This category and its sub-categories are intended to contain articles associated in some way with indigenous peoples, affairs, organisations, and other related fields of study, where indigenous is interpreted in the specific sense as described in the main article, above.

The identification of any particular people, group or society as being an indigenous people in the intended sense may at times be problematic. Often, there will exist some degree of dispute or contention, or possibly confusion with the purely adjectival, general sense of the term.

Indigenous peoples - proposed criteria for category definition and inclusion

To assist in determining whether any particular people, community or group ought to be placed in this category (or its sub-categories), the following criteria are proposed:

• an indigenous people may be identified as such, where notable independent reference(s) can be found that the group's indigenous identity is either asserted or recognised as being indigenous, or some other cognate term, by either:

• 1. some government, regulatory body, law or protocol, which may be either sub-national, national or trans-national; and/or

• 1. some recognised body, NGO or other organisation, involved with indigenous affairs and recognised as an accredited participant, intermediary or representative in some legal, negotiative, national or international regulatory or rights-based process; and/or

• 1. some academic and peer-reviewed literature or publication; and/or

• 1. some representative body of the indigenous society itself, where that representation is made in respect of a claim or issue to a government or governmentally-supported organisation (eg the UN, African Union).

That source should naturally be cited on the relevant page. Where there is (independent) contention about identifying any particular group as an indigenous people, the contention should be noted in the relevant article along with the cited reference(s) in which this contention appears.

As there are potentially very many groups which may be identified as indigenous peoples, a further suggestion is to place articles on particular indigenous groups in the appropriate regional sub-category, for example Category:Indigenous peoples of South America. Note that some indigenous peoples may merit placement in more than one regional sub-category, according to their distribution.

For further information and discussion on the criteria above, see this category's talk page. Further comment and refinement is welcomed.

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