Indigenous People and the International Discourse: Issues and Debates

The question of tribal identity is not new either to international concern or internal contentions of any state but the theme needs to be revisited because of the mounting international pressure in many parts of the world for their dignified rights. The focus is on how global interconnectedness has influenced their lives today and impacted the very discourse of tribal rights. There are two very important reasons why this problem requires serious attention. Firstly, since we are close to the end of the Second Decade for the Rights of the Indigenous People, what implications the two decades of international attention impacted on the existence of the indigenous people. And secondly, with the recent upsurge of violence in Kokrajhar and other disturbed areas of Assam, what future does this issue holds. This paper attempts to trace the growth of the international concern for indigenous people, moving to a crucial issue of defining the very idea of 'indigenous'. The next section takes up three key issues of self determination, land rights and community and its space in international discourse and finally moving on to the concluding remarks.