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The Huichol and The Sacred Desert

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  Written by: Joseph Rector https://artoftheindians.wordpress.com/huichol-culture/ The Huichol are Indigenous people from the Western Sierra Madre mountain range in Mexico. The Huichol territory is in the states of Nayarit, Jalisco, Zacatecas, Durango, and San Luis Potosi   (Liffman 2014) . Over time the Huichol have seen their land shrink. There have been people trying to take land from and destroy the culture of the Huichol throughout history. Originally it was the Spanish colonists and missionaries who invaded the land to exploit resources and spread Christianity. Today, it is the Mexican government on behalf of various industries. Despite these challenges the tribe has managed to hold on to portions of their land and maintain much of the historical cultural and religious practices that have gone on for thousands of years. The Huichol beliefs and spiritual practices are strongly tied to the plants, animals, and land that surround them. Some of the many elements from the Huichol en
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Indigenous Americans Getting Through Covid

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  Written by: Zacharia Zimmerman Ognyan Yosifov (2020). The Kindred Spirits Choctaw Monument. [photo]. https://www .nytimes.com           “They’re the keepers of our stories and our history” (Gass, 2020). In a community where the elders are held to such high esteem a pandemic with the potential to dramatically effect the older demographic of a community can be a scary thing. The elders in indigenous communities are said to carry much of the culture with them and are the ones to rightfully pass it down through the generations. According to Glass (2020), reservation populations are disproportionately old and between chronic disease, living remotely, and an under resourced health system things such as tradition, tribal knowledge, and language are at risk of being lost if the response to covid-19 isn’t swift and effective. If they fail to protect their elders, they will possibly only begin to know the rhetoric and revisionist history commonly taught by the decedents whose ancestors conquer
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The Continuum of Hawaiian Sovereignty

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  Written by: Natalie Wilson Photo description: “In August 2019,  the Makaliʻi ’Ohana—based on Hawaiʻi island but with ties around the world—brought offerings and sung songs in honor of the Mauna and all who stand to protect her.” Photo credit: Kapulei Flores. Retrieved from “A New Documentary Centers Protest, Poetry, and the Fight for Native Hawaiian Sovereignty” Vogue. 19 February 2021. https://www.vogue.com/article/this-is-the-way-we-rise-documentary-protest-poetry-mauna-kea-hawaii “We are not American!” This is the cry heard across generations of Native Hawaiians; from Haunani-Kay Trask at the 1993 commemoration of the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian government to Jamaica Osorio facing off against police at protests to protect Mauna Kea nearly thirty years later, echoing down a violent history of oppression and cultural erasure in Hawaii. [1] The government of the Hawaiian Kingdom was illegally overthrown by white colonizers in the 1890s, an act which President Grover Cleveland
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Protecting Oak Flat from Copper Mines

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  Written by: Abby Stover Photo: https://blogforarizona.net/oak-flat-kirkpatrick-stands-with-mccain-flake-gosar-salmon-schweikert-franks-video/ In 1872, a small piece of land near current-day Phoenix, was designated as a reservation by President Grant.   It had been decided that this land would be the forever home of the Yavapai and the Chiricahua Apache Peoples.   Prior to this, these people had lived nomadically, never settling in one place, but following buffalo as they migrated each season.   The conditions on this land, the San Carlos reservation, were so poor that it was known as Hell’s Forty Acres.   While they did not end up living long-term on this land, the San Carlos Apache have remained fierce defenders of this space that was dedicated for their religious use.   One of the sacred spaces on this land is known to them as Chich’il Bildagoteel, or “Oak Flat” in English.   Oak Flat is where the San Carlos Apache still hold their coming-of-age ceremonies and gather annually to co
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Kuy People: The Lost Connection

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  Written by: Jae St. Pierre https://cambodiaexpatsonline.com/newsworthy/cry-alarm-prey-lang-wildlife-santuary-being-gutted-t38150.html Introduction to the issue The indigenous Kuy people in Cambodia have been struggling with the issue of illegal logging, land grabbing, and the effects that these actions has had on their community, culture, and well-being for a very long time. For this blog we will look at these issues with a time span beginning around 2011 to current time, as this issue is still ongoing. Introduction to the Kuy people From my research the Cambodia’s Kuy people live all over the northern, middle, and eastern areas of Cambodia, in provinces such as Mondulkiri, Rattanakiri, Preah Vihear, Stung Treng, Kratie, and Kampong Thom. The people who identify as Khmer in Cambodia would classify the Kuy and many other ethnic groups as “ethnic minorities, hill tribes, Khmer Loue and more dehumanizing terms”, all meaning that these people are “primitive” or “savages”, which is just n
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Where Are They?

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  Written by: Jessica Schneider Image credit: Lorie Shaull         The Native populations across North America have a massive problem on their hands. Thousands of their women have gone missing or been murdered over the years with little to no news coverage or acknowledgment from the United States or Canada. The safety and well beings of ingenious women, girls, and two spirited people have been silenced for long enough. Women are starting to speak out about the violence going on, both on the reservations and in urban environments. According to statistics taken in 2019, Indigenous women are 10 times more likely to be murdered than the rest of the United States’ population (“The Tragedy of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women”, 2019). 1 out of 2 women will experience some kind of sexual violence within their lifetime. In Erik Ortiz’s article, Why It’s Difficult To Track Cases of Missing and Murdered Native American Women and Girls , he quotes that “nearly 60 percent of the cases are homi
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Free the Flag Movement

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  Written by: Traci Preston https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/aug/22/freeing-the-aboriginal-flag-how-a-uniting-symbol-ended-up-in-the-hands-of-the-few The hashtag “Free the Flag” movement made considerable headway during 2020. The aboriginal flag since its creation has appeared on everything around Australia. However, in 2019 some Aboriginal people had been ordered to stop using it. Aboriginals creators like the Clothing the Gap which is an Aboriginal owned and led social enterprise and fashion label that is based in Preston that commit 100 percent of their profits to support health promotion activities in Aboriginal communities. Few people, Aboriginals included, knew about copyright laws that constrained the use of the flag. As it stands, even Aboriginal groups must pay a non-Aboriginal-run business to use the flag on clothing and merchandise. This was met with much outcry and anger. Increased pressure put on the Australian government has led them to finally take action
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