A REVIEW

ON

HOW GLOBALIZATION CHANGE

THE

STATUS
OF

INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

BY

LANDICHO, ARMER DAVID E.

2ND YEAR B.S. ARCHITECTURE
BLOCK 3

PAMANTASAN NG LUNGSOD NG MAYNILA

INTRAMUROS, MANILA
NOVEMBER 18, 2019
How Does Globalization Change the Status of Indigenous People?

Introduction

There is much debate about whether with globalization human society will become
culturally homogenized or further differentiated. Globalization theory has made a considerable
impact on understanding Western history and the development of contemporary capitalism. Some
experts have taken the argument of globalization and addressed more local “world-systems” in
differing historical periods and local microcosms of trade and economic exchange. Generally, the
arguments of globalization and world-systems have focused on the rise of capitalism and its global
research and effects on core, semipheriperal, and peripheral economies and peoples. Globalization
research tends to look at market systems, or nation-states, sometimes old civilizations, and the
impact of emerging and extending global or regional market or trade relations.

Indigenous People in Modern Era

In the social sciences, relatively little attention is given to the historical and contemporary
conditions of indigenous peoples. Modernization, and generally indigenous peoples in the far
periphery and doomed for destruction in the face of advancing market systems and nation-states.
The continued persistence and continuity of indigenous peoples throughout the world have defied
such theoretical viewpoints as too simplistic and not broad enough to account for the contemporary
world, where indigenous people around the world refuse to disappear according to theoretical
predictions. Contemporary theories need to reconsider with the empirical counterpoint that
indigenous people will continue as social, cultural, and political people in the contemporary world
and into the future. Any theory that predicts the cultural, political, and economic disappearance of
indigenous people will need to revise its basic assumptions and provide an accounting of the
continuity of indigenous people, societies, cultures, and nations.

According to the United Nations, there are at least 375 million indigenous people in the
world. These people have for many years worked in international diplomatic channels and are
organized into numerous internationally recognized nongovernmental organization; they also are
recognized within the United Nations as the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. After
centuries of silent resistance and continuity, indigenous people have found more visible voices in
the contemporary international context of human rights established as a reaction to the Nazi horrors
of World War 2. Indigenous people are composed of thousand of languages, cultures, social and
How Does Globalization Change the Status of Indigenous People?

political histories, and conditions. The experiences and histories of indigenous people vary by
international political relations, local and world globalization, the features of and relations to their
surrounding nation-state, as well as their own diverse social, cultural, and political organization
and histories.

Most contemporary theory does not conceptualize the existence or presence of indigenous
people, let alone offer a theory or conceptualization of the cultural, political, social, and territorial
continuity of contemporary indigenous people and nation. Truly powerful and ecumenical theories
of social change must account systematically for the inclusion of indigenous people and their
experiences in history, present-day life, and in the future. Any theory of social change or society
that cannot include the fundamental issues of indigenous people must be considered incomplete –
not fully capable of explaining or even describing the range of human experience, history, or
processes of change. Contemporary theory should not, and cannot, continue to reflect the
interpretations of colonial or even modernization positions that abstract past the continued
presence of indigenous people and their ways of life. The need to include indigenous people in
contemporary theory is not a claim on rights or a mode of civil rights inclusion, but rather the
beginning of theories that provide more complete understanding and explanatory range about the
diversity of human societies and their histories and cultures. Any future understanding of human
groups must include the full range of human experience, and not systematically exclude some
human groups based on beliefs and understandings that the world is moving toward a singular
view of the good life, of the good society, or the most appropriate culture. Our theories need to
understand diversity of historical experience, patterns of change, multiple cultural and community
paths to the future, and in the end provide some semblance of explanation or understanding of the
patterns of human experience and future possibilities.

Filipino Indigenous Psychology

In this arena of theorizing, the hegemony of the West has been very clear. They define the
relevant concepts; impose the methodology borne out of their own experience and control
theoretical production through what the Filipino sociologist, Raul Pertierra, termed the "western
monologic discourse (1989)."
How Does Globalization Change the Status of Indigenous People?

Given the economic-political-academic dominance of the West, it was no surprise that

psychologists from Asia and other Third World countries went to study modern psychology in the
West and transplanted that body of knowledge to their home countries. Thus, spread the gospel of
"universal" psychology and the dominance of western psychology. What tended to be overlooked
in the beginning was that much of what was passed around as universal psychology was, in fact,
western in conception and emphasis and, therefore, often irrelevant or inapplicable. The research
findings published in top-level western journals and publications which were must-reads for all
who wished to keep abreast of the latest developments in their area of expertise were viewed as
"statements of fact, pure descriptions of the nature of things as such, regardless of the viewer and
without taking into consideration the background set of constitutive conditions and practices which
is what lends the social its natural appearance in the first place (Mendoza, 1998)." This automatic
ascription of the same meanings to the same label, concept or terminology has been criticized for
rendering static theoretic. formulations and turning them into essentialized universal propositions.
This model of science adhered to ignore the fact that psychology and the phenomena it studies are
rooted in culture and local traditions. To fit all data into generalized concepts derived from a
western and alien experience is to render the knowledge meaningless. To pass off psychology
derived from a western ethos and culture as universal may not be a valid perspective.

Nevertheless, for a long time, western psychological principles were accepted as universals
and it was only recently that Asian. and Third World psychologists raised their issues and made
themselves heard in the snowballing movement in indigenous psychology.

How can Philippines promote peace in the globalized world?

While many developing countries have made tremendous progress in reducing poverty
over the last decade, these are depressing numbers. However, they reiterate that peace and stability
and the prevention of violent conflict are inherently tied to sustainable development.

A less peaceful world is a much more challenging place to fight inequality and want. Countries
experiencing repeated cycles of violence face poverty at significantly higher rates. People in
unstable and conflict-affected countries are more than twice as likely to be under-nourished as
those in other developing countries; and children in conflict zones are more than three times less
How Does Globalization Change the Status of Indigenous People?

likely to be able to attend school, and twice as likely to die before the age of five. Nine out of 10
countries with the lowest human development index have experienced conflict within the past 20
years.

We must double down on efforts to mitigate risk and prevent the loss of development investment
when conflict strikes. Success today depends not just on preventing conflict in the traditional sense
– through for example early warning and mediation – but on finding ways of fighting poverty and
inequality, and deepening inclusion.

We must build the ability of governments to mediate disputes, we need to better address inequality
and other underlying causes of violence – and we need to understand and combat such factors as
transnational crime and radicalization.

UNDP works to support local institutions, civil society and leaders in their efforts to prevent
violence, manage conflicts constructively, and engage peacefully in political transitions and rapid
change processes. In many places, like Georgia, Madagascar and Kenya, UNDP help has led to
real improvements and the diffusing of tensions, especially around events such as elections or
political transitions, when violence was expected. This shows that violence is not random. It can
often be predicted.

And often, we focus on building the state. But as the Global Peace Index for 2014 shows, we need
to adopt a wider perspective – because sometimes this approach fails to address the deep-seated
causes of structural violence. We need to focus on strengthening social covenants, because this is
the glue that holds groups or communities together and lays the foundation for social contracts.

Peace and sustainable development go hand in hand and failure to address this reality means we
will live in a more violent planet for years to come.

Conclusion

To sum it all up, every people have their own rights. Communication and understanding to
meet common interest are necessary in order to attain global equilibrium. If one state would only
follow one’s matter of interest, there would be turmoil in the social and political balance of the
How Does Globalization Change the Status of Indigenous People?

world disturbing peace. Rather, we can build public awareness. Informed public education and
awareness building is critical to the implementation of indigenous rights. This is a responsibility
of all. There is a lot of mistrust for good reason. But how we inform ourselves and understand our
own complicity in consumption and policies that sustains the need for production, profit, and
exploitation is absolutely necessary. We can then begin to understand the on impact on indigenous
peoples, their territories and lands making a world a better place for everyone.

References

Aganon, A. & David, M. A. (Eds.) (1985). Sikolohiyang Filipino:, Isyu, '.pananaw at kaalaman.'

Manila: National Book Store.

Barrera, Mario. 1979. Race and Class in the Southwest: A Theory of Racial Inequality. Notre

Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.

Enriquez, V.' G.(1997). Filipino psychology: Concepts and methods. In H. S. R. Kao & D. Sinha

[Eds.], Asian perspectives on , psychology (pp. 40-53). New Delhi: Sage Publications.

Goddard, Ives. 2004. “Endangered Knowledge: What We Can Learn from Native American

Languages.” Anthronotes 25, 2 9Fall): 1-8

Stonich, Susan C. 2001. Endangered Peoples of Latin America: Struggles to Survive and Thrive.

Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Young, H. (2016, April 1). Nine ways to support the rights of indigenous people. Retrieved from

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals

network/2016/apr/01/nine-ways-to-support-the-rights-of-indigenous-people.