Challenges to indigenous political and socio-economic participation: Natural Resources, Gender, Education and Intellectual Property= Desafíos de los pueblos indígenas en su participación política y socio-económica: recursos naturales, género, educación y propiedad intelectual

When we speak about indigenous peoples we refer to different collectivities (approximately 400 million people globally) characterized by different situations in demographic, territorial, social and political terms, from small populations in voluntary isolation (PAV) to integrated communities in urban contexts. These peoples and individuals in the last decades have been recognized with specific rights whose assumed relevance has determined the flowering of studies from different perspectives (sociological, juridical, philosophical and anthropological) that, intertwining, allow us to have a knowledge of historical specificities and the political, economic and social dynamics that are characterizing this phenomenon in each nation. The essays collected in this volume deal with some of the greatest challenges of the indigenous peoples in their political and socio-economic participation, helping us to understand the different paths of vindication, the respective degrees of recognition and the concrete problems of to put in action that demonstrate the existence of a 'significant gap' between the (supra)national juridical framework and its implementation in different national contexts, with particular reference to the areas of natural resources, gender, education and intellectual property.