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Guatemala indians

Highland Maya of Guatemala have one of the most colorfully dresses in the Americas. While traditional native dress has disappeared in many parts of the world, Guatemala remains a place where a high percentage of the indigenous people still proudly wear their traditional dress.

Moreover, in Guatemala, Maya dresses is village-specific or language-group related. Thus, with dozens of Indian towns and villages, and 21 different Mayan ethnolinguistic groups represented, the variety of indigenous costume is truly dazzling.

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Aborigenes more likely to be jailed in Australia

Aborigines are 13 times more likely to be jailed than other Australians and the government must step up efforts to tackle drug and alcohol abuse fuelling crime in indigenous communities, researchers said today.

Almost a quarter of all prisoners are indigenous even though Aborigines make up just 2 percent of the population, according to a report by the Australian National Council on Drugs.

“The figures are appalling,” Gino Vumbaca, the council’s executive director, said in a telephone interview. “Every family in indigenous communities knows somebody who has been to prison or is in prison.”

Aborigines remain the poorest and most disadvantaged group in Australian society, more than 200 years after Europeans settled the nation in 1788. Their life expectancy is 17 years less than other Australians and they are three times more likely to experience coronary problems, according to the Australian Medical Association.

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via Examiner:

Indigenous people around the globe are finding their voices and rewriting history, or should it be called, correcting history, because now they are included. The film industry is another medium enabling indigenous filmmakers in their efforts to let the world know of the existence of ancient cultures thought to have long ago disappeared.

In the spring of 2007, the filming of a documentary about the Ainu culture in Tokyo was begun. The film, “TOKYO Ainu” is a series of interviews with various members of the Ainu community of Tokyo thought to have been assimilated and so no longer in existence as their original ancient culture.

The traditional homeland of the Ainu, Japan’s indigenous people, is Hokkaido, formerly Ezo. Today, the number of Ainu living in greater Tokyo has been estimated to be between 5,000 and 10,000. The major city offers economic advantages and the people suffer less discrimination according to one interviewee who has participated in the film. In the film, Ainu who have relocated to Tokyo but have retained their Ainu identity, reveal how their culture affects their life among other Japanese who don’t understand them and what pressures they must deal with. Like other indigenous cultures, the Ainu also experienced the loss of their ancestral land and means for survival.

Under the Meiji government from 1868 to 1912, the Ainu were chased from their villages and prevented from practicing their traditional hunting, fishing and other customs. Also, like other cultures, the Ainu were forced to live under a new policy of assimilation so that the Meiji government could develop and exploit Hokkaido’s natural resources.

The film, “Tokyo Ainu,” is the first of Ainu films about those in Greater Tokyo. Other films have been made about the Ainu in Hokkaido.

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ledgergermane:

snuh:(via thingstodotoday)

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via (The Brisbane Times)

The Dreaming Festival

Genre Cultural festival
Location 87 Woodrow Rd
Address Woodford
Date June 5 to 8
Tickets Refer website
More information www.thedreamingfestival.com

The Dreaming Festival; Australia’s International Indigenous Festival is emerging as one of Australia’s not to be missed cultural events of the year. Traditional and contemporary Indigenous culture is on display often in breathtaking and inspiring ways.

Whether you have a preference for theatre, dance, film, song, or art you will find it presented richly at this festival. Indigenous performers from across the world, including Australia of course are invited to The Dreaming Festival to share and present their art and culture and tell their stories to the growing audience of Australians wanting to soak up and explore new cultures.

The nights in June are chilly and the festival is lit with campfires to keep you warm, but it is the sheer spirit of this festival that leaves you with a feeling that you have just experienced something very special.

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deltafoxtrot:

curate:

Slideshows SA Cultura

A video showing indigenous and mestizo people of Texas is projected on the Alamo shrine during “Luminaria: Arts Night in San Antoinio,” on Saturday, March 14, 2009. The video was part of a artistic piece entitled “Enlight Tent” by Vaago Weiland and Laura Varela.

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jmsc:

Indigenous people

(AP photo by Andre Penner / January 28, 2009) Indians gather during a meeting to discuss rights of indigenous peoples at the World Social Forum in Belem, Brazil. The World Social Forum, the annual counter-cultural gathering to protest the simultaneous World Economic Forum in Switzerland, is taking place until Sunday.

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