Becoming aware
One of the central themes of my university education was recognizing the history and current struggles of indigenous peoples of the Americas (los indígenas, in Spanish). This point drew my attention particularly well because the more I studied Latin American history, the more I came to appreciate how distinct and beautiful each region and culture is, and how each one has been defined by the language, customs, beliefs, and also the oppression of its indigenous people from colonialism to the present day.
While teaching Spanish, I took passionately to the cause of raising awareness of these issues with my students and building cultural appreciation and sentiments of social justice into my curriculum. I believed it was my role as an educator to contribute to the "activism" of this movement in the best way I could: creating awareness through public education. I strove to inspire our next generation of young people with an understanding of the history of indigenous peoples and an of admiration for indigenous cultures, which to this day influence all of us more than we realize.
One reason I took to this cause so passionately was that I struggled with the fact that my own English colonial ancestors had been complicit in killing and oppressing the First Nations people in North America. It really was atrocious. It sickens me that so much wisdom and beauty has been lost and destroyed in the conquest of the Americas, not to mention the poverty and marginalization that persists today. In my travels, I strive constantly to put myself in a position to honor and learn from the indigenous people of these regions as a first step in righting the wrongs of my ancestors.
While teaching Spanish, I took passionately to the cause of raising awareness of these issues with my students and building cultural appreciation and sentiments of social justice into my curriculum. I believed it was my role as an educator to contribute to the "activism" of this movement in the best way I could: creating awareness through public education. I strove to inspire our next generation of young people with an understanding of the history of indigenous peoples and an of admiration for indigenous cultures, which to this day influence all of us more than we realize.
One reason I took to this cause so passionately was that I struggled with the fact that my own English colonial ancestors had been complicit in killing and oppressing the First Nations people in North America. It really was atrocious. It sickens me that so much wisdom and beauty has been lost and destroyed in the conquest of the Americas, not to mention the poverty and marginalization that persists today. In my travels, I strive constantly to put myself in a position to honor and learn from the indigenous people of these regions as a first step in righting the wrongs of my ancestors.
The meaning of "indigenous"
It is hard for me to offer a definitive description of what it means to be "indigenous" because I was not brought up in an indigenous culture, nor do I have a known bloodline to a First Nations tribe. But I would start with describing a sort of "connection with the land" and an ability to "live in balance with nature." Indigenous peoples--not only in the Americas but all over the world--were those who lived off of the land, who studied the seasons and the stars, and who conceived of ingenious mythologies to encode their wisdom and pass it down through the generations.
A member of the Makah tribe of northwest Washington state described it as (if I may paraphrase) a feeling that when you work with the land or if you reach down and pick up a rock, you know that your ancestors going back hundreds of years lived with those same rocks and worked with this same land. Activists throughout history such Rigoberta Menchu (representing the Maya-K'iche' of Guatemala) have claimed it as a right to human dignity and equality through recognition--both social and political--of the indigenous identity. Spiritual writers have described it as a kind of mystic awareness of the "spirit" present in all things and how when we feel this presence we feel no need to take from it, only to coexist with it. Still, the best description comes from a t-shirt I've seen among the Duwamish tribe in Seattle, featuring the face city's namesake, Chief Sealth, and the phrase, "I pay real rent."
A member of the Makah tribe of northwest Washington state described it as (if I may paraphrase) a feeling that when you work with the land or if you reach down and pick up a rock, you know that your ancestors going back hundreds of years lived with those same rocks and worked with this same land. Activists throughout history such Rigoberta Menchu (representing the Maya-K'iche' of Guatemala) have claimed it as a right to human dignity and equality through recognition--both social and political--of the indigenous identity. Spiritual writers have described it as a kind of mystic awareness of the "spirit" present in all things and how when we feel this presence we feel no need to take from it, only to coexist with it. Still, the best description comes from a t-shirt I've seen among the Duwamish tribe in Seattle, featuring the face city's namesake, Chief Sealth, and the phrase, "I pay real rent."
