Difference between people, community, ethnicity, and nation. When we talk about our existence as Indigenous peoples, there are several concepts we use to recognize ourselves and our collective existence. 

Author: Gabino Damián Jiménez Martínez 
Leia em português. Leer en español.

The most common terms are “Indigenous peoples” and “Indigenous communities.” Although they are often used as synonyms, from a legal perspective they have different implications. 

Generally speaking, “people” refers to the existence of cultural expressions under a common identity. It is a broader way of referring to Indigenous peoples, for example, the Zapotecs. 

“Indigenous community” is more specific. It refers to a group of Indigenous people who live in a territory and share a common cultural heritage. For example, we might say “Zapotec of the Valley” or even “Benxgiæ,” which is how the Zapotecs of Teotitlán del Valle identify themselves. 

Any Indigenous community has the following elements: 

• A territorial space demarcated and defined by possession. 

• A shared history passed down orally from generation to generation. 

• A variant of the people’s language, which helps identify our common language. 

• An organization that defines political, cultural, social, civil, economic, and religious life. 

• A community system of justice procurement and administration.

Anthropologists and sociologists know that from a specialized theoretical perspective, this relates to the characteristics of a nation-state in its Western sense. But we, as Indigenous peoples, are not particularly interested in forming nation-states under modern terms. 

The concept of nation arose after the French Revolution. It is a European concept that was adopted by all countries that became states. It is understood as a group of people united by a common culture and living under the same government, provided that this government is a sovereign state. Sovereignty implies independence from any other government. It is precisely in this point of sovereignty that Indigenous communities lack validation, this being the only element we would need to claim and enforce. However, we must reflect on who or what institutions would validate our sovereignty as Indigenous nations. 

To avoid validating us as nations and to keep us subordinate, the concept of ethnicity emerges. This is a term used in law to refer to Indigenous communities, but in reality, it involves the elements that would constitute a nation—a territory with common histories and political organization. The big difference is that ethnicities are Indigenous, and therefore, in the Western legal world, we are not seen as having the level or capacity to consider ourselves a nation. Only Bolivia and Ecuador have constitutionally recognized Indigenous nations, but we have not seen similar efforts elsewhere. 

Westerners understand a community as a group of houses with people, but Indigenous communities conceive it as a group of people with a past, present, and future history, which can be defined not only concretely and physically, but also spiritually in relation to Nature.