Research Guides (LibGuides): Indigenous Studies: Asia

Asia

Library of Congress - South Asian Digital Collections
Includes digital primary sources from the Asian Division as well as digital items and collections from the Library of Congress’ other reading rooms and research centers
Southeast Asian Studies: Digital Resources
A research guide provided by the University of Washington Libraries. Includes links to digital archives, audio/visual materials, major digital library collections, and other web resources related to Southeast Asia.

Indigenous Peoples of Asia by R. H. Barnes (Editor); Andrew Gray (Editor); Benedict Kingsbury (Editor)
ISBN: 0924304146
Publication Date: 1995-06-01
Available through Interlibrary Loan. Contains 18 articles dealing with, inter alia, the definition of "indigenous peoples", the question of ethnic identity, historical priority, self-determination, the ownership and control of land and resources, ecological exploitation, the colonial heritage, and relations with the State.
Ethnic Groups of North, East, and Central Asia by James B. Minahan
ISBN: 9781610690188
Publication Date: 2014-02-10
This comprehensive guide to the Pacific and South Asia provides detailed and enlightening information about the many ethnic groups of this increasingly important region of the world. Ideally suited for high school and undergraduate students studying subjects such as anthropology, geography, and social studies, Ethnic Groups of South Asia and the Pacific: An Encyclopedia provides clear, detailed, and up-to-date information on each major group in South Asian and Pacific Island countries, including India, Nepal, Indonesia, Pakistan, Singapore, Australia, Tonga, Samoa, and the Solomon Islands. Organized alphabetically by ethnic group, each entry provides an introduction followed by accessible descriptions of the origins, early history, cultural life, political life, and modern history of the ethnicity. Alternate names, major population centers, primary languages and religions, and other important characteristics of each group are also covered.
Ethnic Groups of South Asia and the Pacific by James B. Minahan
ISBN: 9781598846607
Publication Date: 2012-08-30
This comprehensive guide to the Pacific and South Asia provides detailed and enlightening information about the many ethnic groups of this increasingly important region of the world. Ideally suited for high school and undergraduate students studying subjects such as anthropology, geography, and social studies, Ethnic Groups of South Asia and the Pacific: An Encyclopedia provides clear, detailed, and up-to-date information on each major group in South Asian and Pacific Island countries, including India, Nepal, Indonesia, Pakistan, Singapore, Australia, Tonga, Samoa, and the Solomon Islands. Organized alphabetically by ethnic group, each entry provides an introduction followed by accessible descriptions of the origins, early history, cultural life, political life, and modern history of the ethnicity. Alternate names, major population centers, primary languages and religions, and other important characteristics of each group are also covered.
Indigenous Peoples Heritage and Landscape in the Asia Pacific by Stephen B. Acabado; Da-wei Kuan
ISBN: 9780367648718
Publication Date: 2021-06-01
Available through Interlibrary Loan. Focusing on the Asia Pacific region, this interdisciplinary volume looks at local and indigenous relations to the landscape, showing how applied scholarship and collaborative research can work to empower indigenous and descendant communities. With cases ranging across Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, the Philippines, Cambodia, Pohnpei, Guam, and Easter Island, this book demonstrates the many ways in which the co-production of knowledge is reconnecting local and indigenous relations to the landscape, and diversifying the philosophy of human-land relations. In so doing, the book is enriching the knowledge of landscape, and changing the landscape of knowledge.

We recognize that Indigenous peoples do not have the same or similar histories and there are inherent limitations in the following selections.

"Indigenous Peoples of Asia: A Long History" by Robert Cribb in The Routledge Companion to Global Indigenous History by Ann McGrath & Lynette Russell (Editors)
ISBN: 9781138743106
Publication Date: 2022
Available through Interlibrary Loan. Seventy percent of the world’s 250 million Indigenous people live in Asia, most often in highlands and other regions remote from the fertile agricultural plains that formed the heartland of the continent’s great civilizations. They have shared with the first peoples in North America and Australasia the historical experience of slaughter, dispossession, epidemic disease, and socio-economic disruption and marginalization as a consequence of settler intrusion into their lands. The violent encounter between Asian first peoples and Asian settler societies, however, has often been overshadowed by the history of cultural, economic, and political contact that has blurred the distinction between the two groups. The incorporation of Asian First peoples into larger polities was a much older and longer process, marked by extended periods of prior contact during which First peoples themselves selectively adopted technology and culture from what were to become settler metropoles. First peoples and settlers, moreover, were subject to both Western colonialism and imperialism in Asia.

Indigenous Film Index: Asia
Search for films of Asian Indigenous groups by clicking different locations. Films cover history, culture, and recent issues regarding Asian Indigenous groups.

Asean’s Indigenous Peoples
Published in 2010 by the Asia Indigenous Peoples’ Pact (AIPP), the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA), and the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA). Discusses who the Indigenous Peoples of Southeast Asia are, collective rights, cultural rights, common issues, and the implications of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) for Indigenous Peoples in Southeast Asia.
Asia's Indigenous Peoples
The article provides a basic overview of indigenous peoples per country, their representation in the population, and the deep poverty from which they suffer. Aside from that, they tackle how the international community plans to eliminate global poverty by 2030, which will be challenged by the deep poverty that indigenous peoples of Asia experience.
The Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Asia
Published by the International Labour Organization, the document presents a human-rights-based overview of national legal and policy frameworks against the backdrop of country strategies for development and poverty reduction.
Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact
The Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) is a regional organization founded in 1992 by indigenous peoples’ movements. AIPP is committed to the cause of promoting and defending indigenous peoples’ rights and human rights and articulating issues of relevance to indigenous peoples. At present, AIPP has 46 members from 14 countries in Asia with 18 indigenous peoples’ national alliances/networks (national formations) and 30 local and sub-national organizations. Of this number, 16 are ethnic-based organizations, six (6) indigenous women four (4) are indigenous youth organizations, and one (1) organization of indigenous persons with disabilities.
Indigenous Peoples of Southeast Asia Reaffirm their Rights | SEI
The lands and livelihoods of Indigenous Peoples in Southeast Asia face mounting threats from climate change and development projects. To tackle these problems and address sustainable development, governments and other stakeholders need to listen to their voices.
Countries - IWGIA
The International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) publishes yearly reports on the status of Indigenous Peoples' rights in countries on all continents with detailed country reports prepared by experts, Indigenous activists and scholars.

SOAS University of London Digital Collections
Scroll down to Geographic Regions to find collections from East Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, South East Asia, Digital Filipiniana, and SOAS China Institute resources.
International Dunhuang Programme
A collaboration of 35 global partners, the International Dunhuang Programme (IDP) provides access to manuscripts, paintings, textiles and artefacts from the Eastern Silk Roads.

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