Author Description

Indigenous peoples have long suffered from exoticization. Outsiders elevate their beauty, remoteness and difference and do not see beyond this to the real problems they face. <i>The No-Nonsense Guide to Indigenous Peoples</i> looks beyond the exotic images, tracing the stories of different indigenous peoples from their first (and often fatal) contact with explorers and colonizers. Much of this history is told here by indigenous people themselves.They vividly describe why land and the natural world are so special to them; how it feels to be snatched from your family as a child because the government wants to "make you white"; why they are demanding that museums must return the bones of their ancestors; how can they retain their traditional culture while moving with the times; and what kinds of development are positive. This short guide discusses all this and more, raising countless issues for debate.