Lesson 1

Who are IPs?

Learning Outcome:
At the end of the lesson, the
students must have:

1. illustrated the definition of indigenous

peoples based on international and local
perspectives.

Definition of Key Terms

Community. A social unit with commonality such as norms, religion, values,

customs, or identity.

Indigenous Community. Peoples and nations are those which, having a historical
continuity with pre-invasion and pre-colonial societies that
developed on their territories, consider themselves distinct
from other sectors of the societies now prevailing on those
territories, or parts of them.

Indigenous. Originating in and characteristic of a particular region or country.

Indigenous People.  Refers to the notion of a place-based human ethnic culture that
has not migrated from its homeland, and is not a settler or
colonial population.

United Nations. An international nonprofit organization formed in 1945 to

increase political and economic cooperation among its member
countries.

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 Concept Building:
What You Need to Know

Lesson 1: Who are the IPs?

Indigenous peoples

 The word “indigenous” comes from the Latin word “indigen” which means native or
original inhabitant. They are people who are the original inhabitants of the land.

 The word 'indigenous' refers to the notion of a place-based human ethnic culture that
has not migrated from its homeland, and is not a settler or colonial population.

 also known as First peoples, First Nations, Aboriginal peoples or Native peoples.

 are ethnic groups who are the original or earliest known inhabitants of an area, in

contrast to groups that have settled, occupied or colonized the area more recently.

 Indigenous peoples are inheritors and practitioners of unique cultures and ways of

relating to people and the environment (UN 2020).

 The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues has developed an

understanding of the term based on the following:

 Self- identification as indigenous peoples at the individual level and accepted by

the community as their member.
 Historical continuity with pre-colonial and/or pre-settler societies .
 Strong link to territories and surrounding natural resources.
 Distinct social, economic or political systems.
 Distinct language, culture and beliefs.
 Form non-dominant groups of society.
 Resolve to maintain and reproduce their ancestral environments and systems as
distinctive peoples and communities.

 According to the United Nations the most fruitful approach is to identify, rather than
define indigenous peoples. This is based on the fundamental criterion of self-
identification as underlined in a number of human rights documents.

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 In the Philippines, Indigenous People are commonly referred to as katutubo.
In Mindanao they are collectively called Lumad to separate them from the Islamized
ethnic groups in the region (Arquiza, 2016). The legal definition is provided by
Republic Act No. 8371 otherwise known as “An Act to Recognize, Protect and Promote
the Rights of Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples, Creating a
National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, Establishing Implementing Mechanisms,
Appropriating Funds Therefor, and for other Purpose.” Chapter 2 Section 3 (h) of R.A.
8371 refers to IPs as synonymous with Indigenous Cultural Communities or ICC, and
defines them as having the following qualifications:

*A group of people or homogenous societies identified by self-ascription and

ascription by others, who have continuously lived as an organized community on
communally-bounded and defined territory;
*Those who have, under claims of ownership since time immemorial,
occupied, possessed and utilized such territories, sharing common bonds of language,
customs, traditions and other distinctive cultural traits;
*Those who have, through resistance to political, social and cultural inroads of
colonization, non-indigenous religions and cultures, become historically differentiated
from the majority of Filipinos;
*Peoples who are regarded as indigenous on account of their descent from
the populations that inhabited the country at the time of conquest or colonization, or
of inroads of non-indigenous religions and cultures, or the establishment of present
state boundaries;
*People who retain some or all of their own social, economic, cultural and
political institutions; and
*People who may have been displaced from their traditional domains or who
may have resettled outside their ancestral domains.

Testing Your Brain Power:

How Much Have You Learned?

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Write concept/s on Indigenous People. Explain the concept/s or word/s you’ve written
based on your personal thoughts.

1.

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2.

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6.

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8.

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 9.

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10.

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“Write it on your heart

that everyday is the best day
in the year.”
-Ralp Waldo Emerson

Developing Your Higher Order Thinking

Make Your Stand… Answer the following questions.

1. What makes a person indigenous?

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2. What does it mean to be indigenous?

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3. How does UN define indigenous?

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