Are Indigenous and Tribal Cultures in Danger of Extinction?

Culture is a huge part of today’s society and defines who people are and where they

come from. Extinction in biology is described as the dying out of a particular species that

could be due to environmental factors.(Gittleman, Extinction 2022). When we look at the

danger of cultures going ‘extinct’ it becomes a pressing issue because certain people are

losing their identity. This has already been seen through slavery and colonialism. It is also

said that there is a mass language extinction, with a language going extinct every two weeks.

(United Nations, 2019) “Culture encompasses religion, food, what we wear, how we wear it,

our language, marriage, music and is different all over the world.”(Pappas & McKelvie,

What is culture? 2022)

Indigenous people are said to be distinct cultural groups that have ancestral ties to

land or the resources within the land. Despite the countless indigenous people that were able

to maintain their languages, the majority of them lost their languages due to evacuation of

their native lands and resources.(Indigenous peoples 2022).

This research question aims to discuss the relationship between indigenous cultures,

their customs and how they are related to the rest of the world. This could be positively or

negatively in terms of how they benefit the rest of society. Moreover I strive to display

different points of view regarding their reduction in population, and whether this drop in

population affects their ‘die out’ or ‘extinction’. This essay will look into the;

Manobo people who are said to be the proto-Philipene or proto-Austronesian that

migrated from South China and settled in different parts of the Philippines and the

Aboriginal people of Australia who are spread over several islands such as Tasmania, Fraser

island.
 The first perspective, conservation, from a commentary titled;’Protect indigenous

people’s rights to avoid a sixth extinction’(Wilkie et al., 2020). David Wilkie is the Executive

Director at Wildlife Conservation Society, Susan Lieberman is an author and the Vice

president, International Policy at Wildlife conservation Society and James Watson is a

Professor of Conservation Science at the university of Queensland.

They discuss how protecting indigenous communities is long term, a good solution

because of their advanced knowledge on health and natural disasters. Moreover,discusses

how humans' selfish habits have continued to neglect the Earth and its importance to our

sustainability as a society. The commentary discusses how there have been 5 extinctions,

most recent being the extinction of the dinosaurs. Indigenous people cover over 36% of

ecologically ‘intact’ forests yet they only make up 5-6% of the total human population. This

displays how worldspread their communities are thus serving multiple purposes all over the

globe. The commentary continues to state that when viewing the minimal loss of ecosystems

and species, it is said to be found in these ecologically intact communities where most of

these indigenous communities reside. These places are described as intact because they

contain a collective group of native animals and plants. These ‘intact’ places have been able

to remain this way because of the small indigenous communities that continuously protect

these pieces of land.An example of these ‘intact’ habitats is the Mindanao island which is the

second-largest island in the Philippines.The Manobo people have occupied the land for

centuries and use it for food and its natural resources. They found several ways to conserve

this piece of land by reserving certain sacred areas and restricting public access to the wild

life sanctuaries, also owing it to traditional beliefs that it is guarded by spirits (Jones, 2021)

The author also states that” Pangasinan is one of many areas around the world that remain

ecologically intact due to the conservation practices of Indigenous peoples or local

communities.” This continues to justify the importance of these communities and how if they
are not protected, society can lose the majority of its ‘conservationists.’ This shows that

indigenous cultures are still very important in protecting the planet and preventing climate

change. Moreover, their seclusion from the rest of society allows their community to be

protected from urbanisation and infiltration of modern day problems therefore meaning

they’re protected from extinction.

Conservation initiatives such as Sasi have been used by indigenous communities for

over 400 years. ‘Sasi’ is described as a traditional conservation system and natural

management that is used to regulate resources used in indigenous communities. It helps

protect the most vulnerable of the communities such as the women and children as well as

maximise on natural resources and protect the communities territories against development

projects. A case study conducted by the International Land Coalition discusses how the use of

Sasi has benefited and protected the Haruku community. The case study states that in 1998

the Haruku community was able to divert one of the largest mining companies in Indonesia

out of their small community. With the aid of their leader Kewang, they were able to govern

and monitor the implementation of Sasi. Despite this being an example from over 25 years

ago, it shows how impactful and efficient Sasi is as a conservation strategy. Sasi protects

indigenous cultures and traditions, allowing them to undergo their own laws and practices.

Firstly, looking at the strengths of the commentary,each of the authors credibility is an

asset to this perspective, because each of their occupations relates to conservation. Thus can

provide relevant information published in 2020. It provides relevant data to the current

situation of indigenous cultures and how they are affected by the current global situation.

Expert perspectives are provided, to justify their claims, i.e.those assessed by the

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).’Using an expert’s opinion shows

the authors were able to conduct proper research to present their claims.
 Looking at the weaknesses of the commentary, the authors digress from the main

topic of issue. For example, they start to discuss species loss;’If we are to minimise species

loss and a collapse in ecosystem function..’This digresses from the topic of discussion

making it less engaging, therefore making it less credible.

Secondly, assessing the strengths of the case study, the author provides a historical

perspective that provides insight to how Sasi was used in 1998. The benefit of this is that

there is a background provided to justify the benefits of Sasi, therefore providing more

accountability. It also provides an example of the Haruku community which uses Sasi for

their benefit. This shows that it is physically in practice, creating more credibility.

A weakness in the case study is that the author does not provide recent information on the use

of Sasi. Despite providing a historical perspective, the author does not discuss the use of the

conservation method currently.

The contrasting perspective,Globalisation can be described as the ‘ growing

interdependence of the world’s economies, cultures, and populations, brought about by cross-

border trade in goods and services, technology, and flows of investment, people, and

information’.(International economics, 2022) Globalisation is important in relation to the

indigenous cultures and communities, because it impacts multiple ways on how they are able

to sustain themselves. A Report done by Citra Hennida, Santi Isnani & Sri Endah Kinasih

discusses the impacts of globalisation on indigenous people and how it is causing them to go

extinct.

Firstly, the authors claim that despite global integration bringing people together to

share resources and opportunities, it has its negative effects on indigenous communities such

as ‘inequality, shifting power and cultural uniformity.’ This could be from unfair distribution

of resources, which could lead to high persecutions of indigenous communities. The authors

then provided an example whereby, the majority of negotiations between the government,
companies and investors, where industrial operations take place, involve little to no

indigenous representation. Therefore means that how the land is used is prioritised for the

investors, which may not seek the interests of indigenous communities.Thus, can cause

exploitation of their resources, leading to conflicts amongst the government an indigenous

communities.

Another claim that the authors make is that globalisation can lead to marginalisation

of indigenous people. By indigenous communities being made to integrate into society, ie

change in environment, food & resources it alters the definition of an indigenous community.

‘The UN defines indigenous communities as peoples and nations who have historic

continuity in their territory and who consider themselves to be distinct from other sectors of

society.’ Through integration and globalisation, it forces indigenous communities to alter

who they are which causes a loss in their identities and cultural norms thus resulting in the

dissolution and extinction of their communities.

Globalisation is a major contributor to inequality. The authors provide statistical

evidence from The World Inequality Report 2018; ‘ 1% of the world's population has 27% of

the world’s wealth. Regions such as the Middle East have inequality rates as high as 61%.’

This inequality creates a divide between indigenous cultures and the rest of society, despite

the efforts to bring the cultures together. Indigenous peoples make up 15 % of the world’s

extremely poor due to discrimination, which is a form of inequality(2023). One of the causes

is due to indigenous communities being uprooted from their ancestral land, and occasionally

face murder when attempting to protect what they own. Through European colonisation,

aboriginal communities lost the majority of their land and were denied to undergo their

cultural practices(2022). Despite colonisation being of the past, it still heavily impacts the

livelihood of their community. This therefore shows inequality being an aspect of

globalisation, causes more disruption than unity.

 Globalisation has also heavily impacted the conservation practice of Sasi. It is being

abandoned due to commercialization, industrialization and as well as migrants. This is

because the resources are no longer only available for the people in the local communities,

rather they are available for everyone’s use. This means that indigenous communities

continue to be left more vulnerable with the potential of exploitation.

The strengths of the second perspective are numerous. Firstly, each of the author’s

occupations;’International Relations Department, Communication Department & Department

of Anthropology.’ This makes each of them credible to discuss on the issues of globalisation

and how it affects indigenous peoples as a culture. Another strength of the document is the

use of statistical evidence. When discussing the claims of inequality, the authors provide

different statistics from different regions showing the impact. In addition, it shows the use of

research when conducting this argument. This research displays the extensive thought in

justifying the claims presented.

Despite the strengths in this document, a weakness noted is the use of outdated

resources such as reports from 1997. This depletes the credibility of the document because of

how the situation may have evolved from that time. As a result, it questions the validity of

reports used and relevance to the current global situation.

By expressing two different perspectives it showed me that indigenous people do

serve a purpose and could possibly continue to contribute to society. Nonetheless, despite all

their efforts, and conservation plans to help these communities, globalisation continues to

counter all these cultures therefore, making their communities endangered and close to

extinction. I mentioned in my essay how the whole concept of the ‘Indigenous movement’ is

an act of globalisation in itself, and I discussed the Aboriginal community. But assessing my

own continent, we see that these communities have been ‘commercialised’ which essentially

means their culture is lost. In East Africa The Maasai community has been heavily exploited
for tourism and their traditional designs. Large companies such as Land Rover and Louis

Vitton have accessories etc under the name ‘maasai’ yet 80% of the community gains 0

profits from this. Moreover, in recent events, we see the Maasais being evicted from their

native land in Serengeti to create room for trophy hunting to benefit high-end tourists. This is

the land that they use to graze cattle in large quantities and continue to benefit off of. This

begs the question as to if indigenous communities are worth protecting since they require

such large amounts of land whilst resources are scarce. In conclusion, this just presents how

despite the efforts of conservation, indigenous cultures are disappearing and it is

progressively getting worse.

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