NAFPS Forum

Speaking only from the perspective of being in Hawai'i, here the question of blood quantum is complicated and much different than many ndn tribes. To be entitled to Hawaiian homestead land under an act of Congress passed in 1920, a person must be 50% blood quantum. However, to be eligible for any other Hawaiian benefit (attend a private school, obtain scholarships, grant funding, loans, etc.) one need only show one drop of blood. There are many people here who identity as Hawaiian and who are considered cherished elders or kupuna in the community who have very little Hawaiian blood. But as to your other point, if the person was not raised in the community with the traditions then no matter how much blood they have they may not be considered "Hawaiian."

Quote from: Saskia on July 02, 2012, 08:48:46 PMSurely indigenous means of that place so one cannot claim to be indigenous Mohawk (even with that ancestry) if born and brought up in an entirely different culture and belief system.  Why the need to be 'indigenous' or tribal at all?  Does it infer some kind of 'wisdom status'?

Many non-Natives are trying to colonize and co-opt the term "Indigenous", and related terms that properly only refer to specific groups of Indigenous people. Yes, I think they do it to try and misrepresent themselves as having traditional knowledge they do not actually have. Most who are doing it are trying to set themselves up as untrained spiritual leaders, therapists or healers, shamans and pay-to-pray, workshop-culture cult leaders.