Unit 5: Global Indigenous Solidarity
Transnational Movements & Shared Struggles
Indigenous Knowledge as Global Solution
Indigenous peoples represent less than 5% of the global population but protect 80% of biodiversity. This unit examines how Indigenous knowledge offers crucial solutions to climate change, inequality, and justice.
"He waka eke noa"
We are all in this together.
Unit Modules
Indigenous Worldviews
Shared values, diverse expressions. Relationality and reciprocity across cultures.
Global Colonialism
Analysing colonialism as a global system. Patterns of dispossession and extraction.
Resistance Networks
From AIM to Idle No More. Building transnational solidarity movements.
Climate Justice
Indigenous leadership in the climate crisis. Traditional ecological knowledge in action.
UNDRIP in Action
Rights, responsibilities, and the global legal frameworks protecting Indigenous mana.
Global Framework
Global Analysis
- Comparative Studies: Identifying patterns.
- Network Analysis: Mapping connections.
Cross-Curricular
- Geography: Land rights.
- Science: Eco-knowledge.
Contemporary
- Climate: Protection.
- Tech: Digital sovereignty.
Curriculum alignment
- Earth Systems — Knowledge: Note: See Social Science learning area — Geography strand.
- Earth Systems — Knowledge: Note: See Social Science learning area — Geography strand.
- Earth Systems — Knowledge: Note: See Social Science learning area — Geography strand.
- Earth Systems — Practices: Note: See Social Science learning area — Geography strand.
- Earth Systems — Practices: Note: See Social Science learning area — Geography strand.
📋 Teacher Planning Snapshot
Ngā Whāinga Ako — Learning Intentions
Students will investigate global indigenous solidarity movements through a historical lens, using whakapapa of resistance to trace how communities have organised across borders to assert tino rangatiratanga and mana motuhake. This unit connects Aotearoa's struggle for sovereignty to broader international movements for indigenous rights and decolonisation.
Ngā Paearu Angitū — Success Criteria
- ✅ I can analyse and compare perspectives from multiple indigenous resistance movements globally.
- ✅ I can explain how solidarity across difference has strengthened indigenous rights campaigns.
- ✅ I can evaluate the significance of international indigenous solidarity for Aotearoa New Zealand.
Differentiation & Inclusion
Scaffold support: Provide graphic organisers for comparing movements. Entry-level tasks focus on identifying key events; extension tasks require evaluating the effectiveness of solidarity strategies and writing a persuasive historical argument.
ELL / ESOL: Pre-teach key historical terms (sovereignty, solidarity, colonisation, decolonisation). Provide bilingual glossaries where available; allow discussion in home language first.
Inclusion: Use structured note-taking templates and chunked readings. Neurodiverse learners benefit from visual timelines and choice in how they demonstrate understanding — oral, visual, or written formats all valid. Ensure content is presented sensitively given the potential for personal connection to histories of dispossession.
Mātauranga Māori lens: Centre whakapapa as a methodology — tracing the genealogy of resistance ideas across cultures and time. Frame the hīkoi as both a political act and a cultural expression of rangatiratanga. Connect to the whakataukī: "He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata."
Prior knowledge: Best used after foundational study of colonisation and the Treaty of Waitangi. Familiarity with basic historical inquiry skills is recommended.