The Misconceptions of Indigenous People

It is amazing how easily people in this world skew words into meaning something totally different than what their actual definition is. Many times, people will hear a word and spin it to mean what they want it to, instead of what it actually means. One of the words that is commonly spun is “indigenous.” Many people hear the word indigenous and automatically think of a primitive group of people living in the middle of the woods who speak a dialect not known to “civilized” human beings. It is a real shame that this is such a common problem, as this couldn’t be further from the actual definition of the word.

In actuality, the word indigenous describes the original group of people who inhabit a specific area. For instance, Native Americans are the indigenous people of the United States. Therefore, indigenous does indeed carry with it the weight of describing a group of people that could be seen as “old,” but what it really describes is a group that can be considered the “original” people from an area. Bruce Parry, on his programme “Tribe” often speaks of the people he encounters in his travels as being “indigenous” to the area he is in, and this is where a lot of people get confused. Many of the tribes that Bruce Parry visits are in fact much more primitive than other societies in the world, and since they are also identified as being “indigenous” to the area, the two words often become intertwined and confusing.

The reason why it is important to clarify this misunderstanding is that, in essence, this is no different than a stereotype, and most people agree that stereotypes are harmful and unhelpful. This is not necessarily Bruce Parry’s fault, as his show does nothing to confuse the term “indigenous” with the term “primitive.” Rather, the problem is on the viewer’s end, as this is where the confusion originates. If we as a society can learn to remove the association between these two words, then perhaps we can work to break down the stereotype that indigenous people are also “below” us in any way, shape or form. The bottom line is that this confusion must be cleared as soon as possible.

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