagesespecially during the colonial times. Well, it’s something that both Mexico, North America and Latin Americahave in common.
“The moment the invader stigmatized us, they pointed at us by calling us Indians; The pejorative term Indian was imposed as a form of discrimination and contempt against other human beings, who mistakenly claim to have a single truth in their hands,” he said in an interview for Gaceta UNAM.
On the other hand, the researcher Jorge Fernández Chiti also pointed out that Indian It is another common denomination for the autochthonous peoples of the American continent. This is because when Christopher Columbus arrived in America, he actually thought he had found the eastern coast of India. That’s where the term comes from.
However, Fernández Chiti considered in his article “Native peoples, Indians, indigenous or aborigines?” that such a denomination is ethnocentric and was imposed by the colonizers, with which they sought to destroy the identity of the peoples.
It is important to note that one more definition of indigenous peoples refers to the group of people who they are descendants of those who inhabited a place before the arrival of others and who make up a majority societyaccording to the anthropologist Stephen Corry.
traditions
Traditions are one of the elements that stand out the most in the original peoples. Together with other cultural elements, this is what gives them their own identity.
One of the strongest traditions of the indigenous peoples of America is the bond they maintain with Mother Earth.
Unlike the societies of the “modern world”, indigenous people have great respect for the Earth, because they understand that it is from there that life and death arise.
For example, in the prehispanic erahe agricultural calendar He was the one who dictated many of the important dates for the native peoples of Mexico.
seasons of planting and harvesting calculated with the help of the calendar are something shared by all the cultures that spread throughout the national territory.
This is how many of the customs and traditions of the Indigenous villages resemble each other, but with different names and dedicated to the gods of their region or culture.
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