What is the difference between Indigenous and non-indigenous arts?

Answer 1

Indigenous is a term which is hard to define. The technical definition is "Originating and living or occurring naturally in an area or environment." So far as describing Indigenous people many definitions refer to "People or things which belong to the country in which they are found, rather than coming there or being brought there from Another Country." However the majority of people anywhere around the world have migrated from another area of the world at some point so who is to say where the cut off point is? Examples of Indigenous people are the Maori from Aotearoa/ New Zealand, the Aboriginal people from Australia and the Native Americans or American Indians from North America.

Indigenous Art would therefore be described as any art form, whether it be literature, music, fine arts, theatre or film which is created by an Indigenous person. A more specific definition could just include art which comes from their original culture, however as time changes so do people and new forms of art will evolve from this original culture.

The way in which Indigenous art is now being integrated with European art is something which brings up many questions and conflicts. What does it mean, for example, when an Indigenous person is writing in English? How can this both help and damage that groups specific culture? Writing in English broadens the audience who will be reading the literature but also means that the people are writing in a language which is not their own and therefore it isn't helping in encouraging that language to be learned by new generations.

Furthermore does Indigenous art always mean that the person is writing about Indigenous issues, or can it be writing on a more personal modern level? Another question to think about when defining Indigenous art is whether a non Indigenous person, writing about Indigenous issues or using traditional cultural rituals or methods is producing a peice of Indigenous art. Bruce Mason's "The Pohutakawa Tree" is a play which explore the effects colonization had on the Maori people yet he himself was European. Many people are starting to use the traditional tattooing from Maori and Pacific culture as just fashionable. Is this still Indigneous art?

Overall the term is very broad and hard to define specifically but the relation to specific Indigenous people is really what defines a piece of art as Indigenous.