Tag Archives: Cultural Survival

Statement Connecting Blog to Research Project

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     Language Revitalization Using Technology

        The final weblog I posted last week was about the first graduates from Nawahi, the Hawaiian Immersion University.   I was inspired by the news article as many of the first graduates continued finding careers using their own Native language after University.

Language preservation is a vital component to keeping Indigenous cultures alive as language itself holds different meanings, metaphors and values that cannot be expressed once it’s gone.  According to Cultural Survival “More than 70 could fall silent in the next 5 years unless immediate action is taken to teach them to younger generations of tribal citizens.” I would like to focus on how technology can improve and empower Indigenous cultures through language revitalization.

Language revitalization seemed to be a resonating theme in many weblogs I posted. Native American Public Telecommunications is a site that provides media, film, podcasts, music and radio created by a board of Native Americans about Native North Americans. Cultural Survival is a website for all Indigenous cultures around the world to connect. To help protect indigenous languages from disappearing, there is a radio broadcasting section to share radio spoken in different Indigenous languages around the world.  Since most people have access to radio, new generations can enjoy listening to their own language.

The digital divide creates boundaries for Indigenous people who are unable to connect and use technology as an educational tool.  According to Cultural Survival “Indigenous Peoples constitute about 5% of the world’s population, yet account for about 15% of the world’s poor.”  I would also like to explore the theme “Is technology culturally neutral?” as I carry out my research.

References

Eisenlohr, P. (2004). Revitalization and new technologies: cultures of electronic mediation and the refiguring of communitiees. Annual Review of Anthropology, 33 (21), p. 21- 45.

Hermes, M. (2012).  Designing indigenous language revitalization. Harvard Educational Review, 82 (3), p. 381- 402.

Hermes, M. (2013). Ojibwe language revitalization, multimedia technology, and family language learning. Language Learning and Technology, 17 (1), p. 125 – 144.

Hinton, L. (2003). Language revitalization. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 23, p. 44- 57.  Doi: 10.1017/S0267190503000187

Warschauer, M. (1998).  Technology and indigenous language revitalization: analyzing the experience of hawai’i. Canadian Modern Language Review, 55 (1), p. 139 – 159.

http://www.culturalsurvival.org/

http://www.fpcc.ca/language/toolkit/Language_Revitalization_Strategies.aspx

http://www.nativetelecom.org/

http://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/langhotspots/revitalization.html

http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/enduring-voices/revitalization/

Module 1: Post 3: Cultural Survival

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My first blog post was about the Indigenous Peoples of South East Asia, which was a news article.  The news article mentioned the United Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous peoples, so I decided to look further into it and lead me this:

“For 40 years Cultural Survival has partnered with Indigenous communities around the world to defend their lands, languages, and cultures.”  This organization was founded on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The goal of Cultural Survival is protect Indigenous cultures, languages and lands. There is a statistic on the website which says “ Indigenous Peoples constitute about 5% of the world’s population, yet account for about 15% of the world’s poor.”  Cultural Survival helps to educate peoples in their own language, protect the rights of their land and controlling their own resources, promote cultural heritage and fight against marginalization.  There are many programs created to promote the rights of these peoples. One example is the Artisan Bazaar, which sells Indigenous arts and crafts, which helps to create a sustainable income and promotes artistic tradition through fair trade.

A very interesting section of the website I came across was radio broadcasting.  In order to protect disappearing languages around the world, Cultural Survival believes that in order to keep a language it must be passed down to the new generation. One way is through listening to radio broadcasting in one’s own language, as many people already have access to radio.  To entirely lose a language is to also lose a culture because the spirituality, knowledge and values is embedded into language.

It is really sad reading and learning about the abuse and suffering that Indigenous People encounter each day around the world.  However, I think through educating people and creating programs through an organization like Cultural Survival it gives hope to the people who have no voice.

http://www.culturalsurvival.org/news