Aboriginal compared to Indigenous ..The difference please ??

Dictionary.com

Aboriginal

Being or composed of people inhabiting a region from the beginning.
see syn native: ant nonnative.
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=aboriginal


Indegenouse

Originating,living or occoring naturally in an area or environment
syn native
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=2&q=indigenous


Native

Being such by birth or origin: a native Scot.
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=Native


Endemic

1. Prevalent in or peculiar to a particular locality, region, or people: diseases endemic to the tropics. See Synonyms at native.
2. Ecology. Native to or confined to a certain region.
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=endemic




I think the interesting thing is that there is very little if any difference. (think about it)

Wish more people recognised this

Dadpad says there is little difference, which is, in fact a matter of opinion, and an opinion which is not charming to those who call themselves aboriginal. I am a native of North America--i was born here. I am indigenous, i am a native. The use of endemic to describe people is rather awkward, unless one is speaking of one particular tribe or clan as opposed to all others.

I can call myself, therefore, a Native American. But those who are aboriginal to North and South America would object that i am not. They, for reasons of propaganda, reserve the term to themselves, to those who are aboriginal. Whereas i don't find the argument for their position compelling, many people do find it so, not simply those who are of aboriginal descent. To aboriginal people, the distinction is important--it is more than just a little difference.

You didnt think about it did you!

all men are equal

bullshit!

I thought about it. And i understand and endorse the concept that all men and women are equal. Which does not change the fact that many people who are aboriginal to their places of residence, and many others who are not, consider it to be an important distinction. I not only do not subscribe to the notion, i pointed out that i do not.

I can't confirm this, but I always think of an aboriginal group as a group which is only indigenous to one locale whereas an indigenous group can be indigenous to many locales.

someone should rename this thread the grumpy old men thread.

dad pad and Setanta thank you both for your input BUT ................ I'm still not sure of what is the right answer, Maybe there is no "correct answer just different interpretations !!!

dadpad
Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2006 3:20 am

"I really think the interesting thing is that there is very little if any difference. (think about it)

Wish more people recognized this"...........

I AGREE......... but this doesn't help in the discussion I'm having

Re: Aboriginal compared to Indigenous ..The difference pleas
We like to create language shortcuts and categorize. This often results in indistinct, non-pc common usage.

Aboriginal = pre-European inhabitants, use of word is most prevalent in Australia (but not exclusively)

Indigenous = same thing. At times this has been considered a nicer way of saying it.

Native = same thing, but acceptable in a broader sense ~ i.e. anyone born in that country or region.

I think there's variation in what the words mean depending on the country they're used in, and also the context they're used in. And there's very likely different perceptions as to what each means in each speaker's mind.

"Aboriginal" literally means "from the beginning". I'd say it generally applies to people who've been in a particular area for a LONG time, usually thousands of years, so long that their stories don't say they came from somewhere else. They often say their people have been there since the beginning of time (though science says that all modern humans arose in Africa, close to 200,000 years ago, so most of us are in fact migrants tho most of us don't remember it).The evidence is that the aborigines in Australia (where the term is most ofetn used) have been there for about 30,000 years. The "Indians" in the Americas have ancestors who came around 10,000 years ago, for the most part. Descendants of Europeans in those continents came within the last 500 years or so and don't count as aborigines.

Indigenous peoples are usually those whose cultures in a given area predate European arrival. That's kind of a general term for traditional cultures. I suppose English, Scots, French, etc., are indigenous peoples of Europe. But their descendants in other countries (like the USA) are not indigenous as the term is usually used.

"Native" can mean either the people who are indigenous to the area--and in fact in Canada I think the usual--and governmental--term for what we called "Indians" is "native peoples", so it has in fact an official meaning--or it can mean, depending on the context, people born in that country. My ancestors are Europeans, they came to the USA 4 or five generations ago, or more, and I know the countries most of them came from, but little more than that about their origins. I don't really have an identity other than as an American. I'm a native of America, but NOT, as the term is usually used today a "Native American"--see, it gets complex.

And one can be a native New Yorker or a native Bostonian, or a native Ohioan, without being a Native American, simply by being born in New York or Boston. Capital letters can make a difference. Phrases with a particular set meaning can make a difference. The particular geographic unit you're talking about can make a difference. I'm not sure many people would be sure exactly what you meant if you called someone an aboriginal New Yorker or an indigenous New Yorker. At least I don't think I would.

It's all about political correctness, man. :wink:

In canada, we don't use the term aboriginal all that much. We call our Indigenous people Natives. My guy, who can trace his family back 400 hundred years on (what is now) Canadian soil, has very little 'native' blood in him, he decended from the original french (Acadian/ Cajun) 14 families to emigrate to this side of the pond. He doesn't consider himself native, neither do the natives, he is considered french canadian. I was born here but can trace my family back to the doomsday book in England and over 300 years in Ireland (most of the earlier records were destroyed/bombed.) The celts were nomadic but settled much longer than 500 hundred years on Irish soil, so I guess I am indegenous to the British Isles but I'm not a native 'cause I was born here, where I and my progeny will never be native. Does this make sense.

In Anthro classes, if I remember correctly (it was a long time ago), aboriginal and indigenous meant the same thing. I think I used them interchangeably in papers. Native as in Native American is a term used, collectively, as a shorthand, to describe all the members of tribes who's ancestors lived in the americas before europeans got here. But, I think it's just an american label, as native can mean many things.

Perhaps we could learn from the plant world - native plants are the same thing as indigenous plants......

This has been a useless rant brought to you by littlek. Thank you and good day.

Author Message
littlek
Posted: Sun Apr 30, 2006 9:26 am Post subject:

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"This has been a useless rant brought to you by littlek. Thank you and good day."

NO Please don't think That your opinion was useless , I'm sorry I have been away and not answered earlier. I asked a probably complex question and have received many varied and different answers, and I appreciate the trouble and time each person has put in by taking to reply.