Indigenous+People+Revised

= = **Indigenous People** Welcome to our Indigenous People Pathfinder. When using databases, you will need to log in to Moodle to get the user names and passwords.

When using ebooks, all you need to do is click on the **Read Online** button to start reading. If you need to print something, just click on the page you want to print and the print button will appear.

Questions--What's Your Opinion?


 * How do cultures change over time?
 * How are cultures alike and different?
 * How does location influence how people live?

Who are Indigenous People?

**Links to Background Information** 

Explore this United Nations website for a good definition of of indigenous people.

2) This magazine article from National Geographic Explorer has some good information about indigenous people, who they are, and why their culture is disappearing. Vanishing Cultures

Where do Indigenous People Live?
 * 1) This magazine article from Christian Science Monitor lists indigenous people by continent. If you are at home you will need the SIRS Discoverer user name and password to see this article. Early Inhabitants--Who They Are
 * 2) Go to the website Native Planet. Here you can click on the links on the left side of the page to find information on indigenous groups in the continents of Asia, Latin America, and Africa.

Groups of Indigenous People =Aboriginals= > You will need the user name and password for Primary Search if you are at home.
 * Take a look at a photo of an aboriginal man. Aborigine Man
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Learn about Aboriginal culture through this magazine article Aborigine Dream Time in the Outback

=Bushmen of South Africa=
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Find out about homes, customs, and culture of the Bushmen in this ebook. Bushmen of South Africa

=Inuits=

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 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Find out about the Inuit culture and way of life in this online Google ebook.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Who are the Inuits and where did they come from? Find out on this website from Library and Archives Canada. First Nations and Inuit
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Where do the Inuit live?

=Maasai= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = media type="custom" key="8245912" =Maori= = = = = = = = = =Mayans= media type="custom" key="8246004"
 * Take a look at the map.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Find out about daily life and culture for the Maasai on this PBS website. Meet the Maasai
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Read about the culture and stories of the Maasai. Find out where they are located in this online Google ebook.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Find out about the Maori way of life in this ebook. Maori
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Don't forget the library book with an old story from the Maori, //Punga the Goddess of Ugly//
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">See photos of Mayan people on this Native Planet website.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Learn more about the Mayan way of life in this online Google ebook.

=Mongols= =Polynesians=
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Who are the Mongols? Find out on this website from Kidipede. Mongols
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Find out about the Polynesians in Samoa. See their houses and find out about their culture on this website from the Polynesian Cultural Center

=Tribes of North America= =Yanomami=
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">This PBS website features four stories from Native Americans that talk about their cultures. (audio) Circle of Stories
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Learn some basic facts about the Yanomami from this magazine article. You will need the password for SIRS Discoverer if you are at home. Yanomami

<span style="background-color: #000000; color: #ff0000; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 190%; text-align: center;">Problems
 * 1) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Technology such as good sailing ships and guns had both good and bad results. Read this magazine article and see how Africa was affected by these things. If you are at home you will need the user name and password for SIRS Discoverer. Out of Africa
 * 2) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Nuclear testing--good or bad? Find out how nuclear testing affected one tribe in Arizona. Go to the PBS website Circle of Stories and find the heading //A National Sacrifice Area//.
 * 3) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Find out more about how gold mining, nuclear power, and water projects have affected indigenous people in North and South America. Go to the Circle of Stories website and find the heading //Land Issues//.

<span style="background-color: #000000; color: #ff0000; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 190%; text-align: center;">Native Groups in Poland Source: Anika Osuch, American School of Warsaw

Indigenous people are those who are:
 * 1. Who are indigenous people?**
 * living in an area prior to colonization by a state (which doesn’t refer to Poland. However after the wars the political borders of Poland changed several times and other nationalities stayed within a new territory of Poland while many Polish citizens were “cut off” from their motherland)
 * living in an area within a nation-state, prior to the formation of a nation-state, but who do not identify with dominant nation
 * who are descendants (great grandchildren, grandchildren or children) of either of the above
 * who are sometimes identified as “primitives”, “uncivilized” or “first nations”


 * 2. Indigenous people in Poland according to the definitions above**
 * Poland was not a colonial country. World War I, due to its cruelty and number of victims made many Europeans, including Poles doubt the value of civilization.
 * In the mid 20th century thinking of indigenous people and national minorities have changed. If indigenous people’s culture and other values have survived they were given the rights to protect them.

In Poland, I think, language of autochtonous minorities can be the main key to start talking about them. Language is a significant element of culture which is crucial for social identity. Each ethnic group, each nation uses its own language.
 * 3. What is the policy on minority languages that differs indigenous people in Poland nowadays?**

Poland is promoting regional cultures and shows a very positive attitude towards the languages of both ethnic and national minorities communities. In Polish parliament the national minorities have their representatives. There are schools in which the students may study in the language of their minority nationality.


 * 4. What are the autochtonous/ethinic groups’ languages in Poland?**


 * Regional group languages: Kashubian, Lemkish and Silesian dialect.
 * National minority languages: Byelorussian, Czech, Lithuanian, German, Slovak, Russian Old Believers, Ukrainian.
 * Diaspora languages: (these people do not possess their territory in Europe) Yiddish, Gypsy – Romany, Karaim, Grabar – the language of Old Armenian and Tatar.

Autochtonous minority populations in Poland (given in thousands):

Byelorussians 200-300 thousands Czechs 3 thousands Germans 300-500 thousands Armenians 5-8 thousands Gypsies 20-30 thousands Karaims 0.2 thousands Kashubs 350-500 thousands Lithuanians 20-25 thousands Lemkish 60-70 thousands Russian Old Believers 10-15 thousands Silesians unknown Slovaks 10-20 thousands Tatars 5 thousands Ukrainians 200-300 thousands Jews 8-10 thousands


 * 5. Review on a few significant minority groups residing within Poland’s borders.**

THE LEMKO OF POLAND When Communism has come to an end, the Lemko ethnic minority group is reviving its culture in a new atmosphere of freedom. This is a group living in the southeast corner of Poland. It is famous of attempting to reassert its cultural identity. Their weakness is that they have been not able to unify and create a strong political organization that could represent their interests. The northern slopes of the Carpatian Mountains in Poland (near the Ukrainian border) has been the Lemko’s home for centuries. They belonged to the eastern branch of Christianity, used the Cyrillic alphabet and spoke an East Slavic language – yet they were neither Polish nor Ukrainian. Their attractive onion-domed wooden churches are still to be seen in a difficult accessible mountainous region. They lived for many years in an area undisturbed by outside influences.

This situation changed in the 20th century and the two World Wars. In the interwar period, both the Poles and Ukrainians tried to get the Lemko to identify with their nations. No success, however.

In 1944, Poland and the Soviet Union agreed upon the transfers of Lemko to the Soviet Ukraine and Belorussia. There was strong pressure on them to move. At the end of the war the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) sent some of its members to fight against the Poles in the Lemko region. Whilst few of the Lemko actually sympathized with the UPA, they were perceived by Polish enemies. This conflict resulted in the worst tragedy to befall the Lemko in the 20th century. In the spring and summer of 1947 the entire region was depopulated. The Lemko were forced to move to the northern and western territories of Poland while polish settlers moved into abandoned villages and converted the Orthodox churches for Catholic use or left them empty. After 1956 some Lemkos were allowed to return to their homeland, but the question of their culture and identity was frozen until the fall of Communism, in 1989.

Many Lemkos are now largely assimilated into Polish society and returned to a rural farming lifestyle. They face some religious conflicts within its own group. There are between 50,000 and 150,000 Lemkos in the country. It is not easy to count the number of Lemkos ( note a difference in calculation. See above) since a large number of them identifies themselves with the larger Ukrainian community. There are now in Poland several schools teaching the Lemko language. There are two organizations formed by Lemkos in 1989.

Celebrations of Lemko culture include a festival of bonfire (Vatra). It is under a question mark what the Lemkos future identity will look like in Poland.

LITHUANIAN MINORITY IN POLAND Lithuanians are an indigenous people of the territories on north-eastern part of Poland. They lived there from the 13th century. Poland first time acquired its Lithuanian minority after the Union of Lublin in 1569. During the next two centuries, the Lithuanian minority, faced with the dominant Polish culture in the region, was subject to Polonization. In the late 18th century, after the partitions of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Lithuanians were under the pressure of the Russian Empire.

The end of the First World War was the beginning of restoration of independent Polish and Lithuanian states. During the interwar period both states faced with several conflicts. An end of independent Polish and Lithuanian states was put by the Second World War. Both countries fell under the sphere of influence of Soviet Union. The prohibition to speak Lithuanian in the public lasted until 1950. Also in these years the teaching of Lithuanian was introduced as a subject in schools.

Nowadays, according to Lithuanian embassy there are about 15,000 people of Lithuanian ancestry in Poland. There are Lithuanian publications co-sponsored by Polish government. This national minority has organizations that are promoting its cultural life. Lithuanian community has TV and radio programmes in its language, schools, libraries etc.

TATARS IN POLAND Polish Tatars, also known as Lithuanian Tatars or Lipka Tatars, originally settled in Lithuania at the beginning of 14th century. Beginning in the late 18th and throughout the 19th century the Lipkas became successively more and more Polonized. They shed their blood in all national independence uprising. The upper and middle classes in particular adopted Polish language and customs, although they kept Islam as their religion.

Initially served as a noble military caste, but later they became urban-dwellers known for their crafts, horses and gardening skills. Throughout centuries they resisted assimilation and kept their traditional lifestyle. Over time they lost their original Tatar language and for the most part adopted Polish. They remained attached to their religion (Islam).

In religion and culture the Polish Tatars differed from most other Islamic communities for their respect of the treatment of their women. They always enjoyed a large degree of freedom. Co-education of male and female children was the norm. Also their women did not wear the veil – except at the marriage ceremony. The customs and religious practices of the Polish Tatars accommodated many Christian elements. On the other hand they still are maintaining the traditions from their nomadic Mongol past, such as sacrifice of bulls in their mosques during the main religion festivals.

Today there are about 10,000-15,000 Lipka Tatars in the former areas of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Most of them reside in Poland, Lithuania, and Belarus.

In Poland, the Tatar population reached approximately 1000,000 in 1630. However the 2002 census showed only 447 people declaring this ethnicity.

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