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Writer's pictureNavya Prabhakara

Indigenous Communities: To Be Respected And Honoured In Our Society

We celebrate so many diverse cultures on this Earth and they’re all equally important. So many people respect and are a part of different cultures. Some are more common, others aren’t. No matter what they are, it’s extremely important that we honour these in our society to benefit us all. This was the biggest takeaway for me from our unit in social studies at school, which was about indigenous communities. Today, I’m going to be sharing some of my thoughts and views on this topic. 


When studying the Incas, I learned a lot, especially how human action can impact people, places and resources. With the Incas, it was colonialism that affected them. When Christopher Columbus returned from his voyages in America, he told stories of places adorned with gold to the people in Spain. Jealous of the amount of gold the Incas had, Spanish general Francisco Pizarro led a group of 180 people to invade the Inca Empire. They managed to successfully capture the Inca emperor, Atahualpa. In order to save his life, Atahualpa offered all of the gold and silver they wanted. However, Pizarro and his men were already in possession of the gold, so he declined. As a result, Atahualpa was killed. After the Spaniards invaded and then left, diseases spread through the empire. It was said that Atahualpa and his men carried diseases that could be fatal to the Incas. With very little medicine, the population faced a sudden decline, and there were almost no people left. No more farmers, herders and no more gold. Soon enough, the entire population collapsed, with no one left to live. Essentially,, human action killed the entire Inca empire, ruined the entire place and also stripped the Incas of all their resources (gold). 


Another example of how human action can impact people, places and resources is a Malay indigenous group called the Orang Laut. The Orang Laut used to live on Pulau Semakau, an island. However, colonialism happened, and assimilation occurred. The Orang Laut were forced to move from their home to mainland Singapore in 1948. They lost not only their home, but their culture too. Moving away from their home made them lose a lot of their traditions they had back in Pulau Semakau. The island that they once called home became a landfill. Moving to Singapore was hard. They couldn’t continue to fish and hold on to other traditions and practices they had back at the island. Therefore, they lost most of their culture while living in Singapore. This is called the process of assimilation, where the dominant culture takes over the original culture. As a way of advocating for the Orang Laut and bringing back traditional practices, Firdaus Sani, a descendant of the Orang Laut, has started the foundation Orang Laut SG, where he advocates for the Orang Laut’s right to their own culture and traditions. 


I believe it is very important that people advocate for indigenous group’s rights. Every group, regardless of their culture and beliefs should be treated equally on this planet. An example of how the Incas are advocating is related to the famous tourist attraction, Machu Picchu. Recently, it has been attracting too many tourists, and as a result, there has been overcrowding. However, all the profit made from the tickets has been going to the government instead of the Incan communities that live there. Therefore, the indigenous people are blocking the roads to prevent tourists from getting to the site while allowing the government to earn less profit. They are doing this to advocate for their rights. 


So, why is learning this important? How does it benefit us? Well, there are many reasons. 


Firstly, It helps us respect diverse cultures. Indigenous communities have many different and unique beliefs and practices. For example, Incas used to suck the moisture out of potatoes in order to help them last longer during winter months. During winter months, farmers would suck the moisture out of potatoes in order to make them last longer. They started by laying tons of potatoes on beds of straw or blankets, covering them in cloth and leaving them to freeze overnight. In the morning, the villagers would stomp on them to end the process. This is actually a really cool practice! By raising awareness and understanding these diverse cultures and practices, we can respect them and use them to benefit us. 


Secondly, it helps us recognise the contributions that indigenous communities make towards society. There are so many inventions and things in our lives that we use that started from indigenous people. Do we realise that? No! Did you know that Incas started the process of terrace farming? Nowadays, terrace farming is super common, and is used globally. By learning about this, we can recognise the contributions indigenous communities have made to our society. 


Finally, It helps us to promote social justice. By understanding how colonialism has affected the Inca Empire, we can raise awareness about the impact of colonialism. Additionally, it can help us continue supporting Indigenous rights and freedom. We can understand the importance and the experience that the Incan people have been through, which will add an additional layer of respect for their culture. 


Indigenous communities play an important role in our society, and make contributions that we don’t even realise or acknowledge. Therefore, I believe that it’s important to recognise them and honour their culture and practices within our society. 


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