Do Indigenous Peoples Benefit from Development?

SCHOOLING THE WORLD

THE FILM

STW STORE

Home / Reso urc es / Es s ay s & ar t icles / Do I ndigenous Peoples Benefit fro m D e ve lo p me n t?

Do Indigenous Peoples Benefit

from Development?

by Stephen Corry

WHATS DEVELOPMENT FOR? That may be straightforward to people who

dont
have water or food, or sewerage in urban areas (faecal contamination is the biggest,
easily preventable, manmade killer). But, although millions still lack such basics, they
form only a tiny part of what passes for development these days. The duplicity of
politics and business ensures much else arms, for example is shoehorned into the
same category.
What should development mean for those who are largely self-sufficient, getting their
own food and building their dwellings where the water is still clean like many of
the worlds 150 million tribal people? Has development got anything helpful for
them, or has it simply got it in for them?
Its
easy to see where it has led. Leaving aside the millions who succumbed to the
colonial invasion, in some of the worlds most developed countries (Australia,
Canada and the US) development has turned most of the survivors into dispossessed
paupers. Take any measure of what it ought to mean: high income, longevity,

employment, health; low rates of

addiction, suicide, imprisonment and domestic
violence, and you find that indigenous people in the US, Canada and Australia are
by far the worst off on every count but no one seems to heed the lesson.
These are the consequences of a dispossession more total in North America and

Australia than almost anywhere on Earth. The colonists were determined to steal
tribal lands, and unquestioning about their own superiority. They espoused politicoeconomic models in which workers produced for distant markets, and had to pay for
the privilege. The natives, using no
money, paying no taxes, contributing little to the
marketplace until forced to, were backward. At best, they were to be integrated to
serve colonist society.
Colonialism set out to take away their self-sufficiency, on their own territory, and lead
them to glorious productivity, as menials, on someone elses. Theres little point in
calling for retroactive apologies for this
because its not confined to the past: most
development schemes foisted on tribal peoples today point in exactly the same
direction.

http://schoolingtheworld.org/resources/essays/development/[16/11/2015 15:40:12]

FAQ

RESOURCES

BLOG

CONTACT

Do Indigenous Peoples Benefit from Development?

Two of its main themes are housing and education. Traditional housing has many
benefits not least the fact that its free but development decrees it must be
replaced by modern dwellings. In West Papua, the tribespeople put their pigs in the
new houses and live in the old. Rwanda recently outlawed thatch altogether;
everyone must use metal sheets, by law.
So what about modern
education? In Australia, mixed-race children were forced into
distant boarding schools to breed out their Aboriginalness and turn them into an
underclass. From frozen Siberia to sunlit Botswana, boarding schools remain a main
plank in integrationist policies, which destroy more than educate. Its no hidden
conspiracy: its openly designed to be about turning people into workers, scornful of
their own tribal heritage.
Many indigenous people have observed that even the modern medical attention they
might receive from the wealthiest governments doesnt begin to solve the
illnesses
the same governments policies have inflicted on them. It isnt backwardness that
makes many tribal peoples
reject development projects, its rational anxiety about the
future.
As for largescale infrastructure development dams and mines, even irrigation its
real effect on the ground is invariably to enrich the elites
while impoverishing the
locals.
So is it possible to
offer tribal peoples any truly beneficial development? Yes, if we

accept their right to reject what we, with our advanced wisdom, can give; we have
to stop thinking them childish when they make decisions we wouldnt. Everyone
wants control over their future, and not everyone wants the same things out of life,
but such truisms are
hardly ever applied.
Development, at least for most tribal peoples, isnt really about lifting people out of
poverty, its about masking the takeover of their territories. The deception works
because the conviction we know best is more deeply ingrained even than it was a
generation ago; Victorian-era levels of narrow-mindedness are returning. As a
Botswana Bushman told me: First they make us destitute by taking away our land,
our hunting and our way of life. Then they say we are nothing because we are
destitute.
In a 21st century of
expensive water, food, housing, education, healthcare and power,

self-sufficiency has its attraction. It may not boost GDP figures, but there are many
tribal peoples in the world who live longer and healthier
lives than millions in
nearby slums. Whos to say theyve made a bad choice?
Stephen Corry is Director of Survival International and author of Tribal Peoples for
Tomorrows World.

1 COMME N T

Andreas
10-30-2015

0 TRACKBAC K

A very well written article which unfortunately most non

indigenous individuals accept any responsibility for. Australia and

Canada both undertook similar policies in education. The

education discussions of WIPCE do hold some promise but it is
only when indigenous
people take total control that some progress
is possible and it is key to teach children who they are and where
they come from.
reply

http://schoolingtheworld.org/resources/essays/development/[16/11/2015 15:40:12]

Do Indigenous Peoples Benefit from Development?

Leave a Reply
NAME *

EMAIL *

WEBSITE

Submit

Notify me of follow-up comments by email.

Notify me of new posts by email.

The Film

Resources

Essays &
Articles

STW Blog

Trailer

Video

Film clips

Books & films

The Other Way of Knowing

Occupy Your Brain

Reviews and response

Essays & articles

To Hell With Good

Three Cups of Fiction

in town ;0)

The Future of Big-Box

Join us on
Facebook!

A Thousand Rivers

Twitter
@aenclade Maybe
they'd like to come to
Park Day when they're

Intentions
Screenings

Research
Education is Ignorance

People

For Educators

Press kit

Get involved

Do Indigenous Peoples

Schooling

Benefit from

Photo gallery

Development?

Discussion guide

Indigenising Curriculum:
Questions Posed by Baiga

Schooli
13k likes

Vidya
Indigenous Knowledge
Systems / Alaska Native

Like Page

Ways of Knowing
Childhood in an Indian
Village

2015 Schooling the World | info@schoolingtheworld.org

http://schoolingtheworld.org/resources/essays/development/[16/11/2015 15:40:12]

Be the first of your

friends to like this