Have you ever described a friend by using a quickly decodable description or characteristic? For example, maybe you described your friend as "country" or "hip." But the more you thought about it, you realized that your friend's identity is more complex than a catch-all descriptor associated with taste or appearance. In addition, if you've known your friend for some time, he or she has most likely changed, meaning that perhaps the way you described your friend last year doesn't exactly fit now. Likewise, definitions of indigenous identities or peoples continue to evolve. In this Discussion, you will reconsider the potentially changeable definition of indigenous.

To prepare for this Discussion:

• Review the UN definition of indigenous peoples and draw upon course reading about various indigenous groups.

Determine the extent to which the exploration of your own indigenous identity has impacted how you view the definition of indigenous.

• Assess the factors that contribute to the definition of a population or identity as indigenous and how that definition may change.