From anguksuar at YAHOO.COM Mon Mar 1 01:05:31 2004 From: anguksuar at YAHOO.COM (Richard LaFortune) Date: Sun, 29 Feb 2004 17:05:31 -0800 Subject: thanks from MN In-Reply-To: <1078087640.166c986b16dc0@www.email.arizona.edu> Message-ID: Thank you to Natasha, Jeannette & Susan for helping me with my Seattle language-program question. Richard __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Get better spam protection with Yahoo! Mail. http://antispam.yahoo.com/tools From dzo at BISHARAT.NET Mon Mar 1 05:35:00 2004 From: dzo at BISHARAT.NET (Don Osborn) Date: Mon, 1 Mar 2004 06:35:00 +0100 Subject: Say No More (fwd) Message-ID: Thanks, Phil. I reposted some thoughts prompted by this article to http://niamey.blogspot.com if anyone is interested. DZO ----- Original Message ----- From: "phil cash cash" To: Sent: Sunday, February 29, 2004 9:47 PM Subject: Say No More (fwd) > Say No More > by Jack Hitt > > Languages die the way many people do -- at home, in silence, attended by > loved ones straining to make idle conversation.... > > http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/29/magazine/29LANGUAGE.html?ex=1078635600&en=31f3796588457b34&ei=5062 From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Tue Mar 2 01:02:53 2004 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Mon, 1 Mar 2004 17:02:53 -0800 Subject: Grants (language) Message-ID: The Administration for Native Americans (ANA), within the Administration for Children and Families, announces the availability of fiscal year (FY) 2004 funds for new community-based activities under ANA's Native Language program. Financial assistance is provided utilizing a competitive process in accordance with the Native American Programs Act of 1974, as amended. ANA provides financial assistance to eligible applicants for the purpose of assisting Native Americans in assuring the survival and continuing vitality of their languages. The Administration for Native Americans (ANA) believes that the responsibility for achieving self-sufficiency rests with the governing bodies of Indian Tribes, Alaska Native villages, and in the leadership of Native American groups. This belief supports the ANA principle that the local community and its leadership are responsible for determining goals, setting priorities, and planning and implementing programs that support the community's long-range goals. Therefore, since preserving a language and ensuring its continuation is generally one of the first steps taken toward strengthening a group's identity; activities proposed under this program announcement will contribute to the social development of Native communities and significantly contribute to their efforts toward self-sufficiency. The Administration for Native Americans recognizes that eligible applicants must have the opportunity to develop their own language plans, improve technical capabilities, and have access to the necessary financial and technical resources in order to assess, plan, develop and implement programs to assure the survival and continuing vitality of their languages. ANA also recognizes that ! potential applicants may have specialized knowledge and capabilities to address specific language concerns at various levels. This program announcement reflects these special needs and circumstances. This program announcement will emphasize community-based, locally designed projects. This emphasis will increase the number of grants to local community organizations and expand the number of partnerships among locally based nonprofit organizations. ANA will accept applications from multiple organizations in the same geographic area. Previously, under each competitive program area, ANA accepted one application that served or impacted a reservation, Tribe or Native American community. The reason for this change is to expand and support large Native American rural and urban communities that provide a variety of services in the same geographic area. Eligible Applicants ü Federally recognized Indian Tribes; ü Consortia of Indian Tribes; ü Incorporated nonfederally recognized Tribes; ü Incorporated nonprofit multipurpose community-based Indian organizations; ü Urban Indian Centers; ü National or regional incorporated nonprofit Native American organizations with Native American community-specific objectives; ü Alaska Native villages, as defined in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANSCA) and/or nonprofit village consortia; ü Incorporated nonprofit Alaska Native multipurpose community based organizations; ü Nonprofit Alaska Native Regional Corporations/Associations in Alaska with village specific projects; ü Nonprofit Native organizations in Alaska with village specific projects; ü Public and nonprofit private agencies serving Native Hawaiians; ü Public and nonprofit private agencies serving native peoples from Guam, American Samoa, or the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (the populations served may be located on these islands or in the continental United States); ü Tribally controlled Community Colleges, Tribally controlled Postsecondary Vocational Institutions, and colleges and universities located in Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa or the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands which serve Native peoples; and ü Nonprofit Alaska Native community entities or Tribal governing bodies (Indian Reorganization Act or Traditional Councils) as recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The due date for applications is April 2, 2004. http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/14mar20010800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2004/04-3655.htm -- André Cramblit: andre.p.cramblit.86 at alum.dartmouth.org is the Operations Director Northern California Indian Development Council NCIDC (http://www.ncidc.org) is a non-profit that meets the development needs of American Indians To subscribe to a news letter of interest to Natives send an email to: IndigenousNewsNetwork-subscribe at topica.com or go to: http://www.topica.com/lists/IndigenousNewsNetwork/subscribe/?location=listinfo From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Tue Mar 2 03:22:11 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Mon, 1 Mar 2004 20:22:11 -0700 Subject: Dozens of Languages in China =?iso-8859-1?b?kUVuZGFuZ2VyZWSS?= (fwd) Message-ID: Dozens of Languages in China ‘Endangered’ http://english.epochtimes.com/news/4-3-1/20187.html Translated by Aaron Ho Central News Agency Mar 01, 2004 TAIPEI - Social science experts in China fear that several dozen local languages are endangered and have appealed to the government, saying, “Similar to species vanishing, endangered languages need to be protected.” Ironically, just two days after the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization declared Feb. 21 to be "World’s Mother Tongue Day,” the news that many languages in China are on the verge of extinction was announced. According to Beijing Entertainment, UNESCO reported that Chinese people spoke 82 different languages in the year 2000; however, the academy said that Mainland China has approximately 120 indigenous languages. Ethnology and anthropology researcher Xu Shixuan of the Social Science Institute, author of “Research of Endangered Languages,” said that among the 120 languages, half are in decline with several dozens seriously endangered. “There are only a dozen old people who can speak Heshe language,” Xu said, “and at most 50 people who can barely understand Heshe. Another language, Man, can only be understood by about 100 people with only 50 who can speak it. The Tataer tribe with a population of 5,064 has less than 1,000 people who can speak their native tongue. Only about 100 people can speak the Xiandao language used by Achang tribe. As for the Jinuo tribe, the 30,000 natives have already given up teaching their native language.” Xu pointed out two major reasons for the steady decline of local native languages, with the language of the cultural majority taking precedence over local languages contributing the most. Also, most endangered languages are not continually updated and lack corresponding words for modern society. They are only used for oral conversation and songs and can be easily forgotten. Researchers of the endangered languages in China need to report to authorities about the situation, Xu said. The Social Science Institute fund only needs five people to support it, but because of a lack of funding, records are piled up in the institute. For the past 10 years, it has been his dream to build a national language museum; however, he has yet to receive a reply. Translated from Chinese by Aaron Ho Aaron.ho at cnh.com Copyright 2004 - The Epoch Times From mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US Tue Mar 2 23:15:39 2004 From: mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US (Matthew Ward) Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2004 16:15:39 -0700 Subject: AZ AG: public schools not exempt from Prop. 203 Message-ID: This is sickening and outrageous.. I'm amazed that there haven't been more responses to this article. What century are we living in, anyway? Sounds like it's time for major acts of civil disobedience. I'm sorry to sound extreme, but anybody who voted for an English-only law in Arizona, of all places, needs to move. And, the idea that the law applies to schools on reservations... This really, really needs to be publicized. If anyone can point me to an organization fighting this, I would be very grateful. Liko Puha wrote: >AZ AG: public schools not exempt from Prop. 203 > >By Bill Donovan - Navajo Times > >WINDOW ROCK - A couple of years ago, educators went on the offensive >when Arizona voters went to the polls to decide whether English would be >the only language that classes would be taught in. > >At that time, a compromise was reached that public school educators >thought would allow them an exemption so they could provide instruction >in Native American languages in the early grades. > >Boy, were they wrong. > >Education officials for the state of Arizona are now saying that based >on an opinion by the state's attorney general, public schools on the >reservation have to comply with the English Only law (Proposition 203). >Only Bureau of Indian Affairs schools are exempt. > >"This is a major step backwards," said Deborah Jackson-Dennison, >superintendent of the Window Rock Unified School District. > >Jackson-Dennison has got President Joe Shirley Jr. involved in her >efforts to get the state to change its policy and exempt public schools >on reservations that have a large Native American student population. > >Shirley and other tribal officials were in Phoenix Tuesday meeting with >state education officials to get the matter clarified. > >What's at risk, Jackson-Dennison said, were Navajo language immersion >programs like the one at Window Rock where students in the primary >grades get instruction in their native language. As they get into higher >grades, they receive more and more instruction in English. > >By doing this, she said, it now appears that school districts will be >putting in jeopardy some of their state funding. > >She said that on many state funding requests, the Arizona Department of >Education has placed a new item asking districts if they are complying >with the English Only law. > >"The form gives us only two options - yes or no," said Jackson-Dennison. >"There is not a third option labeled 'exempt.'" > >By filling out the "no" blank, public schools on reservations within the >state are taking a definite risk of getting their application denied. If >they mark "yes," programs like Window Rock's Navajo Immersion Program >will be eliminated. > >State school officials have made it very clear that classes - all >classes - will be taught only in English. > >Margaret Garcia-Dugan, associate superintendent for the Arizona >Department of Education, said that while BIA schools are exempt from >complying with Proposition 203, public schools are not. > >In a written statement, she said that "if a public school has a large >Native American student population, it must still adhere to the >provisions set forth in Proposition 203 regardless of whether or not >that school is on a reservation. > >"Proposition 203 does allow teaching other languages besides English as >an elective (such as Navajo Language and Cultural Instruction)," she >said. "All other courses such as history, math, English, and physical >education are to be in (English Only) unless the student receives a >waiver." > >This, said Jackson-Dennison, doesn't make a lot of sense since federal >statutes contain provisions that protect and encourage the development >of native languages such as those offered within the Window Rock school >district. > >"The No Child Left Behind Act also encourages the teaching of native >languages," she said. > >Now, the state is coming in and saying that the school district could >lose some of its state funding by following the federal laws and this >isn't right, she said. > > > > >Rosalyn LaPier >Piegan Institute >www.pieganinstitute.org > > > From fnkrs at UAF.EDU Tue Mar 2 23:57:40 2004 From: fnkrs at UAF.EDU (Hishinlai') Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2004 14:57:40 -0900 Subject: AZ AG: public schools not exempt from Prop. 203 Message-ID: You know, I thought the same thing!!!! I wanted to forward it to the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) in Alaska, but I couldn't find their e-mail address. NARF has offices in various other states, so you might want to look at their website. There is one person in particular who works at the Alaska NARF office as a lawyer by the name of Heather Kendall-Miller who is a Dena'ina Athabascan. I thought she should see this because I know that same barbaric law also passed in Alaska but is currently upheld in the courts because it had been challenged. There is also an office on civil rights that should probably see this, if they haven't already. >===== Original Message From Indigenous Languages and Technology ===== >This is sickening and outrageous.. I'm amazed that there haven't been >more responses to this article. What century are we living in, anyway? > Sounds like it's time for major acts of civil disobedience. I'm sorry >to sound extreme, but anybody who voted for an English-only law in >Arizona, of all places, needs to move. And, the idea that the law >applies to schools on reservations... This really, really needs to be >publicized. If anyone can point me to an organization fighting this, I >would be very grateful. > >Liko Puha wrote: > >>AZ AG: public schools not exempt from Prop. 203 >> >>By Bill Donovan - Navajo Times >> >>WINDOW ROCK - A couple of years ago, educators went on the offensive >>when Arizona voters went to the polls to decide whether English would be >>the only language that classes would be taught in. >> >>At that time, a compromise was reached that public school educators >>thought would allow them an exemption so they could provide instruction >>in Native American languages in the early grades. >> >>Boy, were they wrong. >> >>Education officials for the state of Arizona are now saying that based >>on an opinion by the state's attorney general, public schools on the >>reservation have to comply with the English Only law (Proposition 203). >>Only Bureau of Indian Affairs schools are exempt. >> >>"This is a major step backwards," said Deborah Jackson-Dennison, >>superintendent of the Window Rock Unified School District. >> >>Jackson-Dennison has got President Joe Shirley Jr. involved in her >>efforts to get the state to change its policy and exempt public schools >>on reservations that have a large Native American student population. >> >>Shirley and other tribal officials were in Phoenix Tuesday meeting with >>state education officials to get the matter clarified. >> >>What's at risk, Jackson-Dennison said, were Navajo language immersion >>programs like the one at Window Rock where students in the primary >>grades get instruction in their native language. As they get into higher >>grades, they receive more and more instruction in English. >> >>By doing this, she said, it now appears that school districts will be >>putting in jeopardy some of their state funding. >> >>She said that on many state funding requests, the Arizona Department of >>Education has placed a new item asking districts if they are complying >>with the English Only law. >> >>"The form gives us only two options - yes or no," said Jackson-Dennison. >>"There is not a third option labeled 'exempt.'" >> >>By filling out the "no" blank, public schools on reservations within the >>state are taking a definite risk of getting their application denied. If >>they mark "yes," programs like Window Rock's Navajo Immersion Program >>will be eliminated. >> >>State school officials have made it very clear that classes - all >>classes - will be taught only in English. >> >>Margaret Garcia-Dugan, associate superintendent for the Arizona >>Department of Education, said that while BIA schools are exempt from >>complying with Proposition 203, public schools are not. >> >>In a written statement, she said that "if a public school has a large >>Native American student population, it must still adhere to the >>provisions set forth in Proposition 203 regardless of whether or not >>that school is on a reservation. >> >>"Proposition 203 does allow teaching other languages besides English as >>an elective (such as Navajo Language and Cultural Instruction)," she >>said. "All other courses such as history, math, English, and physical >>education are to be in (English Only) unless the student receives a >>waiver." >> >>This, said Jackson-Dennison, doesn't make a lot of sense since federal >>statutes contain provisions that protect and encourage the development >>of native languages such as those offered within the Window Rock school >>district. >> >>"The No Child Left Behind Act also encourages the teaching of native >>languages," she said. >> >>Now, the state is coming in and saying that the school district could >>lose some of its state funding by following the federal laws and this >>isn't right, she said. >> >> >> >> >>Rosalyn LaPier >>Piegan Institute >>www.pieganinstitute.org >> >> >> <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Hishinlai' "Kathy R. Sikorski", Gwich'in Instructor University of Alaska Fairbanks Alaska Native Language Center P. O. Box 757680 Fairbanks, AK 99775-7680 P (907) 474-7875 F (907) 474-7876 E fnkrs at uaf.edu ANLC-L at www.uaf.edu/anlc/ Laraa t'aahch'yaa kwaa k'it tr'agwah'in. Nigwiinjik kwaa k'it juu veet'indhan veet'indhan ts'a' nak'arahtii kwaa k'it ch'andzaa. or "Work like you don't need the money. Love like you've never been hurt, and Dance like you do when nobody's watching." From miakalish at REDPONY.US Wed Mar 3 02:16:51 2004 From: miakalish at REDPONY.US (Mia - Main Red Pony) Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2004 19:16:51 -0700 Subject: Indn Words for Science Message-ID: Hello. In the middle of these devastating assaults on Native languages, laws that say classes must be taught in English, No [Rich] child left behind. . . and so on, I have what I think is an important question to ask, especially for people working on revitalization. Do your languages have words for science? I have been looking through my dictionaries (Young and Morgan's Colloquial Navajo, Perry's Western Apache Dictionary, Bray's version of the Western Apache-English Dictionary, Toluwa and Hupa]. I have a small set of really basic words: add, subtract, multiply, divide, circle, square, triangle, measure, count, repeat, rhythm, angle, line, cloud, mountain, rain. Most of the languages have recorded words for circle, mountain, and rain. Many have words for cloud, although Toluwa, in the Pacific Northwest, and with words for fog, don't have one listed for "cloud". So, my really important question: Do Your Languages have these words? Some? You don't have to send me what they are, unless you would enjoy engaging with them. But I would like to know if they exist. I am convinced that Powell created a limited, and somewhat pernicious, view of the people who lived here originally with his prescriptive Introduction to the Study of Indian Languages: Words, phrases and sentences to be collected. I am also convinced that without this narrow and exclusive view, some, of not all, of the language issues that we have today, particularly with regard to languages which may be used in schools for teaching, would not exist. The question arose because I am looking at geometric patterns at Three Rivers Petroglyphs. The patterns show up in pottery designs in 1100-1300 ad. I wondered if people had conceptualized these forms linguistically. Thanks in advance for your help. Mia Kalish PS: Thanks for that information on grants, Andre. Wouldn't this be just a Perfect Project! "Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking about them. Alfred North Whitehead Mia Kalish, M.A. PhD Student, Computer Science Tularosa, New Mexico USA 88352 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Ivy.gif Type: image/gif Size: 5665 bytes Desc: not available URL: From pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET Wed Mar 3 16:04:52 2004 From: pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2004 09:04:52 -0700 Subject: Tribes take to wireless web (fwd) Message-ID: Tribes take to wireless web http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3489932.stm Wireless technology is helping native Americans in California go online and learn computing skills, reports Elizabeth Biddlecombe from San Francisco. Before the Tribal Digital Village project, Jack Ward could not get online when it rained. "The telephone lines are very old," explained the director of the Digital Village. "In the heat of the desert it doesn't take long for them to deteriorate." Things are different now. Everybody has at least a broadband DSL connection. The Tribal Digital Village (TDV) is based in Southern California's San Diego County. This mountainous and remote land is home to 18 native American reservations - each one a sovereign nation - with an aggregate population of 15,000. As with other rural areas of the US, wiring Native American reservations for telephony and internet access has never been an attractive proposition for established phone companies. The number of subscribers per mile makes recouping costs a tricky proposition. Nor has deregulation of the telecoms market changed the picture. HP donations Tribal governments have taken matters into their own hands. Three years ago, the Southern California Tribal Chairmen's Association applied for a $5m grant from Hewlett-Packard. "With no basic economy, many of the young people have to leave the tribe to work. Now they can stay," Jack Ward, Tribal Digital Village. The technology giant had decided to set up three so-called digital villages, but not just for philanthropic reasons. "We really wanted to understand what it would take to be successful in serving underserved and emerging markets," said Scott Bossinger of HP. In addition to training and support, the company has donated, "pretty much everything across the product portfolio", he said, including handheld iPaqs, computers and wireless access points. A wireless internet connection now spans an area 150 miles long by 75 miles wide. Bubbles of wi-fi networks cover local government offices, libraries, schools and museums. More than 900 computers are connected to the network. More than 1,500 people use e-mail and access online tribal calendars. Educational software is available to supplement high school courses. There are 25 learning labs equipped with video, audio and digital photography equipment. The TDV offers a range of computing courses. One tribal chairman is doing a Cisco Academy certification course in order to be able to support his tribe of eight people. But people have not gone on to get jobs with outside companies as yet. "Everybody we've trained is busy doing it here at the moment," said Jack Ward. Staunching the brain drain from these deprived communities was another objective of the project. Commercial expansion This is where the HP 3000 printing press comes in. A new company, Hi-Rez Digital Solutions, was inaugurated in October and hopes to break-even by April by providing high-quality, short-run print services. Not only will this cutting-edge technology enable a lucrative business, said Mr Ward, but it will enable the tribes to train and employ their own communities. "With no basic economy, many of the young people have to leave the tribe to work. Now they can stay," he enthused. "With technology support, the tribes can become a true sovereign nation." Having connectivity has made it easier for most tribes to provide local services such as courts, fire and security departments as well as apply for the many grants they use to run their nations. A handful of reservations in the coverage area have no water, power or phone lines. They therefore rely on the Tribal Digital Village resource centres of their better connected neighbours. The three-year HP project comes to an end this month and the Tribal Digital Village will enter a new phase. The network is currently being upgraded from its current bandwidth of 3Mbps to 45 Mbps. This will make it more possible to connect individual homes. Such an expansion will be funded by new commercial contracts. For instance the directors are looking into providing internet connectivity to neighbouring non-Indian communities that already fall under the coverage of the wireless network. Taking control While they are learning a new hi-tech vocabulary, TDV also enables these Americans to strengthen their knowledge of older tongues. An online resource called First Voices allows archiving and instruction in the four different native languages used in the region. Jack Ward takes pleasure in another result of the award-winning project: technical parity with other sectors of North American society. "Technology is no longer something [the tribes] see on TV or in the newspaper adverts," he said. "It has become real to them." Other native communities are also taking control of their telecoms infrastructure. Thirty received loans and grants totalling more than US$42 million from the Rural Utilities Services, part of the Department of Agriculture in 2003. And as part of its Indian Initiatives, US regulator, the Federal Communications Commission, recently announced an agreement with tribal governments to improve communication between native Americans and the companies who build mobile phone towers either on Indian-owned land or places held by indigenous Americans to be sacred. Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/3489932.stm Published: 2004/03/03 09:37:08 GMT -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 5576 bytes Desc: not available URL: From pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET Wed Mar 3 16:22:32 2004 From: pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2004 09:22:32 -0700 Subject: Radio program connects remote Indigenous communities (fwd) Message-ID: Radio program connects remote Indigenous communities [This is the print version of story http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2004/s1058243.htm] The World Today - Wednesday, 3 March , 2004  12:48:25 Reporter: Anne Barker HAMISH ROBERTSON: Most of us take radio and television for granted. But that's not always the case in remote communities, where TV and radio sets are either non-existent or simply useless, because the Indigenous population can't speak English. Yet efforts to set up Indigenous language broadcasts have often failed, leaving these small communities geographically isolated, and caught in an information vacuum. But a unique project in eastern Arnhem Land could soon bring radio to thousands of people across the Top End. Our North Australia correspondent Anne Barker has just visited Nhulunbuy on the Gove Peninsula, and she took a look at new efforts to bring an Indigenous radio signal to every home in the region. (Sound of Indigenous pop song) ANNE BARKER: The Yolngu people of Eastern Arnhem Land have a rich and vibrant culture that goes back tens of thousands of years. Nearly 8,000 people here still speak Yolngu Matha as their native tongue. For them, English is a foreign language. But switch on the TV or radio anywhere between Kakadu National Park and the Gulf of Carpentaria, and English language programs are the norm. Yolngu Matha is almost non-existent on the air waves, meaning local people have limited access to mainstream news and information. It's something one Indigenous organisation is working hard to change. Here, in a makeshift studio at Nhulunbuy, Richard Trudgen and his colleagues at ARDS, or Aboriginal Resource and Development Services are setting up a new educational radio station, that will broadcast in Yolngu Matha to five major communities, and nearly 100 smaller homelands right across Arnhem Land. RICHARD TRUDGEN: What we've done is a lot of research, and we find out they're not listening to the current radio services, they're not even switched on in some cases, including the Aboriginal media services. What we hear people listening to is their own song cycles which they've recorded themselves on tape recorders, and they play those tapes back until they wear them out. So we've said to people, what do you want to hear? And they say well, just like what we're hearing now, our own song cycles and information in language. ANNE BARKER: So is English language radio out of Nhulunbuy, largely irrelevant to people in Arnhem Land? RICHARD TRUDGEN: Most Yolngu that I've spoken to over a 30-year period have said that English just makes them extremely tired and they switch off. They say they can get some points of it and it actually frustrates them because they get some part of it and they don't get the crunch. So I believe all education at the moment aimed at Yolngu people in English is a waste of time. ANNE BARKER: There are meant to be Indigenous language radio services right across the Top End called BRACs or Broadcasting for Remote Aboriginal Communities. But an ATSIC inquiry last year found most were completely dysfunctional, because of a lack of staff. Or, they were used only to retransmit English language stations like the ABC. Richard Trudgen says local communities desperately need radio in their own language. RICHARD TRUDGEN: I know that a handful of Yolngu only knew about customary law review, but the rest of Australia knew about it. So everybody else was discussing stuff that Yolngu should know about; they themselves don't even know about it. To me it's almost a criminal offence these days, that we're creating on Yolngu because they just haven't got equal access as citizens of Australia to information. ANNE BARKER: Some people might argue that all they need to do is learn English. RICHARD TRUDGEN: Well, that's like saying to somebody who's drowning, all you need to do is get out of the water. You know, it's such a stupid statement because a Yugoslavian person can come to Australia and they immediately can move into learning English with self-learning tools – a thing called a dictionary. No dictionary exists in English to Yolngu Matha. What we're doing is building the building blocks here for a very powerful self-teaching medium which people, which Yolngu can control themselves. HAMISH ROBERTSON: That was Richard Trudgen who was speaking to Anne Barker in Nhulunbuy on the Gove Peninsula in eastern Arnhem Land. © 2003 Australian Broadcasting Corporation -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 4748 bytes Desc: not available URL: From Rrlapier at AOL.COM Wed Mar 3 17:56:47 2004 From: Rrlapier at AOL.COM (Rrlapier at AOL.COM) Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2004 12:56:47 EST Subject: NALA vs. NCLB Message-ID: Has anyone written an analysis of NALA vs. NCLB? Rosalyn LaPier Piegan Institute www.pieganinstitute.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Mar 3 18:05:32 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2004 11:05:32 -0700 Subject: NALA vs. NCLB In-Reply-To: <1dc.1b86a3d7.2d77765f@aol.com> Message-ID: good question Rosalyn! if there is such an analysis, maybe we can have it posted here to ILAT. phil cash cash UofA, ILAT > ----- Message from Rrlapier at AOL.COM --------- > Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2004 12:56:47 EST > From: Rrlapier at AOL.COM > Reply-To: Indigenous Languages and Technology > Subject: NALA vs. NCLB > To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU > > Has anyone written an analysis of NALA vs. NCLB? > > > Rosalyn LaPier > Piegan Institute > www.pieganinstitute.org > > > ----- End message from Rrlapier at AOL.COM ----- From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Mar 3 18:34:48 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2004 11:34:48 -0700 Subject: NALA vs. NCLB In-Reply-To: <1dc.1b86a3d7.2d77765f@aol.com> Message-ID: WRITTEN STATEMENT ON S.575, A BILL TO AMEND THE NATIVE AMERICAN LANGUAGES ACT BEFORE THE SENATE INDIAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE Submitted By John W. Cheek May 15, 2003 [ILAT note: the above statement includes a brief review of NCLB. this was found at http://indian.senate.gov/] > ----- Message from Rrlapier at AOL.COM --------- > Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2004 12:56:47 EST > From: Rrlapier at AOL.COM > Reply-To: Indigenous Languages and Technology > Subject: NALA vs. NCLB > To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU > > Has anyone written an analysis of NALA vs. NCLB? > > > Rosalyn LaPier > Piegan Institute > www.pieganinstitute.org > > > ----- End message from Rrlapier at AOL.COM ----- -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: cheek.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 18680 bytes Desc: not available URL: From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Thu Mar 4 00:04:36 2004 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2004 16:04:36 -0800 Subject: Indn Words for Science In-Reply-To: <04f601c400c5$97b75bb0$6400a8c0@computer> Message-ID: FYI (attached) Mia - Main Red Pony wrote: > Hello. > > In the middle of these devastating assaults on Native languages, laws > that say classes must be taught in English, No [Rich] child left > behind. . . and so on, I have what I think is an important question to > ask, especially for people working on revitalization. > > Do your languages have words for science? > > I have been looking through my dictionaries (Young and Morgan's > Colloquial Navajo, Perry's Western Apache Dictionary, Bray's version > of the Western Apache-English Dictionary, Toluwa and Hupa]. I have a > small set of really basic words: add, subtract, multiply, divide, > circle, square, triangle, measure, count, repeat, rhythm, angle, line, > cloud, mountain, rain. > > Most of the languages have recorded words for circle, mountain, and > rain. Many have words for cloud, although Toluwa, in the Pacific > Northwest, and with words for fog, don't have one listed for "cloud". > > So, my really important question: Do Your Languages have these words? > Some? > > You don't have to send me what they are, unless you would enjoy > engaging with them. But I would like to know if they exist. > > I am convinced that Powell created a limited, and somewhat pernicious, > view of the people who lived here originally with his prescriptive > Introduction to the Study of Indian Languages: Words, phrases and > sentences to be collected. > > I am also convinced that without this narrow and exclusive view, some, > of not all, of the language issues that we have today, particularly > with regard to languages which may be used in schools for teaching, > would not exist. > > The question arose because I am looking at geometric patterns at Three > Rivers Petroglyphs. The patterns show up in pottery designs in > 1100-1300 ad. I wondered if people had conceptualized these forms > linguistically. > > Thanks in advance for your help. > > Mia Kalish > > PS: Thanks for that information on grants, Andre. Wouldn't this be > just a Perfect Project! > > "Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations > which we can perform without thinking about them. Alfred North Whitehead > > Mia Kalish, M.A. > PhD Student, Computer Science > Tularosa, New Mexico USA 88352 > -- André Cramblit: andre.p.cramblit.86 at alum.dartmouth.org is the Operations Director Northern California Indian Development Council NCIDC (http://www.ncidc.org) is a non-profit that meets the development needs of American Indians To subscribe to a news letter of interest to Natives send an email to: IndigenousNewsNetwork-subscribe at topica.com or go to: http://www.topica.com/lists/IndigenousNewsNetwork/subscribe/?location=listinfo -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/applefile Size: 451 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: STRATEGIES FOR TEACHING SCIENCE Type: application/octet-stream Size: 90112 bytes Desc: not available URL: From anguksuar at YAHOO.COM Thu Mar 4 00:43:16 2004 From: anguksuar at YAHOO.COM (Richard LaFortune) Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2004 16:43:16 -0800 Subject: AZ AG: public schools not exempt from Prop. 203 In-Reply-To: <4045159B.8020306@luna.cc.nm.us> Message-ID: Interestingly, Andrew Dalby notes in his book, Language In Danger (Columbia University Press, 2003)that, "It took a sustained campaign of civil disobedience before the British Government, in the 1960s, grudgingly accepted its responsiblity to deal with Welsh-speaking citizens in Welsh." p 118 paragraph 2 Richard LaFortune Minneapolis --- Matthew Ward wrote: > This is sickening and outrageous.. I'm amazed that > there haven't been > more responses to this article. What century are we > living in, anyway? > Sounds like it's time for major acts of civil > disobedience. I'm sorry > to sound extreme, but anybody who voted for an > English-only law in > Arizona, of all places, needs to move. And, the > idea that the law > applies to schools on reservations... This really, > really needs to be > publicized. If anyone can point me to an > organization fighting this, I > would be very grateful. > > Liko Puha wrote: > > >AZ AG: public schools not exempt from Prop. 203 > > > >By Bill Donovan - Navajo Times > > > >WINDOW ROCK - A couple of years ago, educators went > on the offensive > >when Arizona voters went to the polls to decide > whether English would be > >the only language that classes would be taught in. > > > >At that time, a compromise was reached that public > school educators > >thought would allow them an exemption so they could > provide instruction > >in Native American languages in the early grades. > > > >Boy, were they wrong. > > > >Education officials for the state of Arizona are > now saying that based > >on an opinion by the state's attorney general, > public schools on the > >reservation have to comply with the English Only > law (Proposition 203). > >Only Bureau of Indian Affairs schools are exempt. > > > >"This is a major step backwards," said Deborah > Jackson-Dennison, > >superintendent of the Window Rock Unified School > District. > > > >Jackson-Dennison has got President Joe Shirley Jr. > involved in her > >efforts to get the state to change its policy and > exempt public schools > >on reservations that have a large Native American > student population. > > > >Shirley and other tribal officials were in Phoenix > Tuesday meeting with > >state education officials to get the matter > clarified. > > > >What's at risk, Jackson-Dennison said, were Navajo > language immersion > >programs like the one at Window Rock where students > in the primary > >grades get instruction in their native language. As > they get into higher > >grades, they receive more and more instruction in > English. > > > >By doing this, she said, it now appears that school > districts will be > >putting in jeopardy some of their state funding. > > > >She said that on many state funding requests, the > Arizona Department of > >Education has placed a new item asking districts if > they are complying > >with the English Only law. > > > >"The form gives us only two options - yes or no," > said Jackson-Dennison. > >"There is not a third option labeled 'exempt.'" > > > >By filling out the "no" blank, public schools on > reservations within the > >state are taking a definite risk of getting their > application denied. If > >they mark "yes," programs like Window Rock's Navajo > Immersion Program > >will be eliminated. > > > >State school officials have made it very clear that > classes - all > >classes - will be taught only in English. > > > >Margaret Garcia-Dugan, associate superintendent for > the Arizona > >Department of Education, said that while BIA > schools are exempt from > >complying with Proposition 203, public schools are > not. > > > >In a written statement, she said that "if a public > school has a large > >Native American student population, it must still > adhere to the > >provisions set forth in Proposition 203 regardless > of whether or not > >that school is on a reservation. > > > >"Proposition 203 does allow teaching other > languages besides English as > >an elective (such as Navajo Language and Cultural > Instruction)," she > >said. "All other courses such as history, math, > English, and physical > >education are to be in (English Only) unless the > student receives a > >waiver." > > > >This, said Jackson-Dennison, doesn't make a lot of > sense since federal > >statutes contain provisions that protect and > encourage the development > >of native languages such as those offered within > the Window Rock school > >district. > > > >"The No Child Left Behind Act also encourages the > teaching of native > >languages," she said. > > > >Now, the state is coming in and saying that the > school district could > >lose some of its state funding by following the > federal laws and this > >isn't right, she said. > > > > > > > > > >Rosalyn LaPier > >Piegan Institute > >www.pieganinstitute.org > > > > > > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Search - Find what you~Rre looking for faster http://search.yahoo.com From mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US Thu Mar 4 15:54:17 2004 From: mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US (Matthew Ward) Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2004 08:54:17 -0700 Subject: AZ AG: public schools not exempt from Prop. 203 Message-ID: It's ironic: to a certain degree, our national government has recognized the issue. But, states are using the initiative process to allow urban newcomers to supress the languages of people who were there thousands of years before English even arrived. I really believe that this needs to be publicized as much as possible, for a dual purpose: to try to embarrass the state of Arizona into acting in a just way, and to help discredit the entire English-only movement. One of the central planks of the English-only movement is the idea that English is the only language that can be considered "American." That ideology is sick and wrong. I've forwarded a copy of the article below to NARF, and written a letter to the Arizona Republic. Here's a link to their Letters to the Editor dept: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/help/contact.html#editor. I plan to try to do as I can to publicize this issue. I do believe that if the American public knew about this issue, they would recognize the unfairness. Any ideas for doing this would be much appreciated. Matthew Ward Richard LaFortune wrote: >Interestingly, Andrew Dalby notes in his book, >Language In Danger (Columbia University Press, >2003)that, >"It took a sustained campaign of civil disobedience >before the British Government, in the 1960s, >grudgingly accepted its responsiblity to deal with >Welsh-speaking citizens in Welsh." >p 118 paragraph 2 > >Richard LaFortune >Minneapolis > >--- Matthew Ward wrote: > > >>This is sickening and outrageous.. I'm amazed that >>there haven't been >>more responses to this article. What century are we >>living in, anyway? >> Sounds like it's time for major acts of civil >>disobedience. I'm sorry >>to sound extreme, but anybody who voted for an >>English-only law in >>Arizona, of all places, needs to move. And, the >>idea that the law >>applies to schools on reservations... This really, >>really needs to be >>publicized. If anyone can point me to an >>organization fighting this, I >>would be very grateful. >> >>Liko Puha wrote: >> >> >> >>>AZ AG: public schools not exempt from Prop. 203 >>> >>>By Bill Donovan - Navajo Times >>> >>>WINDOW ROCK - A couple of years ago, educators went >>> >>> >>on the offensive >> >> >>>when Arizona voters went to the polls to decide >>> >>> >>whether English would be >> >> >>>the only language that classes would be taught in. >>> >>>At that time, a compromise was reached that public >>> >>> >>school educators >> >> >>>thought would allow them an exemption so they could >>> >>> >>provide instruction >> >> >>>in Native American languages in the early grades. >>> >>>Boy, were they wrong. >>> >>>Education officials for the state of Arizona are >>> >>> >>now saying that based >> >> >>>on an opinion by the state's attorney general, >>> >>> >>public schools on the >> >> >>>reservation have to comply with the English Only >>> >>> >>law (Proposition 203). >> >> >>>Only Bureau of Indian Affairs schools are exempt. >>> >>>"This is a major step backwards," said Deborah >>> >>> >>Jackson-Dennison, >> >> >>>superintendent of the Window Rock Unified School >>> >>> >>District. >> >> >>>Jackson-Dennison has got President Joe Shirley Jr. >>> >>> >>involved in her >> >> >>>efforts to get the state to change its policy and >>> >>> >>exempt public schools >> >> >>>on reservations that have a large Native American >>> >>> >>student population. >> >> >>>Shirley and other tribal officials were in Phoenix >>> >>> >>Tuesday meeting with >> >> >>>state education officials to get the matter >>> >>> >>clarified. >> >> >>>What's at risk, Jackson-Dennison said, were Navajo >>> >>> >>language immersion >> >> >>>programs like the one at Window Rock where students >>> >>> >>in the primary >> >> >>>grades get instruction in their native language. As >>> >>> >>they get into higher >> >> >>>grades, they receive more and more instruction in >>> >>> >>English. >> >> >>>By doing this, she said, it now appears that school >>> >>> >>districts will be >> >> >>>putting in jeopardy some of their state funding. >>> >>>She said that on many state funding requests, the >>> >>> >>Arizona Department of >> >> >>>Education has placed a new item asking districts if >>> >>> >>they are complying >> >> >>>with the English Only law. >>> >>>"The form gives us only two options - yes or no," >>> >>> >>said Jackson-Dennison. >> >> >>>"There is not a third option labeled 'exempt.'" >>> >>>By filling out the "no" blank, public schools on >>> >>> >>reservations within the >> >> >>>state are taking a definite risk of getting their >>> >>> >>application denied. If >> >> >>>they mark "yes," programs like Window Rock's Navajo >>> >>> >>Immersion Program >> >> >>>will be eliminated. >>> >>>State school officials have made it very clear that >>> >>> >>classes - all >> >> >>>classes - will be taught only in English. >>> >>>Margaret Garcia-Dugan, associate superintendent for >>> >>> >>the Arizona >> >> >>>Department of Education, said that while BIA >>> >>> >>schools are exempt from >> >> >>>complying with Proposition 203, public schools are >>> >>> >>not. >> >> >>>In a written statement, she said that "if a public >>> >>> >>school has a large >> >> >>>Native American student population, it must still >>> >>> >>adhere to the >> >> >>>provisions set forth in Proposition 203 regardless >>> >>> >>of whether or not >> >> >>>that school is on a reservation. >>> >>>"Proposition 203 does allow teaching other >>> >>> >>languages besides English as >> >> >>>an elective (such as Navajo Language and Cultural >>> >>> >>Instruction)," she >> >> >>>said. "All other courses such as history, math, >>> >>> >>English, and physical >> >> >>>education are to be in (English Only) unless the >>> >>> >>student receives a >> >> >>>waiver." >>> >>>This, said Jackson-Dennison, doesn't make a lot of >>> >>> >>sense since federal >> >> >>>statutes contain provisions that protect and >>> >>> >>encourage the development >> >> >>>of native languages such as those offered within >>> >>> >>the Window Rock school >> >> >>>district. >>> >>>"The No Child Left Behind Act also encourages the >>> >>> >>teaching of native >> >> >>>languages," she said. >>> >>>Now, the state is coming in and saying that the >>> >>> >>school district could >> >> >>>lose some of its state funding by following the >>> >>> >>federal laws and this >> >> >>>isn't right, she said. >>> >>> >>> >>> >>>Rosalyn LaPier >>>Piegan Institute >>>www.pieganinstitute.org >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> > > >__________________________________ >Do you Yahoo!? >Yahoo! Search - Find what you're looking for faster >http://search.yahoo.com > > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Thu Mar 4 16:17:12 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2004 09:17:12 -0700 Subject: Ottawa commits money for language protection (fwd) Message-ID: Ottawa commits money for language protection http://north.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=nor_languages20040304 WebPosted Mar 4 2004 09:19 AM CST YUKON - Ottawa is renewing funding for grassroots programming to keep Aboriginal languages alive in the territory. Yukon Member of Parliament Larry Bagnell presented a cheque for $2.2 million to the Yukon government Wednesday. Janet Moodie, Yukon's deputy minister overseeing Aboriginal affairs, says the government is committed to protecting Aboriginal languages. "This is the fourth such agreement that the Yukon government has had with the federal government around the protection, revitalization and development of Yukon Aboriginal languages," she says. "An important principle of this particular program, one that has been referred to as the Yukon model, is that Yukon Aboriginal people are the stewards of their languages." Moodie says First Nations and native groups can apply for funding to support and strengthen their languages and in the past, activities have included language classes and culture camps. Moodie says it's not clear whether these efforts are making a difference. The Yukon government is just finishing a new study on fluency rates. From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Thu Mar 4 16:28:01 2004 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2004 08:28:01 -0800 Subject: Book Coming Out Message-ID: Forthcoming book of interest: Beginning Creek: Mvskoke Emponvkv by Linda Alexander, Bertha Tilkens, Pamela Joan Innes List Price: $29.95 Paperback: 256 pages Publisher: Univ of Oklahoma Pr (Trd); Book and CD edition (May 2004) ISBN: 0806135832 Book Description: Beginning Creek provides a basic introduction to the language and culture of the Mvskoke-speaking peoples, Muskogee (Creek) and Seminole Indians. Written by linguistic anthropologist Pamela Innes and native speakers Linda Alexander and Bertha Tilkens, the text is accessible to general readers and students and is accompanied by two compact discs. The volume begins with an introduction to Creek history and language, and then each chapter introduces readers to a new grammatical feature, vocabulary set, and series of conversational sentences. Translation exercises from English to Mvskoke and Mvskoke to English reinforce new words and concepts. The chapters conclude with brief essays by Linda Alexander and Bertha Tilkens on Creek culture and history and suggestions for further reading. The two audio CDs present examples of ceremonial speech, songs, and storytelling and include pronunciations of Mvskoke language keyed to exercises and vocabulary lists in the book. The combination of recorded and written material gives students a chance to learn and practice Mvskoke as an oral and written language. Although Mvskoke speakers include the Muskogee (Creek) and Seminole Nations of Oklahoma, the Poarch Band of Creek Indians in Alabama, and some Florida Seminoles, the number of native speakers of Mvskoke has declined. Because the authors believe that language and culture are inextricably linked, they have combined their years of experience speaking and teaching Mvskoke to design an introductory textbook to help Creek speakers preserve their traditional language and way of life. -- André Cramblit: andre.p.cramblit.86 at alum.dartmouth.org is the Operations Director Northern California Indian Development Council NCIDC (http://www.ncidc.org) is a non-profit that meets the development needs of American Indians To subscribe to a news letter of interest to Natives send an email to: IndigenousNewsNetwork-subscribe at topica.com or go to: http://www.topica.com/lists/IndigenousNewsNetwork/subscribe/?location=listinfo From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Thu Mar 4 16:38:10 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2004 09:38:10 -0700 Subject: =?iso-8859-1?b?Tel0aXM=?= Nation Continues Efforts to Revive its Unique Language (fwd) Message-ID: Métis Nation Continues Efforts to Revive its Unique Language - Michif http://www.cnw.ca/fr/releases/archive/March2004/03/c6721.html RICHMOND, BC, March 3 /CNW/ - "The Métis Nation is committed to supporting and strengthening the Michif language to ensure it remains in its rightful place at the centre of our culture," said Harley Desjarlais, President of the Métis Provincial Council of British Columbia. BC is the Métis National Council Governing Member that is hosting the 3rd Michif Language Conference. Bruce Dumont, is a member of the Métis National Council's Michif Working Group and one of the conference organizers. "There is an appetite for the revival of Michif across the Métis Homeland. Our people want to know about the language and learn the language," said Mr. Dumont. "I believe our biggest challenge is the instruction/teaching of the language." This year's conference will focus on learning and immersion. There will be discussions on language development, curriculum proposals, and education components. The conference will also include discussion on the future direction of the revival and development of the Michif Language. Clément Chartier, President of the Métis National Council extended his best wishes to those who will attend the upcoming conference and the people who promote the language across the Métis Homeland. "I'm thankful for all those Métis citizens who are committed to the Michif language, it is through their efforts that we are keeping our language alive. The Michif language is a part of our distinct cultural heritage and everyone who works in preserving and passing on the language deserves our utmost support." 3rd Annual Michif Language Conference March 5-7, 2004 Hilton Vancouver Airport Richmond, BC "Aen kwa ney taa maak nutr lawng Michif - Keeping our talk Michif" For further information: Miles Morrisseau, Director of Communications, Métis National Council, 613-232-3216, (cell) 613-612-5753; Katelin Peltier, Communications Officer, Métis National Council, 613-232-3216, (cell) 613-859-7130 From dzo at BISHARAT.NET Thu Mar 4 16:56:40 2004 From: dzo at BISHARAT.NET (Don Osborn) Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2004 17:56:40 +0100 Subject: AZ AG: public schools not exempt from Prop. 203 Message-ID: It may be worthwhile to make reference to the Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights: http://www.linguistic-declaration.org/index-gb.htm (see, esp. in this context, section II on education). It is not a binding inernational document as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but is gaining interest since its creation in 1996, and hopefully promoting discussion. Don Osborn Bisharat.net ----- Original Message ----- From: Matthew Ward To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU Sent: Thursday, March 04, 2004 4:54 PM Subject: Re: AZ AG: public schools not exempt from Prop. 203 It's ironic: to a certain degree, our national government has recognized the issue. But, states are using the initiative process to allow urban newcomers to supress the languages of people who were there thousands of years before English even arrived. I really believe that this needs to be publicized as much as possible, for a dual purpose: to try to embarrass the state of Arizona into acting in a just way, and to help discredit the entire English-only movement. One of the central planks of the English-only movement is the idea that English is the only language that can be considered "American." That ideology is sick and wrong. I've forwarded a copy of the article below to NARF, and written a letter to the Arizona Republic. Here's a link to their Letters to the Editor dept: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/help/contact.html#editor. I plan to try to do as I can to publicize this issue. I do believe that if the American public knew about this issue, they would recognize the unfairness. Any ideas for doing this would be much appreciated. Matthew Ward Richard LaFortune wrote: Interestingly, Andrew Dalby notes in his book, Language In Danger (Columbia University Press, 2003)that, "It took a sustained campaign of civil disobedience before the British Government, in the 1960s, grudgingly accepted its responsiblity to deal with Welsh-speaking citizens in Welsh." p 118 paragraph 2 Richard LaFortune Minneapolis --- Matthew Ward wrote: This is sickening and outrageous.. I'm amazed that there haven't been more responses to this article. What century are we living in, anyway? Sounds like it's time for major acts of civil disobedience. I'm sorry to sound extreme, but anybody who voted for an English-only law in Arizona, of all places, needs to move. And, the idea that the law applies to schools on reservations... This really, really needs to be publicized. If anyone can point me to an organization fighting this, I would be very grateful. Liko Puha wrote: AZ AG: public schools not exempt from Prop. 203 By Bill Donovan - Navajo Times WINDOW ROCK - A couple of years ago, educators went on the offensive when Arizona voters went to the polls to decide whether English would be the only language that classes would be taught in. At that time, a compromise was reached that public school educators thought would allow them an exemption so they could provide instruction in Native American languages in the early grades. Boy, were they wrong. Education officials for the state of Arizona are now saying that based on an opinion by the state's attorney general, public schools on the reservation have to comply with the English Only law (Proposition 203). Only Bureau of Indian Affairs schools are exempt. "This is a major step backwards," said Deborah Jackson-Dennison, superintendent of the Window Rock Unified School District. Jackson-Dennison has got President Joe Shirley Jr. involved in her efforts to get the state to change its policy and exempt public schools on reservations that have a large Native American student population. Shirley and other tribal officials were in Phoenix Tuesday meeting with state education officials to get the matter clarified. What's at risk, Jackson-Dennison said, were Navajo language immersion programs like the one at Window Rock where students in the primary grades get instruction in their native language. As they get into higher grades, they receive more and more instruction in English. By doing this, she said, it now appears that school districts will be putting in jeopardy some of their state funding. She said that on many state funding requests, the Arizona Department of Education has placed a new item asking districts if they are complying with the English Only law. "The form gives us only two options - yes or no," said Jackson-Dennison. "There is not a third option labeled 'exempt.'" By filling out the "no" blank, public schools on reservations within the state are taking a definite risk of getting their application denied. If they mark "yes," programs like Window Rock's Navajo Immersion Program will be eliminated. State school officials have made it very clear that classes - all classes - will be taught only in English. Margaret Garcia-Dugan, associate superintendent for the Arizona Department of Education, said that while BIA schools are exempt from complying with Proposition 203, public schools are not. In a written statement, she said that "if a public school has a large Native American student population, it must still adhere to the provisions set forth in Proposition 203 regardless of whether or not that school is on a reservation. "Proposition 203 does allow teaching other languages besides English as an elective (such as Navajo Language and Cultural Instruction)," she said. "All other courses such as history, math, English, and physical education are to be in (English Only) unless the student receives a waiver." This, said Jackson-Dennison, doesn't make a lot of sense since federal statutes contain provisions that protect and encourage the development of native languages such as those offered within the Window Rock school district. "The No Child Left Behind Act also encourages the teaching of native languages," she said. Now, the state is coming in and saying that the school district could lose some of its state funding by following the federal laws and this isn't right, she said. Rosalyn LaPier Piegan Institute www.pieganinstitute.org __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Search - Find what you're looking for faster http://search.yahoo.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Rrlapier at AOL.COM Thu Mar 4 17:19:28 2004 From: Rrlapier at AOL.COM (Rrlapier at AOL.COM) Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2004 12:19:28 EST Subject: English only Message-ID: Another question, I believe there are now 23 or 26 states who have passed "english only" legislation? How many are states with significant Native populations? I know that Montana is an "english only" state and we have 7 reservations and 12 tribes. Rosalyn LaPier Piegan Institute www.pieganinstitute.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Thu Mar 4 18:09:41 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2004 11:09:41 -0700 Subject: Audacity Message-ID: tá'c 'alaxp (good day!) ILAT, Audacity just released 1.2.0! Audacity is an open source and completely free audio editor. http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ At the 2003 American Indian Language Development Institute (AILDI) here at the Univ of Arizona, we tested and used Audacity in our course "Computer Applications for Indigenous Communities." We recieved a very postive response from all our students, both elders and college age students alike, on its simplicity and ease of use. The elder students really liked its graphic interface with its "big" buttons. The student's main use of Audacity was simply to capture live speech in digital format and transfer it into a simple multimedia environment like PowerPoint. We used standard headset microphones, though now, you can buy headset microphones with "noise reduction", a very very useful feature that blocks out ambient background noise when recording a native speaker. When recording in Audacity, you are able to use an unlimited number of audio tracks. One of our Hupa students created a traditional song composition with mutiple tracks using only her voice. Audacity supports a wide variety of audio formats (including WAV, MP3, and Ogg Vorbis). In 2003, we created only WAV files in our course due in part to the difficulty in downloading the MP3 plug-in, however, with the latest version it is now much easier to do. You will notice that you download Audacity and the MP3 plug-in separately. After downloading, I did a simple test to create an MP3 file and it went smooth without a hitch. Of course, the advantage of using the MP3 format for your sound file format is the reduction in file size and ease of use in multimedia environments. Btw, Audacity's "help" files are outstanding! I encourage language people to go buy a headset (w/noise reduction; although you really don't have to...really), download Audacity and the MP3 plug-in, and try it out. Send me an MP3 greeting in your language! qó'c (later), phil cash cash (cayuse/nez perce) UofA, ILAT From mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US Thu Mar 4 17:42:31 2004 From: mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US (Matthew Ward) Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2004 10:42:31 -0700 Subject: English only Message-ID: That's a good question... as I understand it, most of the "English Only" laws are mostly symbolic, having little or no legal force. That doesn't mean that there aren't plenty of reasons to oppose them, however. The law in question, however, was supported by millionaire Ron Unz, who is concentrating on anti-bilingual education. I have been concerned for years that his initiatives would endanger immersion programs, and this article confirms my fears. As someone noted earlier, a similar law (I don't know whether it was Unz-backed or not) is tied up in the courts in Alaska, because Natives feared that it would prevent them from using their languages in the public sphere. So far, the only state to defeat one of these Unz-backed initiatives has been Colorado (round of applause). If there is a silver lining here, it is that this makes the initiatives look very bad: it isn't "helping" immigrant kids to learn English, it's prevent Native Americans from taking the steps necessary to preserve their languages. That's wrong, and yes, barbaric. I believe that the majority of Americans can recognize this. Rrlapier at AOL.COM wrote: > Another question, I believe there are now 23 or 26 states who have > passed "english only" legislation? How many are states with > significant Native populations? > > I know that Montana is an "english only" state and we have 7 > reservations and 12 tribes. > > > Rosalyn LaPier > Piegan Institute > www.pieganinstitute.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From anguksuar at YAHOO.COM Thu Mar 4 19:21:51 2004 From: anguksuar at YAHOO.COM (Richard LaFortune) Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2004 11:21:51 -0800 Subject: DOJ -Language Minority Voting Rights In-Reply-To: <125.2b95ce76.2d78bf20@aol.com> Message-ID: here's a website (below) that deals with another aspect of the whole legality question, where states are attempting to supercede the sovereignty of plenipotentiaries (us Natives). It's probably legally actionable under not only international law, but in view of various gaps and chinks that were cobbled into NALA and in the body of existing law. I can't recall at the moment how OLA (Official Languages Act of Canada)speaks to the issue of 'states rights' (wow does that ever sound pre-MartinLutherKing), but NALA plainly was not given teeth in this regard. On 4 occassions in the original enabling NALA guidance, Congress merely 'encourages' states to recognize and take advantage of their 'right' to acknowledge and support Native languages. Nowhere in the document are there directives for individual states for actual compliance with Congress' findings and resolutions, or with tribal governments or populations. This should actually be addressed by ammendment, since this constitutes baldly threadbare policy making, in retrospect (I don't utter this as criticism intended for the authors of this otherwise admirable legislation). But policy process is constructed for tweaking and nuancing- and perhaps that's the most that was able to be codified at the time in 1990. Wouldn't surprise me in some ways, since the 5 or Acts of Congress (ICWA, NAGPRA, NAACA, NAFRA, etc) were primarily timed to cushion the world's attention on the US, at the time of the quincentennial (stated as opinion only, I need not mention). I believe that states with official english-only are actually defying several strata of federal law (which is why I put the voting rights link below). Courts, for example are also legally required in any precinct from national to local levels to provide translators for due process in the language of any or all concerned parties. I think there are some test cases waiting to happen there as well. I think we should mount these cases, and the defendents should be First Speakers who present arguments in the Languages. The whole construct in the US for advancing language programming dollars is essentially based on Crawford's model of Language as a Resource, rather than Language as a Right. Lawmakers are not appreciably paying any attention to the 'our-language-rights' aspect of the dialogue, and while the Resource aspect is the essential thrust of most policy level adjustments being advanced across the country, I think it is important to triangulate on the rights aspect as well. Part of this whole discussion in the US I still believe has not only the minutiae of policy-level stuff, but is ripe for convocation with the denominational bodies that administered the english only boarding schools for the feds in the first place. They have responsibility for some symmetrical reparations, if not fiscally, then morally. I grew up in an open adoption with a very influential clergy family, so I know the guts of the church in this hemisphere fairly well. I also grew up speaking my language for the first few years, so I have some strong ideas for how this dialogue (which is entirely seperate from the Rights & Resources dialogues) should be shaped by our communities. After all, we are now moving in a tektonic shift from theoretical linguistics in the Academy to applied linguistics in our communities. We're leading a paradigm shift in the Field. International linguistics acquired its legs through Native American cultures, and after the whole Generative Language discussion focused resources and attention away from our communities, now we are leading the way back. We live with the world's only remaining superpower, by common acclaim. Therefore, if we don't marshall the resources to fix this mess that we didn't make, how will any continent, culture or community do it with theoretically less resources? If we don't stem the hemmorhaging (yes I need spellcheck) there won't be any languages left to study, except in the historical/theoretical framework. So, I think there are 6 states where there aren't federally recognized tribes. That leaves a minimum of 44 states where we ought to see laws on the books that accord our languages their proper status. That's probably a set of coordinated legal actions right there until a class action can be achieved. If the world is losing its intellectual diversity through an unfortunate combination of coordinated neglect, intentional greed and helpless stupidity (a Barbara Tuchman treatment of the presentation of the Trojan Horse); and if the likely result is collectively stupider human beings, then I vote to assert our Ancestral Domain and 40,000 years or so of successful survival we have under our belts as aboriginals. And if the likeliest vehicles to achieve smarter humans that won't destroy the earth and everything therein, looks like a few hundred of our prized durable languages I say lets have an afternoon in the arena at Sparta and show some conservative talking heads the meaning of vocal chords, until we see not the whites of their eyes, but their tails between their legs. Those languages are medicines themselves. Peace Richard LaFortune Minneapolis http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/voting/sec_203/activ_203.htm __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Search - Find what you~Rre looking for faster http://search.yahoo.com From dzo at BISHARAT.NET Fri Mar 5 12:29:01 2004 From: dzo at BISHARAT.NET (dzo at BISHARAT.NET) Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2004 06:29:01 -0600 Subject: "Defining a new oral tradition: American Indian radio in the Dakotas" Message-ID: Seen in the SANTEC Weekly Newsletter* (March #1, 2004). DZO ---------------------------------------- Defining a new oral tradition: American Indian radio in the Dakotas Bruce Smith & M. L. Cornette University of South Dakota As the camp newscaster and bulletin board wrapped into one, the eyepaha of a traditional Lakota Sioux community was the person who circulated through the camp sharing information about the day's plans. This oral tradition continues today through the operation of community radio stations owned and operated by American Indians. Michael Krauss, director of the Alaska Native Language Program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, once likened western media to cultural nerve gas, destroying the cultural identity and language of indigenous communities. For generations, powerful AM stations from distant communities were the radio voice that reached the rural areas where many Natives lived. They transmitted English language programming together with western culture and values into Indian homes; little was related to Native culture or Native concerns. The first Native-owned radio stations began appearing in 1971. Today, there are more than two dozen Native American stations on the air across the United States, and one or two new stations are launched each year. In the Dakotas alone, there are six community radio stations representing Indian reservations. KINI, KILI, and KLND-FM all speak to the Lakota Sioux while KSWS-FM serves a Dakota Sioux reservation. KMHA-FM represents the three affiliated tribes of the Mandan, Arikara, and Hidatsa nations and KEYA-FM serves a Chippewa reservation. On the air since 1983, KILI-FM is a typical Indian radio station in the Dakotas. It broadcasts to the Lakota people on the Pine Ridge Reservation, a large territory (50 by 100 miles) in central South Dakota. "The Voice of the Lakota Nation" is the slogan that motivates KILI's small paid staff of six and a dozen on-air volunteers. The station programs ambitious coverage - often live - of major events on the reservation, including tribal council meetings, powwows, government hearings, and sporting events. KILI considers itself an important partner in the preservation of language and offers much of its programming in the Lakota language. Sometimes two cultural contexts are presented together, as depicted by the announcer of the "Morning Wakalyapi (coffee) Show", for example, who uses Lakota more than half the time, English the rest of the time, but offers an entirely Native American programming blend of music and information. "To be master of one's media is to be master of one's fate." The history of the Plains makes KILI's location a symbolically significant site for the affirmation of local culture. It is only a few minutes north of Wounded Knee, site of the 1890 atrocity by the US cavalry against a band of 350 men, women, and children of the Minneconjon Sioux. More than half the Indians were massacred. The Plains Indians never again offered serious armed resistance to the colonizers until the siege in 1973 by the American Indian Movement (AIM). AIM was founded in 1968 in Minneapolis to protect traditional Indian culture, hire legal counsel, and assist Indian communities with issues relating to treaty and aboriginal subsistence (hunting and fishing) rights. AIM's seizure of Wounded Knee, South Dakota in 1973, raised awareness of the power of radio and television among Indians. The group's leaders became convinced that Indians needed their own media voices. Canadian researcher Marianne Stenbaek addressed this goal of indigenous broadcasting when she wrote, back in 1980, "To be master of one's media is to be master of one's fate." Leonard Bruguier, Director of the Institute of American Indian Studies at the University of South Dakota, says the value of Indian radio is that it ties back into the big family. It not only informs people, it helps to maintain and validate Indian language and culture. Bruguier says Indians have a strong oral tradition, and American Indian radio has become the new "voice of the people." All six stations in the Dakotas serve the role of eyepaha, binding listening communities together with their stories of the day's events. While appropriating modern technology, the indigenous people of the Dakotas are adapting community radio consistent with the oral traditions of the people it serves. Who's who? The states of North and South Dakota are part of the vast prairie that occupies the north-central part of the United States. They are home to many Native Indian nations who occupy reservations or tribal territories that are largely self-governing. The largest indigenous population is made up of Lakota, Nakota, and Dakota Sioux Indians. They represent most of the indigenous population in South Dakota. North Dakota has a more diverse population of Indians, including Mandan, Arickara, Hidatsa, and Chippewa, as well as Lakota Sioux. ---------------------------------------- * The SANTEC Weekly Newsletter is an e-mail service aimed primarily at people interested in using information and communication technologies to improve the quality of education in the developing world. If a colleague has forwarded this message to you and you wish to receive it directly, please send an e-mail to fyi, Call for Abstracts: FEL VIII - Linguistic Rights The Foundation for Endangered Languages: Eighth Conference in cooperation with INSTITUT D'ESTUDIS CATALANS (UNESCO CHAIR) Barcelona, 1-3 October 2004 ON THE MARGINS OF NATIONS: ENDANGERED LANGUAGES AND LINGUISTIC RIGHTS http://www.ogmios.org/conference04/call.htm From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sat Mar 6 17:39:52 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sat, 6 Mar 2004 10:39:52 -0700 Subject: Voices lost in translation (fwd) Message-ID: Mar. 6, 2004. 01:00 AM http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1078528209154&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154 Voices lost in translation Linguistics scholar explores how, in this age of globalization, dying languages still shape our world Relationship between words OLIVIA WARD FEATURE WRITER The couple next to you in the cafe are speaking a strange language: you feel resentment at being shut out, suspicion about what they're discussing, envy that you don't have the skills to understand the conversation. What you're experiencing is the age-old tension between majority and minority language speakers, hostility that has often escalated to bloodshed and led to the death of languages as well as people. "Language is power," says Robert Nichols. "It can serve as a bridge for communication, or a barrier to keep others out. It isn't just a cultural issue, but a political one." Nichols, 24, is a post-graduate student at University of Toronto, and winner of one of Canada's most prestigious academic awards, the Trudeau Foundation's scholarship for outstanding doctoral candidates in social sciences and the humanities. He is focusing on language diversity and its meaning in an age of globalization where English dominates, and most of the world's 6,000 languages are expected to die out by the end of the next century. "Some liberal mainstream theorists tend to see language in terms of cultural claims," Nichols says. "Others see minority languages as a hindrance to social mobility. What I'm looking at is a different aspect — the fact that if language is little known, it's also little understood by the central authority. That makes it a valuable political tool." Born in the small Alberta community of Pigeon Lake, Nichols grew up within earshot of a minority language that is now all but extinct. "Sarcee is now spoken by only about a dozen native people," he says. ``Young people who want to reclaim pride in being aboriginal are now learning Cree. It's strange, because traditionally the Cree and Sarcee were enemies. But Cree has become a middle ground for many aboriginal people whose own languages have disappeared." However, while many linguistics experts see minority languages as chronically disadvantaged, Nichols takes a different view. "They're a way of reinforcing the identity of the people who speak those languages," he says. "It gives them a space away from the ruling power, a place to develop their own identity." Colonial powers understood that very well, and feared that retaining native languages could foster resistence to their authority. So, Nichols says, most tried to eradicate the languages of countries they invaded. "When the Spanish came to the Americas they read a set of rules to the people there, telling them their obligations to Spain, such as paying taxes. Of course the rules were in Spanish and the people didn't understand. So they didn't follow the rules, and that became the pretext for an attack by the Spanish." Even the names of people in conquered villages were changed to Spanish names in order to erase all previous language identity. Those who resisted were punished. Similar "language colonialism" occurred in the Baltics, Central Asia and the Caucasus, when Russia took over the region in imperial and Soviet times. And in North America and Australia, aboriginal people were subjected to devastating campaigns to force them into the English-speaking majority. In the past century, many minorities have fought for their language and failed. But there have been resounding successes. "I took my master's degree in Wales, in Aberystwyth," says Nichols. "There you could hear Welsh spoken on the street. When that happens, it reinforces a sense of identity. " The preservation of language has as much to do with the determination to promote it, and the resources available, as it does the number of people who can still speak it, Nichols points out. Language survival may also depend on geography. "A community of 500 that's isolated might be able to maintain its language much more easily than one of 50,000 that's dispersed," he says. Aggressive promotion of language, sometimes coupled with political rebellion, has ensured the survival of some traditional tongues. Basque is an official language in Spain's Basque province after a long campaign by militant separatists. Hebrew, Israel's official language, was revitalized in the 19th century, and later rescued from obscurity by Jews who fought for the new state after World War II. It is now spoken by people around the world. Central Asian languages such as Kazakh, Uzbek and Tajik have been restored as official languages after the demise of the Soviet Union. Ukraine has renamed its cities to remove Russian titles, as well as replacing Russian with Ukrainian as the first language. In the Baltic States, Russian-speakers are now required to learn Latvian, Lithuanian or Estonian. Promoting languages that have fallen into decline is easiest when the state is fully behind them. But it's most problematical when the people who speak them have little political power. That's when the legacy of colonialism surfaces most visibly, Nichols says. "You can see examples in Canada," he says. "The argument against preserving aboriginal languages is that if you educate small children in a minority language they won't be full members of the larger society. It's ironic in a colonial society, because if you subscribe to that, then colonialism becomes a self-justifying thing." Today, one of the central dilemmas for native speakers is mobility. "A whole younger generation on my reserve have no fluency in Cree," says Floyd Favel, a Saskatchewan playwright and theatre director who integrates his native Cree in his work to critical acclaim. "They're into English. It's only in the more isolated parts of the province that people practice the language and lifestyle." As young people gravitate to cities for jobs and studies, he says, they lose interest more and more. Eventually their own language becomes obsolete. "Cree is in a very threatened situation. Until we realize the danger fully, things won't get much better. There is a counter-movement, to preserve it as a living language, but right now it's just raindrops in the ocean." Canada is only one country in which languages are vanishing. Since the early 1990s, alarm has spread in the scientific community about the international demise of minority languages. Large-scale documentation projects have sprung up in Europe and North America to record and analyze dying tongues. But debate rages between those who believe that little-spoken languages are only of academic interest and those who insist they should be actively promoted. Should governments help to keep minority languages alive? "I think Canada should recognize in a more robust way the rights of indigenous peoples," says Nichols. "But overall, language belongs to people, and the state shouldn't be the giver or withholder of language rights. Perhaps what we should be asking is `what's the justification for not promoting aboriginal language?'" And, he says, "there shouldn't be a zero-sum game between social mobility and preserving the language. In the case of Hebrew, for instance, nobody suggested that people shouldn't learn it because they'd forget their European languages. The same is true of other peoples.'' Nichols, who speaks French, Spanish and German, admits that he doesn't speak any aboriginal languages. But he says, "I've been interested in linguistics and politics since I was very young. I had some contact with the aboriginal people living near where I grew up, and so I became interested in aboriginal politics." Nichols has already had experienced dramatically different aspects of diversity. Taking an undergraduate degree at a small Alberta liberal arts college, Augustana University, he worked as a research and development consultant to the Metis Nation of Alberta. After winning the University of Wales' International Politics Excellence Scholarship in the U.K., he entered a parliamentary internship program in Ottawa, and later organized the first internship study tour of Iqaluit, the Nunavut capital. Last year, a stay in Mexico, working as a teacher and living mostly in the embattled southern Vera Cruz state, heightened his interest in aboriginal language and politics. "I got a concrete experience of what it's like to be in a community where only a few hundred people can speak your language, and just down the road, nobody understands you," he said. For the next five years Nichols will work on his doctoral degree in political science, tackling the difficult and often bitterly-contested issues of language and power, as experienced by those whose mother tongues are under threat. His work is funded by the Trudeau scholarship, which provides $35,000 a year for four years of study, and an additional $15,000 a year for travel and expenses. At the present time, linguistic specialists say 52 per cent of the world's population speak only 20 languages, and 3,000 of the rarest languages are spoken by less than 1 per cent. For many, time is running out. "Within 150 years, experts predict that only 10 per cent of the languages spoken today will remain," Nichols says. "That's a massive shift in the meaning of what it is to be human." From miakalish at REDPONY.US Sun Mar 7 17:21:19 2004 From: miakalish at REDPONY.US (Mia - Main Red Pony) Date: Sun, 7 Mar 2004 10:21:19 -0700 Subject: Indn Words for Science Message-ID: Hi, Andre, This is a wonderful document for the Exploratoria that we will be building if we get the big NSF grant we applied for. I wasn't asking for the words for use in teaching materials, though. I wanted them for a generalized approach that says, It's time to stop looking at Indns as simple, superstitious creatures, because white people screwed up to begin with by biasing their learning about the people here because of J.W. Powell. I am taking a class in petroglyphs, and the ideas that the people writing come up with are really, truly, offensive (at least to me, but being a Cognitive Psychologist, I am probably more sensitive to it than most people). On the one hand, we have David Lewis-Williams with his theory that much of what has been created on rocks is "shamanistic in nature", a theory he started to try to "understand" the rock paintings of the San bushmen, and on the other Ron Eckland, who has aptly and admirably demonstrated that African patterns are based on fractal geometry. As you might well imagine, David Lewis-Williams had only to make his theories up in his head, and search through the literature finding people who had written things that agreed with his ideas. Eckland, on the other hand, had actually to derive the equations, and run them through the computer to demonstrate that the equations appropriately represented the structures. I think I have mentioned this before: I use technology to develop effective teaching materials, but unlike most people, I target my goals at adults. The things I have developed so far work well for children, but more significantly, they work well for adults, who people think can't learn languages. Now I am expanding a little, to take the simultaneous, multi-perceptual presentation form and apply it to more difficult learning, like computer algorithms, for example. This is a course most people fail; I think I can develop materials that teach enough, painlessly, enjoyably, so most everyone does well. I say "most", because you can't guarantee that everyone will do the class work. This was kind of an aside: my goal here is really simple. It is to be able to say, Powell was a vicious idiot, and the rest of us are living with the results of that perniciousness. Kind of harsh, huh? There was a lake named after him when they dammed the Colorado. Harrington, unarguably one of the best linguists and ethnographers Ever, left us a clue in a 1907 publication that Powell was forcing all analysis of Native languages in the English structure and component framework. He could do that, because he was the gatekeeper at the Smithsonian. So thanks, Andre. I was going to say, I guess there are no words for scientific and mathematical concepts left in your language, either. However, I have one more perspective to share. The "tools" that a non-destructive, hunter-gatherer society uses (and looks for) are different from the tools a sedentary, ecologically destructive agricultural society uses (and looks for) and both of these are extremely much different from the tools of an industrial society. These different "ways of surviving" also contain different sets of questions asked and answered, cultural goals and expectations, and vocabularies in general. Hence my question: Did any Indn words survive the Powell Purge? Hope you are having a nice day. It is beautiful here in NM; a wonderful winter storm went through leaving us much needed rain and snow. I know you don't have that problem up there in exquisitely beautiful northern California. best, mia ----- Original Message ----- From: "Andre Cramblit" To: Sent: Wednesday, March 03, 2004 5:04 PM Subject: Re: Indn Words for Science FYI (attached) Mia - Main Red Pony wrote: > Hello. > > In the middle of these devastating assaults on Native languages, laws > that say classes must be taught in English, No [Rich] child left > behind. . . and so on, I have what I think is an important question to > ask, especially for people working on revitalization. > > Do your languages have words for science? > > I have been looking through my dictionaries (Young and Morgan's > Colloquial Navajo, Perry's Western Apache Dictionary, Bray's version > of the Western Apache-English Dictionary, Toluwa and Hupa]. I have a > small set of really basic words: add, subtract, multiply, divide, > circle, square, triangle, measure, count, repeat, rhythm, angle, line, > cloud, mountain, rain. > > Most of the languages have recorded words for circle, mountain, and > rain. Many have words for cloud, although Toluwa, in the Pacific > Northwest, and with words for fog, don't have one listed for "cloud". > > So, my really important question: Do Your Languages have these words? > Some? > > You don't have to send me what they are, unless you would enjoy > engaging with them. But I would like to know if they exist. > > I am convinced that Powell created a limited, and somewhat pernicious, > view of the people who lived here originally with his prescriptive > Introduction to the Study of Indian Languages: Words, phrases and > sentences to be collected. > > I am also convinced that without this narrow and exclusive view, some, > of not all, of the language issues that we have today, particularly > with regard to languages which may be used in schools for teaching, > would not exist. > > The question arose because I am looking at geometric patterns at Three > Rivers Petroglyphs. The patterns show up in pottery designs in > 1100-1300 ad. I wondered if people had conceptualized these forms > linguistically. > > Thanks in advance for your help. > > Mia Kalish > > PS: Thanks for that information on grants, Andre. Wouldn't this be > just a Perfect Project! > > "Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations > which we can perform without thinking about them. Alfred North Whitehead > > Mia Kalish, M.A. > PhD Student, Computer Science > Tularosa, New Mexico USA 88352 > -- André Cramblit: andre.p.cramblit.86 at alum.dartmouth.org is the Operations Director Northern California Indian Development Council NCIDC (http://www.ncidc.org) is a non-profit that meets the development needs of American Indians To subscribe to a news letter of interest to Natives send an email to: IndigenousNewsNetwork-subscribe at topica.com or go to: http://www.topica.com/lists/IndigenousNewsNetwork/subscribe/?location=listin fo From anniegrace at SBCGLOBAL.NET Sun Mar 7 17:35:15 2004 From: anniegrace at SBCGLOBAL.NET (annie ross) Date: Sun, 7 Mar 2004 09:35:15 -0800 Subject: Indn Words for Science In-Reply-To: <02f301c40468$9b65dab0$6400a8c0@computer> Message-ID: hello i too am interested in words, not as a linguist, but an a scholar of oral histories, and as an artist and teacher interested in native philosophy and place. i wonder, would the mainstream concept of 'science' be compartmentalized outside of the panoply of information in native logic? (would 'science' be a separate category/subject word?) or...perhaps, would there be a suffix or prefix or modifier to a word that would mean something like 'understanding' in an indigenous language , that would translate to what is meant by the western word "science" ? what if the word mainstream culture uses, "shaman'" mean, in part, "scientist'? aren't our medine men and women, in part, true scientists? and what of other indigenous occupations - those that demand study, observation, analysis, knowledge of factual information - are not those 'science', using an indigenous scientific method of personal experience? annie ross Mia - Main Red Pony wrote: Hi, Andre, This is a wonderful document for the Exploratoria that we will be building if we get the big NSF grant we applied for. I wasn't asking for the words for use in teaching materials, though. I wanted them for a generalized approach that says, It's time to stop looking at Indns as simple, superstitious creatures, because white people screwed up to begin with by biasing their learning about the people here because of J.W. Powell. I am taking a class in petroglyphs, and the ideas that the people writing come up with are really, truly, offensive (at least to me, but being a Cognitive Psychologist, I am probably more sensitive to it than most people). On the one hand, we have David Lewis-Williams with his theory that much of what has been created on rocks is "shamanistic in nature", a theory he started to try to "understand" the rock paintings of the San bushmen, and on the other Ron Eckland, who has aptly and admirably demonstrated that African patterns are based on fractal geometry. As you might well imagine, David Lewis-Williams had only to make his theories up in his head, and search through the literature finding people who had written things that agreed with his ideas. Eckland, on the other hand, had actually to derive the equations, and run them through the computer to demonstrate that the equations appropriately represented the structures. I think I have mentioned this before: I use technology to develop effective teaching materials, but unlike most people, I target my goals at adults. The things I have developed so far work well for children, but more significantly, they work well for adults, who people think can't learn languages. Now I am expanding a little, to take the simultaneous, multi-perceptual presentation form and apply it to more difficult learning, like computer algorithms, for example. This is a course most people fail; I think I can develop materials that teach enough, painlessly, enjoyably, so most everyone does well. I say "most", because you can't guarantee that everyone will do the class work. This was kind of an aside: my goal here is really simple. It is to be able to say, Powell was a vicious idiot, and the rest of us are living with the results of that perniciousness. Kind of harsh, huh? There was a lake named after him when they dammed the Colorado. Harrington, unarguably one of the best linguists and ethnographers Ever, left us a clue in a 1907 publication that Powell was forcing all analysis of Native languages in the English structure and component framework. He could do that, because he was the gatekeeper at the Smithsonian. So thanks, Andre. I was going to say, I guess there are no words for scientific and mathematical concepts left in your language, either. However, I have one more perspective to share. The "tools" that a non-destructive, hunter-gatherer society uses (and looks for) are different from the tools a sedentary, ecologically destructive agricultural society uses (and looks for) and both of these are extremely much different from the tools of an industrial society. These different "ways of surviving" also contain different sets of questions asked and answered, cultural goals and expectations, and vocabularies in general. Hence my question: Did any Indn words survive the Powell Purge? Hope you are having a nice day. It is beautiful here in NM; a wonderful winter storm went through leaving us much needed rain and snow. I know you don't have that problem up there in exquisitely beautiful northern California. best, mia ----- Original Message ----- From: "Andre Cramblit" To: Sent: Wednesday, March 03, 2004 5:04 PM Subject: Re: Indn Words for Science FYI (attached) Mia - Main Red Pony wrote: > Hello. > > In the middle of these devastating assaults on Native languages, laws > that say classes must be taught in English, No [Rich] child left > behind. . . and so on, I have what I think is an important question to > ask, especially for people working on revitalization. > > Do your languages have words for science? > > I have been looking through my dictionaries (Young and Morgan's > Colloquial Navajo, Perry's Western Apache Dictionary, Bray's version > of the Western Apache-English Dictionary, Toluwa and Hupa]. I have a > small set of really basic words: add, subtract, multiply, divide, > circle, square, triangle, measure, count, repeat, rhythm, angle, line, > cloud, mountain, rain. > > Most of the languages have recorded words for circle, mountain, and > rain. Many have words for cloud, although Toluwa, in the Pacific > Northwest, and with words for fog, don't have one listed for "cloud". > > So, my really important question: Do Your Languages have these words? > Some? > > You don't have to send me what they are, unless you would enjoy > engaging with them. But I would like to know if they exist. > > I am convinced that Powell created a limited, and somewhat pernicious, > view of the people who lived here originally with his prescriptive > Introduction to the Study of Indian Languages: Words, phrases and > sentences to be collected. > > I am also convinced that without this narrow and exclusive view, some, > of not all, of the language issues that we have today, particularly > with regard to languages which may be used in schools for teaching, > would not exist. > > The question arose because I am looking at geometric patterns at Three > Rivers Petroglyphs. The patterns show up in pottery designs in > 1100-1300 ad. I wondered if people had conceptualized these forms > linguistically. > > Thanks in advance for your help. > > Mia Kalish > > PS: Thanks for that information on grants, Andre. Wouldn't this be > just a Perfect Project! > > "Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations > which we can perform without thinking about them. Alfred North Whitehead > > Mia Kalish, M.A. > PhD Student, Computer Science > Tularosa, New Mexico USA 88352 > -- Andr� Cramblit: andre.p.cramblit.86 at alum.dartmouth.org is the Operations Director Northern California Indian Development Council NCIDC (http://www.ncidc.org) is a non-profit that meets the development needs of American Indians To subscribe to a news letter of interest to Natives send an email to: IndigenousNewsNetwork-subscribe at topica.com or go to: http://www.topica.com/lists/IndigenousNewsNetwork/subscribe/?location=listin fo -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET Sun Mar 7 17:59:52 2004 From: pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET (phil cash cash) Date: Sun, 7 Mar 2004 10:59:52 -0700 Subject: Indn Words for Science In-Reply-To: <20040307173515.94253.qmail@web80211.mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: Hi Annie, i would highly recommend reading: A. Oscar Kawagley. 1995. A Yupiaq Worldview: A Pathway to Ecology and Spirit. Waveland Press, Inc., Illinois. [note: a Yupiaq science philosopher] Gregory Cajete. 2000. Native Science: Natural Laws of Interdependence. Clear Light Publishers. [note: a Tewa science philosopher] i think both would claim that science is an integrated concept in indigenous philosophies and i think both would claim that indigenous science is "grounded" in the real world, akin to something like grounded theory elsewhere. both writers are very nice people. phil cash cash (cayuse/nez perce) UofA, ILAT On Mar 7, 2004, at 10:35 AM, annie ross wrote: > hello >   > i too am interested in words, not as a linguist, but an a scholar of > oral histories, and as an artist and teacher interested in native > philosophy and place. >   > i wonder, would the mainstream concept of 'science' be > compartmentalized outside of the panoply of information in native > logic?  (would 'science'  be a separate category/subject word?)  > or...perhaps, would there be a suffix or prefix or modifier to a word > that would mean something like 'understanding' in an indigenous > language ,  that would translate to what is meant by the western word > "science" ?  > what if the word mainstream culture uses, "shaman'" mean, in part, > "scientist'?  aren't our medine men and women, in part, true > scientists? and what of other indigenous occupations - those that > demand study, observation, analysis, knowledge of factual information > - are not those 'science', using an indigenous scientific method of > personal experience? >   > annie ross > > Mia - Main Red Pony wrote: > Hi, Andre, > > This is a wonderful document for the Exploratoria that we will be > building > if we get the big NSF grant we applied for. > > I wasn't asking for the words for use in teaching materials, though. I > wanted them for a generalized approach that says, It's time to stop > looking > at Indns as simple, superstitious creatures, because white people > screwed up > to begin with by biasing their learning about the people here because > of > J.W. Powell. > > I am taking a class in petroglyphs, and the ideas that the people > writing > come up with are really, truly, offensive (at least to me, but being a > Cognitive Psychologist, I am probably more sensitive to it than most > people). On the one hand, we have David Lewis-Williams with his theory > that > much of what has been created on rocks is "shamanistic in nature", a > theory > he started to try to "understand " the rock paintings of the San > bushmen, and > on the other Ron Eckland, who has aptly and admirably demonstrated that > African patterns are based on fractal geometry. As you might well > imagine, > David Lewis-Williams had only to make his theories up in his head, and > search through the literature finding people who had written things > that > agreed with his ideas. Eckland, on the other hand, had actually to > derive > the equations, and run them through the computer to demonstrate that > the > equations appropriately represented the structures. > > I think I have mentioned this before: I use technology to develop > effective > teaching materials, but unlike most people, I target my goals at > adults. The > things I have developed so far work well for children, but more > significantly, they work well for adults, who people think can't learn > languages. Now I am expanding a little, to take the simultaneous, > multi-perceptual presentation form and apply it to more difficu lt > learning, > like computer algorithms, for example. This is a course most people > fail; I > think I can develop materials that teach enough, painlessly, > enjoyably, so > most everyone does well. I say "most", because you can't guarantee that > everyone will do the class work. > > This was kind of an aside: my goal here is really simple. It is to be > able > to say, Powell was a vicious idiot, and the rest of us are living with > the > results of that perniciousness. > > Kind of harsh, huh? There was a lake named after him when they dammed > the > Colorado. Harrington, unarguably one of the best linguists and > ethnographers > Ever, left us a clue in a 1907 publication that Powell was forcing all > analysis of Native languages in the English structure and component > framework. He could do that, because he was the gatekeeper at the > Smithsonian. > > So thanks, Andre. I was going to say, I guess there are no words for > scientific and mathematical concepts left in y our language, either. > However, > I have one more perspective to share. The "tools" that a > non-destructive, > hunter-gatherer society uses (and looks for) are different from the > tools a > sedentary, ecologically destructive agricultural society uses (and > looks > for) and both of these are extremely much different from the tools of > an > industrial society. These different "ways of surviving" also contain > different sets of questions asked and answered, cultural goals and > expectations, and vocabularies in general. > > Hence my question: Did any Indn words survive the Powell Purge? > > Hope you are having a nice day. It is beautiful here in NM; a wonderful > winter storm went through leaving us much needed rain and snow. I know > you > don't have that problem up there in exquisitely beautiful northern > California. > > best, > mia > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Andre Cramblit" > To: > Sent: Wednesday, March 03, 2004 5:04 PM > Subject: Re: Indn Words for Science > > > FYI (attached) > > Mia - Main Red Pony wrote: > > > Hello. > > > > In the middle of these devastating assaults on Native languages, laws > > that say classes must be taught in English, No [Rich] child left > > behind. . . and so on, I have what I think is an important question > to > > ask, especially for people working on revitalization. > > > > Do your languages have words for science? > > > > I have been looking through my dictionaries (Young and Morgan's > > Colloquial Navajo, Perry's Western Apache Dictionary, Bray's version > > of the Western Apache-English Dictionary, Toluwa and Hupa]. I have a > > small set of really basic words: add, subtract, multiply, divide, > > circle, square, triangle, measure, count, repeat, rhythm, angle, > line, > > cloud, mountain, rain. > > > > Most of the languages have recorded words for circle, mountain , and > > rain. Many have words for cloud, although Toluwa, in the Pacific > > Northwest, and with words for fog, don't have one listed for "cloud". > > > > So, my really important question: Do Your Languages have these words? > > Some? > > > > You don't have to send me what they are, unless you would enjoy > > engaging with them. But I would like to know if they exist. > > > > I am convinced that Powell created a limited, and somewhat > pernicious, > > view of the people who lived here originally with his prescriptive > > Introduction to the Study of Indian Languages: Words, phrases and > > sentences to be collected. > > > > I am also convinced that without this narrow and exclusive view, > some, > > of not all, of the language issues that we have today, particularly > > with regard to languages which may be used in schools for teaching, > > would not exist. > > > > The question arose because I am loo king at geometric patterns at > Three > > Rivers Petroglyphs. The patterns show up in pottery designs in > > 1100-1300 ad. I wondered if people had conceptualized these forms > > linguistically. > > > > Thanks in advance for your help. > > > > Mia Kalish > > > > PS: Thanks for that information on grants, Andre. Wouldn't this be > > just a Perfect Project! > > > > "Civilization advances by extending the number of important > operations > > which we can perform without thinking about them. Alfred North > Whitehead > > > > Mia Kalish, M.A. > > PhD Student, Computer Science > > Tularosa, New Mexico USA 88352 > > > > > -- > > > André Cramblit: andre.p.cramblit.86 at alum.dartmouth.org is the > Operations > Director Northern California Indian Development Council NCIDC > (http://www.ncidc.org) is a non-profit that meets the development needs > of American Indians > > To subscribe to a news letter of interest to Na tives send an email to: > IndigenousNewsNetwork-subscribe at topica.com or go to: > http://www.topica.com/lists/IndigenousNewsNetwork/subscribe/? > location=listin > fo From miakalish at REDPONY.US Sun Mar 7 19:23:17 2004 From: miakalish at REDPONY.US (Mia - Main Red Pony) Date: Sun, 7 Mar 2004 12:23:17 -0700 Subject: Indn Words for Science Message-ID: Hi, Annie. Nice to hear from you. I have a theory, based on an observation by J. Peter Denny, in "Cultural Ecology of Mathematics: Ojibway and Inuit Hunters", in Native American Mathematics, Michael P. Closs (Ed). He says, "The dependence of the hunter on wild plants and animals leads to two crucial features in his pattern of living. First of all, he only alters the environment to a small degree and must for the most part adapt to its natural conditions. In contrast to this, agricultural and industrial societiers alter the environment to increasing degrees and strive hard to make the environment fit their needs. The second featurs arises as a consequence of the first. Since the technology needed for a small degree of alteration of the environment is itself restricted, any adult knows the whole repertoire. Consequently, there need be no specialization of occupation . . anyone can kill an animal, butcher it, and cook it; anyone can cut wood and bark from trees, shape them into a canoe, and paddle it." If we think of this in terms of questions asked and answered, we get a perspective that creates an equality of Societies, at least analytically, rather than the hierarchical structure most people either try to develop or ethnocentrically assume. In the hunter-gatherer groups, primary questions Must be: How can I know/learn about the world around me? How can I get what I need, without destroying what others' need, because these "others" are what sustain me, and if I destroy them, I too will be destroyed. In agricultural societies, the primary questions become: How can I manage my resources to feed me and my family? and, What are all these interesting, sometimes pleasant, sometimes unpleasant, things that occur when all us humans live together in this close space? In industrial societies, the questions become: What is it that "I" want? and, How can I totally reconfigure everything around me to conform to the answer to Question 1. People can come up with other questions, but just looking at these comparative pairs gives you an idea of how the semantics of the language have to be. Relative to your specific questions, which seem to be to be an effort to relate an understanding of indigenous understands to one of our two Societal types (either agricultural or industrial), I don't think it is appropriate to try to relate in that manner. Since we don't understand the domain of indigenous people In And Of ItSelf. . . we are comparing apples and motorcars when we try to "explain" indigenous understanding in terms of "some other" understanding. A parallel would be: Here is your vocabulary: mitochondria, mitosis, amino acid, cell wall, well body, osmosis, diffusion, electrolyte. Please explain a robotically controlled assembly line using only these terms, plus the typical incidentals in English, where "incidentals" are considered prepositions, indefinite articles, and serializing adverbs such as "when", "then", "next". No additional concept terms may be introduced. "Science" is rather specific, regardless of culture. It is a way of knowing and learning by observing, measuring, predicting, and reproducing. I think that having to understand how Not to modify something is just as disciplined as having to understand how TO modify it. The critical portions of this process are the prediction and reproduction. For example, to make the statement, I think Darryl hates me, made up out of whole cloth, is not predictive, and certainly not reproducible. On the other hand, Feeding my plants makes them grow healthy and big, based on experience and observation, is very "scientific" in the procedural definition of science. I will end with a cultural joke, intended to provoke thought as much as humor. . . There's this little Jewish guy named Moishe. He is very religious, reads the Torah, follows the hundreds of rules for living, cleaning, preparing food, keeps the dietary restrictions. Every night, he prays, Oh G_d, please let me win the lottery. My children are going to college, my synagogue needs money to hire a Cantor, . . . . Every night he prays thus, and every night, G_d listens. One night, after praying thus for so many years, Moishe says to G_od, "Yahweh, Have I not been a good man? Have I not followed your rules? Have I not loved you to all my limits?" And G_d, tired of listening to the prayers that come without a method for actualization, says to Moishe: "Moishe, Moishe! Help me out here! Buy a ticket!" Mia ----- Original Message ----- From: annie ross To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU Sent: Sunday, March 07, 2004 10:35 AM Subject: Re: Indn Words for Science hello i too am interested in words, not as a linguist, but an a scholar of oral histories, and as an artist and teacher interested in native philosophy and place. i wonder, would the mainstream concept of 'science' be compartmentalized outside of the panoply of information in native logic? (would 'science' be a separate category/subject word?) or...perhaps, would there be a suffix or prefix or modifier to a word that would mean something like 'understanding' in an indigenous language , that would translate to what is meant by the western word "science" ? what if the word mainstream culture uses, "shaman'" mean, in part, "scientist'? aren't our medine men and women, in part, true scientists? and what of other indigenous occupations - those that demand study, observation, analysis, knowledge of factual information - are not those 'science', using an indigenous scientific method of personal experience? annie ross Mia - Main Red Pony wrote: Hi, Andre, This is a wonderful document for the Exploratoria that we will be building if we get the big NSF grant we applied for. I wasn't asking for the words for use in teaching materials, though. I wanted them for a generalized approach that says, It's time to stop looking at Indns as simple, superstitious creatures, because white people screwed up to begin with by biasing their learning about the people here because of J.W. Powell. I am taking a class in petroglyphs, and the ideas that the people writing come up with are really, truly, offensive (at least to me, but being a Cognitive Psychologist, I am probably more sensitive to it than most people). On the one hand, we have David Lewis-Williams with his theory that much of what has been created on rocks is "shamanistic in nature", a theory he started to try to "understand " the rock paintings of the San bushmen, and on the other Ron Eckland, who has aptly and admirably demonstrated that African patterns are based on fractal geometry. As you might well imagine, David Lewis-Williams had only to make his theories up in his head, and search through the literature finding people who had written things that agreed with his ideas. Eckland, on the other hand, had actually to derive the equations, and run them through the computer to demonstrate that the equations appropriately represented the structures. I think I have mentioned this before: I use technology to develop effective teaching materials, but unlike most people, I target my goals at adults. The things I have developed so far work well for children, but more significantly, they work well for adults, who people think can't learn languages. Now I am expanding a little, to take the simultaneous, multi-perceptual presentation form and apply it to more difficu lt learning, like computer algorithms, for example. This is a course most people fail; I think I can develop materials that teach enough, painlessly, enjoyably, so most everyone does well. I say "most", because you can't guarantee that everyone will do the class work. This was kind of an aside: my goal here is really simple. It is to be able to say, Powell was a vicious idiot, and the rest of us are living with the results of that perniciousness. Kind of harsh, huh? There was a lake named after him when they dammed the Colorado. Harrington, unarguably one of the best linguists and ethnographers Ever, left us a clue in a 1907 publication that Powell was forcing all analysis of Native languages in the English structure and component framework. He could do that, because he was the gatekeeper at the Smithsonian. So thanks, Andre. I was going to say, I guess there are no words for scientific and mathematical concepts left in y our language, either. However, I have one more perspective to share. The "tools" that a non-destructive, hunter-gatherer society uses (and looks for) are different from the tools a sedentary, ecologically destructive agricultural society uses (and looks for) and both of these are extremely much different from the tools of an industrial society. These different "ways of surviving" also contain different sets of questions asked and answered, cultural goals and expectations, and vocabularies in general. Hence my question: Did any Indn words survive the Powell Purge? Hope you are having a nice day. It is beautiful here in NM; a wonderful winter storm went through leaving us much needed rain and snow. I know you don't have that problem up there in exquisitely beautiful northern California. best, mia ----- Original Message ----- From: "Andre Cramblit" To: Sent: Wednesday, March 03, 2004 5:04 PM Subject: Re: Indn Words for Science FYI (attached) Mia - Main Red Pony wrote: > Hello. > > In the middle of these devastating assaults on Native languages, laws > that say classes must be taught in English, No [Rich] child left > behind. . . and so on, I have what I think is an important question to > ask, especially for people working on revitalization. > > Do your languages have words for science? > > I have been looking through my dictionaries (Young and Morgan's > Colloquial Navajo, Perry's Western Apache Dictionary, Bray's version > of the Western Apache-English Dictionary, Toluwa and Hupa]. I have a > small set of really basic words: add, subtract, multiply, divide, > circle, square, triangle, measure, count, repeat, rhythm, angle, line, > cloud, mountain, rain. > > Most of the languages have recorded words for circle, mountain , and > rain. Many have words for cloud, although Toluwa, in the Pacific > Northwest, and with words for fog, don't have one listed for "cloud". > > So, my really important question: Do Your Languages have these words? > Some? > > You don't have to send me what they are, unless you would enjoy > engaging with them. But I would like to know if they exist. > > I am convinced that Powell created a limited, and somewhat pernicious, > view of the people who lived here originally with his prescriptive > Introduction to the Study of Indian Languages: Words, phrases and > sentences to be collected. > > I am also convinced that without this narrow and exclusive view, some, > of not all, of the language issues that we have today, particularly > with regard to languages which may be used in schools for teaching, > would not exist. > > The question arose because I am loo king at geometric patterns at Three > Rivers Petroglyphs. The patterns show up in pottery designs in > 1100-1300 ad. I wondered if people had conceptualized these forms > linguistically. > > Thanks in advance for your help. > > Mia Kalish > > PS: Thanks for that information on grants, Andre. Wouldn't this be > just a Perfect Project! > > "Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations > which we can perform without thinking about them. Alfred North Whitehead > > Mia Kalish, M.A. > PhD Student, Computer Science > Tularosa, New Mexico USA 88352 > -- André Cramblit: andre.p.cramblit.86 at alum.dartmouth.org is the Operations Director Northern California Indian Development Council NCIDC (http://www.ncidc.org) is a non-profit that meets the development needs of American Indians To subscribe to a news letter of interest to Na tives send an email to: IndigenousNewsNetwork-subscribe at topica.com or go to: http://www.topica.com/lists/IndigenousNewsNetwork/subscribe/?location=listin fo -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET Mon Mar 8 16:37:21 2004 From: pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET (phil cash cash) Date: Mon, 8 Mar 2004 09:37:21 -0700 Subject: Ancient language, modern voices Message-ID: Ancient language, modern voices Local students find indigenous Mexican dialect a key to their heritage By Gil Griffin UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/features/20040307-9999- mz1c7dialect.html March 7, 2004 indigenous roots. Howard Lipin / Union-Tribune How do you say, 'Mama'?" The teacher smiled as he posed the question to about a dozen men, women and children sitting with him in a circle on the floor. After a pregnant pause, an answer came. "Nantli," answered one of the students in the circle. "How about 'Papa'?" the teacher asked. "Tahtli," replied another. The informal quizzing continued as the group of native Spanish and English speakers who had gathered on a recent weeknight at the Sherman Heights Community Center heard, then recited, the words. These words – unfamiliar, yet central to the students' heritage – form the basis of the ancient and complex language spoken by their ancestors – Nahuatl. Less than 2 percent of the Mexican population – about 1.5 million people – speaks Nahuatl (pronounced NAH-waht). The language and its various dialects are also spoken by pockets of indigenous people in Central America. But, scholars say, it is far from being a dying language. At these classes – held in Sherman Heights and San Ysidro – the members of Danza Mexi'cayotl ("The Dance of the Mexican people") are drawn to the language to help preserve it, while enriching their understanding of their heritage and discovering their ancestors' worldview. "Learning Nahuatl gives me tools to interpret the world around me in a different way," said Veronica Enrique, a 45-year-old National City homemaker who described herself as a child of the Chicano movement of the late-1960s and early 1970s. Each week she attends the community center classes, bringing her sons, Graciano, 17 and Adrian, 5. "It's still very much part of the life and culture of Mexican Indian communities, even though it's not common here. The indigenous Mexican worldview is that things are centered on nature, family and community. Nahuatl words show that their sense of time is cyclical rather than linear. That adds to the complexity of being a Chicana in the 21st century." Today, more Mexican poets and playwrights are writing in Nahuatl. In the Mexican states of Morelos, Hidalgo and Puebla, it's common to see street signs in Nahuatl. Here in North County, many migrant workers, of Yaqui, Zacateca and Mixteco ancestry, speak Nahuatl as their first language. Teacher Mario Aguilar started Nahuatl classes more than 20 years ago, as part of his Aztec dance group. The classes also have attracted many Mexican and Mexican-American college students, who are part of this growing movement to embrace elements of their indigenous lineage. "The European aspect of Mexican culture (in Mexico) had been pushed, but the indigenous part had been crushed and almost obliterated," said Aguilar, "even though it's been present on this continent for 60,000 years." That condition bothers Bettzi Jimenez-Barrios, a 23-year-old SDSU student and Tijuana native, another Danza Mexi'cayotl member learning Nahuatl. "In Mexico, there's a lot of racism toward the indigenous people and there are a lot of people there who don't care about their Indian heritage," she said. "I went to school in Mexico before coming here and the schools never encouraged me to do research about my own culture. The Mexican government wants us to learn American or European ways. I don't want to get caught up in that. I want to learn Nahuatl to get to know who I am." One day, Jimenez-Barrios said, she'd like to travel around Mexico and get to know the indigenous people and be able to speak to them in their own language. Aguilar, who is 49, took up Aztec dance when he was 19 and eventually earned the title of danza capitan ("dance captain") from tribal elders in Mexico. He has been studying and speaking Nahuatl – the language the ancient Aztec dancers spoke – for 22 years. Aguilar said his parents – of Otomi and Tarasco Indian heritage, and participants in the Chicano rights and consciousness movement – pushed him to learn about his roots. Aguilar, now an assistant director of an early academic outreach program at the University of California San Diego, did so by taking Chicano studies and anthropology courses at SDSU. Today's Chicano college students learning Nahuatl, he said, have a different mentality than when he was their age. "Back then, there was a revolutionary fervor and feeling like we could make a difference in the world," Aguilar said. "Today, young Chicanos studying their roots are more pragmatic about life and history as opposed to the idealism we had in our youth. It's nice to see people getting interested in Nahuatl again." This summer, Aguilar said, he may pursue teaching Nahuatl in Mexico at the University of Zacatecas. In the fall, he said, he hopes to teach the language at an academic setting in San Diego. But in colleges and universities across the United States, the teaching of Nahuatl is gaining momentum in some unexpected places. One of North America's foremost Nahuatl scholars, John F. Schwaller, teaches the language at a branch of the University of Minnesota in the small town of Morris, near the South Dakota border. He previously taught Nahuatl at Indiana University and the University of Montana. "It's a factor of the growing Mexican-American population in this country and in its universities," said Schwaller, who has no Mexican heritage, but has degrees in Latin American studies and spent years traveling throughout Mexico. Other colleges and universities, Schwaller said, such as Yale, Tulane and Vanderbilt, are offering formal Nahuatl classes or study groups. Jimenez-Barrios and other college students say they find learning Nahuatl extremely challenging. "Learning English is easier," said Jimenez-Barrios, who studiously takes notes during the Nahuatl instruction. "Here, you hear how people speak English. I have some friends at home who speak some Nahuatl, but there aren't many other speakers. But I wanted to join a group where I could learn it. I'd love to become fluent." Other Nahuatl learners, like Elias McGann, say studying the language gives him a greater sense of self-awareness. "You realize who you are and where you come from," said McGann, a 21-year-old trail keeper at the San Diego Zoo and visual artist who lives in Serra Mesa. He has been a member of Danza Mexi'cayotl since he was 14. "My family is from the Tarasco tribe in Michoacan and my family members speak Nahuatl. My uncle first got me into it. It's a very hard language. The grammar and grammar rules are complicated." Yet, many words in Nahuatl are similar to Mexican Spanish. To make it easier, Aguilar regularly gives the members of the group handouts reflecting how many modern-day words spoken in Mexico have Nahuatl origins. Recently, Aguilar gave his students copies of the lyrics of the Mexican national anthem in Nahuatl. "One of the beautiful things about classic Nahuatl is that people spoke in allegories and couplets," Aguilar said. "The Nahuatl word for 'poetry' is 'in xochitl incuicatl.' That means, 'the flower, the song.' That's the kind of worldview they had. They looked at things in a spiritual way, so that even the most mundane object or experience became sacred to them." Using the Nahuatl word ollin – which loosely means "movement" – as an example, Aguilar compared learning Nahuatl to peeling onions. "Every time you peel a layer off of one word, there's another one to peel," Aguilar said. "Ollin is the center of the onion, but it relates to the heart moving, the earth moving and the stars moving. In Native American tradition, nothing is ever literal, unlike the European model, which puts words in black-and-white terms." Augustine Rodriguez, a 38-year-old U.S. Navy retiree, attends the classes with his wife, Angie, daughters Jessica, 13, and Amalia, 6, and infant son, Augustine. The family drives to Sherman Heights for class, all the way from Perris, in Riverside County. "It's a sacrifice, but it's worth it," he said, while packing up his and his family's dancing gear and gearing up for the 80-plus-mile drive home. "The language is important. It's influenced a lot of everyday words. We don't want the tradition to die. It's forgotten in a lot of ways here, but for it to still be around gives us hope that it won't." With the kind of dedication to Nahuatl shown by Rodriguez and Enrique, the National City woman who regularly brings her two sons to the classes, the future of the language seems secure. "I have my children learn it because it's part of who they are," Enrique said. "It's a responsibility and a privilege to provide that for them. It's important to keep Nahuatl alive in our next generation." Language comparisons NAHUATL cuauhtli no'palli tonalli atl tzopilotl ozomatli tepetl hueyapan hueyxolotl xochitl SPANISH aguila nopal sol agua zopilote chango monta×a océano guajolote flor ENGLISH eagle prickly pear cactus sun water buzzard monkey mountain ocean turkey flower Courtesy of the Mex -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 9615 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: starbullet.gif Type: image/gif Size: 98 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- cayotl Indio Cultural Center -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 75 bytes Desc: not available URL: From mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US Mon Mar 8 18:13:55 2004 From: mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US (Matthew Ward) Date: Mon, 8 Mar 2004 11:13:55 -0700 Subject: Indn Words for Science Message-ID: I have read descriptions of various indigenous languages which are spoken by people who have little contact with the outside world. No matter if these languages are spoken in Asia, Africa, Australia, or the Americas, those studying them often comment on the wealth of vocabulary dealing with what we call "biology." People who live close to the earth need to be able to describe it in a way which urban people often don't. So, that's where I think you would find many Indian words for science--in the realm of biology. Mia - Main Red Pony wrote: > Hi, Annie. > > Nice to hear from you. > > I have a theory, based on an observation by J. Peter Denny, in > "Cultural Ecology of Mathematics: Ojibway and Inuit Hunters", in > Native American Mathematics, Michael P. Closs (Ed). He says, "The > dependence of the hunter on wild plants and animals leads to two > crucial features in his pattern of living. First of all, he only > alters the environment to a small degree and must for the most part > adapt to its natural conditions. In contrast to this, agricultural and > industrial societiers alter the environment to increasing degrees and > strive hard to make the environment fit their needs. The second > featurs arises as a consequence of the first. Since the technology > needed for a small degree of alteration of the environment is itself > restricted, any adult knows the whole repertoire. Consequently, there > need be no specialization of occupation . . anyone can kill an animal, > butcher it, and cook it; anyone can cut wood and bark from trees, > shape them into a canoe, and paddle it." > > If we think of this in terms of questions asked and answered, we get a > perspective that creates an equality of Societies, at least > analytically, rather than the hierarchical structure most > people either try to develop or ethnocentrically assume. In the > hunter-gatherer groups, primary questions Must be: How can I > know/learn about the world around me? How can I get what I need, > without destroying what others' need, because these "others" are what > sustain me, and if I destroy them, I too will be destroyed. > > In agricultural societies, the primary questions become: How can I > manage my resources to feed me and my family? and, What are all these > interesting, sometimes pleasant, sometimes unpleasant, things that > occur when all us humans live together in this close space? > > In industrial societies, the questions become: What is it that "I" > want? and, How can I totally reconfigure everything around me to > conform to the answer to Question 1. > > People can come up with other questions, but just looking at these > comparative pairs gives you an idea of how the semantics of the > language have to be. > > Relative to your specific questions, which seem to be to be an effort > to relate an understanding of indigenous understands to one of our two > Societal types (either agricultural or industrial), I don't think it > is appropriate to try to relate in that manner. Since we don't > understand the domain of indigenous people In And Of ItSelf. . . we > are comparing apples and motorcars when we try to "explain" indigenous > understanding in terms of "some other" understanding. > > A parallel would be: Here is your vocabulary: mitochondria, mitosis, > amino acid, cell wall, well body, osmosis, diffusion, electrolyte. > Please explain a robotically controlled assembly line using only these > terms, plus the typical incidentals in English, where "incidentals" > are considered prepositions, indefinite articles, and serializing > adverbs such as "when", "then", "next". No additional concept terms > may be introduced. > > "Science" is rather specific, regardless of culture. It is a way of > knowing and learning by observing, measuring, predicting, and > reproducing. I think that having to understand how Not to modify > something is just as disciplined as having to understand how TO modify > it. The critical portions of this process are the prediction and > reproduction. For example, to make the statement, I think Darryl hates > me, made up out of whole cloth, is not predictive, and certainly not > reproducible. On the other hand, Feeding my plants makes them grow > healthy and big, based on experience and observation, is very > "scientific" in the procedural definition of science. > > I will end with a cultural joke, intended to provoke thought as much > as humor. . . > > There's this little Jewish guy named Moishe. He is very religious, > reads the Torah, follows the hundreds of rules for living, cleaning, > preparing food, keeps the dietary restrictions. > > Every night, he prays, Oh G_d, please let me win the lottery. My > children are going to college, my synagogue needs money to hire a > Cantor, . . . . Every night he prays thus, and every night, G_d listens. > > One night, after praying thus for so many years, Moishe says to G_od, > "Yahweh, Have I not been a good man? Have I not followed your rules? > Have I not loved you to all my limits?" > > And G_d, tired of listening to the prayers that come without a method > for actualization, says to Moishe: "Moishe, Moishe! Help me out here! > Buy a ticket!" > > Mia > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: annie ross > To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU > Sent: Sunday, March 07, 2004 10:35 AM > Subject: Re: Indn Words for Science > > hello > > i too am interested in words, not as a linguist, but an a scholar > of oral histories, and as an artist and teacher interested in > native philosophy and place. > > i wonder, would the mainstream concept of 'science' be > compartmentalized outside of the panoply of information in native > logic? (would 'science' be a separate category/subject word?) > or...perhaps, would there be a suffix or prefix or modifier to a > word that would mean something like 'understanding' in an > indigenous language , that would translate to what is meant by > the western word "science" ? > what if the word mainstream culture uses, "shaman'" mean, in part, > "scientist'? aren't our medine men and women, in part, true > scientists? and what of other indigenous occupations - those that > demand study, observation, analysis, knowledge of factual > information - are not those 'science', using an indigenous > scientific method of personal experience? > > annie ross > > Mia - Main Red Pony wrote: > > Hi, Andre, > > This is a wonderful document for the Exploratoria that we will > be building > if we get the big NSF grant we applied for. > > I wasn't asking for the words for use in teaching materials, > though. I > wanted them for a generalized approach that says, It's time to > stop looking > at Indns as simple, superstitious creatures, because white > people screwed up > to begin with by biasing their learning about the people here > because of > J.W. Powell. > > I am taking a class in petroglyphs, and the ideas that the > people writing > come up with are really, truly, offensive (at least to me, but > being a > Cognitive Psychologist, I am probably more sensitive to it > than most > people). On the one hand, we have David Lewis-Williams with > his theory that > much of what has been created on rocks is "shamanistic in > nature", a theory > he started to try to "understand " the rock paintings of the > San bushmen, and > on the other Ron Eckland, who has aptly and admirably > demonstrated that > African patterns are based on fractal geometry. As you might > well imagine, > David Lewis-Williams had only to make his theories up in his > head, and > search through the literature finding people who had written > things that > agreed with his ideas. Eckland, on the other hand, had > actually to derive > the equations, and run them through the computer to > demonstrate that the > equations appropriately represented the structures. > > I think I have mentioned this before: I use technology to > develop effective > teaching materials, but unlike most people, I target my goals > at adults. The > things I have developed so far work well for children, but more > significantly, they work well for adults, who people think > can't learn > languages. Now I am expanding a little, to take the simultaneous, > multi-perceptual presentation form and apply it to more > difficu lt learning, > like computer algorithms, for example. This is a course most > people fail; I > think I can develop materials that teach enough, painlessly, > enjoyably, so > most everyone does well. I say "most", because you can't > guarantee that > everyone will do the class work. > > This was kind of an aside: my goal here is really simple. It > is to be able > to say, Powell was a vicious idiot, and the rest of us are > living with the > results of that perniciousness. > > Kind of harsh, huh? There was a lake named after him when they > dammed the > Colorado. Harrington, unarguably one of the best linguists and > ethnographers > Ever, left us a clue in a 1907 publication that Powell was > forcing all > analysis of Native languages in the English structure and > component > framework. He could do that, because he was the gatekeeper at the > Smithsonian. > > So thanks, Andre. I was going to say, I guess there are no > words for > scientific and mathematical concepts left in y our language, > either. However, > I have one more perspective to share. The "tools" that a > non-destructive, > hunter-gatherer society uses (and looks for) are different > from the tools a > sedentary, ecologically destructive agricultural society uses > (and looks > for) and both of these are extremely much different from the > tools of an > industrial society. These different "ways of surviving" also > contain > different sets of questions asked and answered, cultural goals and > expectations, and vocabularies in general. > > Hence my question: Did any Indn words survive the Powell Purge? > > Hope you are having a nice day. It is beautiful here in NM; a > wonderful > winter storm went through leaving us much needed rain and > snow. I know you > don't have that problem up there in exquisitely beautiful northern > California. > > best, > mia > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Andre Cramblit" > To: > Sent: Wednesday, March 03, 2004 5:04 PM > Subject: Re: Indn Words for Science > > > FYI (attached) > > Mia - Main Red Pony wrote: > > > Hello. > > > > In the middle of these devastating assaults on Native > languages, laws > > that say classes must be taught in English, No [Rich] child left > > behind. . . and so on, I have what I think is an important > question to > > ask, especially for people working on revitalization. > > > > Do your languages have words for science? > > > > I have been looking through my dictionaries (Young and Morgan's > > Colloquial Navajo, Perry's Western Apache Dictionary, Bray's > version > > of the Western Apache-English Dictionary, Toluwa and Hupa]. > I have a > > small set of really basic words: add, subtract, multiply, > divide, > > circle, square, triangle, measure, count, repeat, rhythm, > angle, line, > > cloud, mountain, rain. > > > > Most of the languages have recorded words for circle, > mountain , and > > rain. Many have words for cloud, although Toluwa, in the Pacific > > Northwest, and with words for fog, don't have one listed for > "cloud". > > > > So, my really important question: Do Your Languages have > these words? > > Some? > > > > You don't have to send me what they are, unless you would enjoy > > engaging with them. But I would like to know if they exist. > > > > I am convinced that Powell created a limited, and somewhat > pernicious, > > view of the people who lived here originally with his > prescriptive > > Introduction to the Study of Indian Languages: Words, > phrases and > > sentences to be collected. > > > > I am also convinced that without this narrow and exclusive > view, some, > > of not all, of the language issues that we have today, > particularly > > with regard to languages which may be used in schools for > teaching, > > would not exist. > > > > The question arose because I am loo king at geometric > patterns at Three > > Rivers Petroglyphs. The patterns show up in pottery designs in > > 1100-1300 ad. I wondered if people had conceptualized these > forms > > linguistically. > > > > Thanks in advance for your help. > > > > Mia Kalish > > > > PS: Thanks for that information on grants, Andre. Wouldn't > this be > > just a Perfect Project! > > > > "Civilization advances by extending the number of important > operations > > which we can perform without thinking about them. Alfred > North Whitehead > > > > Mia Kalish, M.A. > > PhD Student, Computer Science > > Tularosa, New Mexico USA 88352 > > > > > -- > > > André Cramblit: andre.p.cramblit.86 at alum.dartmouth.org is the > Operations > Director Northern California Indian Development Council NCIDC > (http://www.ncidc.org) is a non-profit that meets the > development needs > of American Indians > > To subscribe to a news letter of interest to Na tives send an > email to: > IndigenousNewsNetwork-subscribe at topica.com or go to: > http://www.topica.com/lists/IndigenousNewsNetwork/subscribe/?location=listin > fo > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mona at ALLIESMEDIAART.COM Mon Mar 8 19:32:47 2004 From: mona at ALLIESMEDIAART.COM (MM Smith) Date: Mon, 8 Mar 2004 13:32:47 -0600 Subject: Native Languages and 'science' Message-ID: I humbly precede this by saying that I am curious, not an expert, and can only glimpse the ideas. Too, I know nothing of the wasicun linguist who's site I sampled and pasted here, but am hoping the ideas will add to the discussion. The question seems to need to move quickly beyond what words exist in a given language for a given western scientific or mathematical concept, but rather how do Native languages relate to indigenous ways of describing the 'cosmos.' http://www.enformy.com/dma-ql03.htm In reference to a conference between some Native people and some scientists in 1992? > Historic as far as Native Americans are concerned > > (Sa'ke'j:)* It was an amazing experience to get that kind of respect, > for most Native Americans, to be sitting at the table with the > greatest scientist on some kind of cognitive equality, and come to > certain agreements that our language may better describe the subatomic > world... than their language. but they don't know any other language, > and they are very curious about why we would have pre-knowledge of > something hat their methods and rules are just arriving at. > Noun/verb-dominated Languages > > And what did Whorf mean by verb-dominated language? {Benjamin Whorf] > Whereas every sentence in English must properly have a subject, a noun > or noun phrase, and a verb, many if not most Native American languages > can have sentences with no nouns at all. 'Rehpi,' a full sentence in > Hopi referring to a celestial event, means 'flashed,' where we have to > say 'the lightning flashed.' But this goes much further: sa'ke'j says > that when he's speaking mi'kmaq back on the reserve, he can go all day > long without ever uttering a single noun. this statement is > mind-boggling to most English speakers. So much of our facts and > knowledge are wrapped up in nouns, so what would all that knowledge > look like in a language that doesn't value nouns in the same way? This > includes all concepts, all the way to 'god'. > > (Sa'ke'j:) We don't have one god. You need a noun language to have one > god. We have forces. All forces are equal and you are just the > amplifier of the forces. The way you conduct your life and the dignity > you give to other things gives you access to other forces. > > Even trees are verbs instead of nouns: The Mi'kmaq named their trees > for the sound the wind makes when it blows through the trees during > the autumn about an hour after sunset, when the wind usually comes > from a certain direction. So one might be like a 'shu-shu' something, > and another more like a 'tinka-tinka' something. > > Although physics in the western world has been essentially the quest > for the smallest noun (which used to be a-tom, 'that which cannot be > further divided'), as they went inside the atom things weren't acting > like nouns anymore. The physicists were intrigued with the > possibilities inherent in a language that didn't depend on nouns but > could move right to verbs when the circumstances were appropriate. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 3120 bytes Desc: not available URL: From miakalish at REDPONY.US Tue Mar 9 02:23:42 2004 From: miakalish at REDPONY.US (Mia - Main Red Pony) Date: Mon, 8 Mar 2004 19:23:42 -0700 Subject: Native Languages and 'science' Message-ID: good ness gracious, this was Moonhawk and Sakej Henderson. Moonhawk was a dear, dear friend who passed away 2 years ago. I met Sakej only through his words. . . but Moonhawk held Sakej in highest regard. Thank you for this email; when I communicate with others, I am reminded about how much a "Western" concept people seem to think science is. In fact, the people who lived here before the colonists had calendars, ways of measuring, building, healing, understanding, learning, and to my great pleasure, stealing horses. I think of these things as "science". I guess most people don't. But I liked your email, and the charming reminder, through the Universe, from my beloved friend, who I truly miss. sincerely, Mia ----- Original Message ----- From: MM Smith To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU Sent: Monday, March 08, 2004 12:32 PM Subject: Native Languages and 'science' I humbly precede this by saying that I am curious, not an expert, and can only glimpse the ideas. Too, I know nothing of the wasicun linguist who's site I sampled and pasted here, but am hoping the ideas will add to the discussion. The question seems to need to move quickly beyond what words exist in a given language for a given western scientific or mathematical concept, but rather how do Native languages relate to indigenous ways of describing the 'cosmos.' http://www.enformy.com/dma-ql03.htm In reference to a conference between some Native people and some scientists in 1992? Historic as far as Native Americans are concerned (Sa'ke'j:)* It was an amazing experience to get that kind of respect, for most Native Americans, to be sitting at the table with the greatest scientist on some kind of cognitive equality, and come to certain agreements that our language may better describe the subatomic world... than their language. but they don't know any other language, and they are very curious about why we would have pre-knowledge of something hat their methods and rules are just arriving at. Noun/verb-dominated Languages And what did Whorf mean by verb-dominated language? {Benjamin Whorf] Whereas every sentence in English must properly have a subject, a noun or noun phrase, and a verb, many if not most Native American languages can have sentences with no nouns at all. 'Rehpi,' a full sentence in Hopi referring to a celestial event, means 'flashed,' where we have to say 'the lightning flashed.' But this goes much further: sa'ke'j says that when he's speaking mi'kmaq back on the reserve, he can go all day long without ever uttering a single noun. this statement is mind-boggling to most English speakers. So much of our facts and knowledge are wrapped up in nouns, so what would all that knowledge look like in a language that doesn't value nouns in the same way? This includes all concepts, all the way to 'god'. (Sa'ke'j:) We don't have one god. You need a noun language to have one god. We have forces. All forces are equal and you are just the amplifier of the forces. The way you conduct your life and the dignity you give to other things gives you access to other forces. Even trees are verbs instead of nouns: The Mi'kmaq named their trees for the sound the wind makes when it blows through the trees during the autumn about an hour after sunset, when the wind usually comes from a certain direction. So one might be like a 'shu-shu' something, and another more like a 'tinka-tinka' something. Although physics in the western world has been essentially the quest for the smallest noun (which used to be a-tom, 'that which cannot be further divided'), as they went inside the atom things weren't acting like nouns anymore. The physicists were intrigued with the possibilities inherent in a language that didn't depend on nouns but could move right to verbs when the circumstances were appropriate. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dzo at BISHARAT.NET Tue Mar 9 08:24:22 2004 From: dzo at BISHARAT.NET (Don Osborn) Date: Tue, 9 Mar 2004 09:24:22 +0100 Subject: Native Languages and 'science' Message-ID: Very interesting thread. Here are three quick thoughts... 1) In some languages the term used for "science" is "knowledge." At the same time there may be more than one word for knowledge (to know) as well as related terms. I hope it doesn't sound too pedantic to suggest to step back and take in the larger semantic field. In Bambara, for one W. African example, the verb ka don (with the o being an open o, written as a reversed c) = to know, and donniya means knowledge in many senses including science broadly speaking. In this language some prefixes can make different kinds of knowledge (someone suggested that this is the process in some languages). 2) The "scientific method" may or may not be a unique contribution of the West (even with the pitfalls of misapplication of reductionist logic), but research is something people have done in one way or another for ages. Someone suggested a connection with shamans. One might also make a connection with farmers. The genesis of agriculture must have been quite interesting, involving need, observation, trial and error, communication, passing on, and an often forgotten dimension, fun. In short, science under whatever name. And this continued and continues in many ways. 3) While packing more books (for moving), I took a look at a passage from a book by Malidoma Patrice Somé (The Healing Wisdom of Africa, Tarcher/Putnam 1998) in which he compared his mentor to a "gifted indigenous scientist, the kind that Westerners might call a shaman." Though not an academic title, this work may have interesting comparative perspectives on indigenous belief systems. Among other things he also describes some aspects of his experience in colonial (mission) boarding schools and return to his Dagara culture - that and language are discussed in the introduction. Don Osborn ----- Original Message ----- From: Mia - Main Red Pony To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU Sent: Tuesday, March 09, 2004 3:23 AM Subject: Re: Native Languages and 'science' good ness gracious, this was Moonhawk and Sakej Henderson. Moonhawk was a dear, dear friend who passed away 2 years ago. I met Sakej only through his words. . . but Moonhawk held Sakej in highest regard. Thank you for this email; when I communicate with others, I am reminded about how much a "Western" concept people seem to think science is. In fact, the people who lived here before the colonists had calendars, ways of measuring, building, healing, understanding, learning, and to my great pleasure, stealing horses. I think of these things as "science". I guess most people don't. But I liked your email, and the charming reminder, through the Universe, from my beloved friend, who I truly miss. sincerely, Mia ----- Original Message ----- From: MM Smith To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU Sent: Monday, March 08, 2004 12:32 PM Subject: Native Languages and 'science' I humbly precede this by saying that I am curious, not an expert, and can only glimpse the ideas. Too, I know nothing of the wasicun linguist who's site I sampled and pasted here, but am hoping the ideas will add to the discussion. The question seems to need to move quickly beyond what words exist in a given language for a given western scientific or mathematical concept, but rather how do Native languages relate to indigenous ways of describing the 'cosmos.' http://www.enformy.com/dma-ql03.htm In reference to a conference between some Native people and some scientists in 1992? Historic as far as Native Americans are concerned (Sa'ke'j:)* It was an amazing experience to get that kind of respect, for most Native Americans, to be sitting at the table with the greatest scientist on some kind of cognitive equality, and come to certain agreements that our language may better describe the subatomic world... than their language. but they don't know any other language, and they are very curious about why we would have pre-knowledge of something hat their methods and rules are just arriving at. Noun/verb-dominated Languages And what did Whorf mean by verb-dominated language? {Benjamin Whorf] Whereas every sentence in English must properly have a subject, a noun or noun phrase, and a verb, many if not most Native American languages can have sentences with no nouns at all. 'Rehpi,' a full sentence in Hopi referring to a celestial event, means 'flashed,' where we have to say 'the lightning flashed.' But this goes much further: sa'ke'j says that when he's speaking mi'kmaq back on the reserve, he can go all day long without ever uttering a single noun. this statement is mind-boggling to most English speakers. So much of our facts and knowledge are wrapped up in nouns, so what would all that knowledge look like in a language that doesn't value nouns in the same way? This includes all concepts, all the way to 'god'. (Sa'ke'j:) We don't have one god. You need a noun language to have one god. We have forces. All forces are equal and you are just the amplifier of the forces. The way you conduct your life and the dignity you give to other things gives you access to other forces. Even trees are verbs instead of nouns: The Mi'kmaq named their trees for the sound the wind makes when it blows through the trees during the autumn about an hour after sunset, when the wind usually comes from a certain direction. So one might be like a 'shu-shu' something, and another more like a 'tinka-tinka' something. Although physics in the western world has been essentially the quest for the smallest noun (which used to be a-tom, 'that which cannot be further divided'), as they went inside the atom things weren't acting like nouns anymore. The physicists were intrigued with the possibilities inherent in a language that didn't depend on nouns but could move right to verbs when the circumstances were appropriate. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Tue Mar 9 13:58:20 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Tue, 9 Mar 2004 06:58:20 -0700 Subject: Montanan meets Maori queen, works to save native tongue (fwd) Message-ID: Montanan meets Maori queen, works to save native tongue http://www.greatfallstribune.com/news/stories/20040309/localnews/41147.html Three Montanans working to revive Native American language on their reservations traveled to New Zealand last month to see firsthand how the Maori are saving their native tongue. "All of our indigenous struggles are so similar," said Lynette Chandler, project coordinator for the Speaking White Clay Program at Fort Belknap Community College. The W.K. Kellogg Foundation invited Chandler on the trip along with Darrell Robes Kipp, of the Nizipuhwahsin language immersion school on the Blackfeet Reservation, and Janine Pease, of Rocky Mountain College in Billings. They joined roughly 18 other educators from across the continental United States and Hawaii. Chandler spent time with Maori language teachers as well as students ranging from six-month-old babies to college scholars. A highlight was meeting Maori Queen Dame Te Ata, who has held the throne since 1966. But Chandler said her biggest inspirations were in the classroom. At one school, students studied the Maori's traditional double-hulled ocean vessel, called a "waka," in their native language, learning about construction methods, history and how the boats were used. As soon as she got home, Chandler enlisted tribal elder Elmer Main to help her translate the different parts of the bison into Gros Ventre or "White Clay" language. Students will study how the bison, a central part of life for Plains Indians, is used, from painting hides to telling stories to utilitarian uses such as clothing or horns made into spoons. In one New Zealand classroom Chandler visited, third-graders started off the school year learning an ancient Maori proverb about respect. "It shows that we have the answers within our own society and community and education system and we need to go back to that in order to move forward in this society," said Chandler, who has 12 children in her White Clay Language Immersion School. Only a handful of people speak White Clay fluently. Restoring it "is going to be so long and so arduous," said Chandler, who met an elderly woman in New Zealand who was a founder of the Maori language movement 30 years ago. "I think I'll live to see the fruits of our labor." -- K.O. From Rrlapier at AOL.COM Tue Mar 9 16:28:50 2004 From: Rrlapier at AOL.COM (Rrlapier at AOL.COM) Date: Tue, 9 Mar 2004 11:28:50 EST Subject: AISES Conference April 22-24 Message-ID: SCIENCE AND INDIGENOUS CULTURE: Uniting Traditional Ethics with Modern Science April 22 - 24, 2004 The University of Montana Region One AISES Conference Hosted by The University of Montana and Salish Kootenai College AISES Chapters All High School & College Students Invited American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) Region 1: Alaska, Canada, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington & Wyoming Check it out at: www.umt.edu/aises The annual Kyi-yo Powwow is April 23-25, 2004 at the University of Montana. Rosalyn LaPier Piegan Institute www.pieganinstitute.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dzo at BISHARAT.NET Wed Mar 10 03:09:50 2004 From: dzo at BISHARAT.NET (Don Osborn) Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 04:09:50 +0100 Subject: Fw: [GKD] Invitation to Virtual Conference on Indigenous ICT Use Message-ID: FYI... ----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael Gurstein" To: Sent: Tuesday, March 09, 2004 6:37 PM Subject: [GKD] Invitation to Virtual Conference on Indigenous ICT Use > Kuh-ke-nah International Indigenous SMART Communities Gathering > > 17-18 March, 2004 > > In the Oji-Cree language of Northern Ontario in Canada, Kuh-ke-nah means > everyone...together. For Oji-Cree people it describes a traditional > network of families living and surviving in the vast wilderness that we > now know as the Canadian Shield. Today, Kuh-ke-nah also describes > Canadas SMART First Nations. > > The SMART First Nations Demonstration project is a three year initiative > led by the Keewaytinook Okimakanak (Northern Chiefs) Council in > partnership with the government of Canada that blends community > leadership with technological innovation. Together with everyone the > Kuh-ke-nah First Nations are defining a new network of community > development, opportunity and wellness. > > During the past ten years, the Deer Lake, Fort Severn, Keewaywin, North > Spirit Lake and Poplar Hill First Nations have applied information and > communications technologies (ICTs) to build new skills and transfer > knowledge, reduce longstanding forms of cultural isolation and physical > remoteness and enhance community well-being. > > Since 2000, these communities have adopted a SMART approach to ICT > development. Each year theyve identified and implemented new education, > health and cultural services. And everyday the people living in the > SMART First Nations are showing others how everyone really can be > brought together through the use of ICTs. > > The Kuh-ke-nah International Indigenous Gathering is the culminating > event of the SMART First Nations Project. The Gathering will provide a > virtual space for bringing together Indigenous people from around the > world to show how they have used information and communications > technologies. Participants will demonstrate on-line how they are > influencing positive change in their communities by addressing community > needs, achieving community development goals, improving community > services, supporting cultural expression and building new capacities. > > The Kuh-ke-nah Network will host a virtual two day conference where > lessons learned, good practices and the SMART project outcomes will be > shared. On-line delegates and guests will exchange views and workshop > new approaches and alliances. Kuh-ke-nah Chiefs and community ICT > champions will show how advanced e-learning, telemedicine and community > development applications have been both influenced and supported by > Indigenous values and needs. > > This conference will appeal to Indigenous ICT workers and policy-makers > alike. Community representatives as well as government, academic and > industry representatives will make the Kuh-ke-nah SMART International > Gathering a diverse and rich experience -- a new world of communities in > development. Register now at: > > > http://smart.knet.ca/international > > > > ------------ > ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, a Non-Profit Organization*** > To post a message, send it to: > To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: > . In the 1st line of the message type: > subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd > Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: > From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Mar 10 15:01:20 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 08:01:20 -0700 Subject: Lost in translation (fwd) Message-ID: Lost in translation By Leigh Dayton 11mar04 http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,8928176%5E28737,00.html IT'S a modern parable. While the box office take from Mel Gibson's controversial film The Passion of the Christ skyrockets into the multi-millions, the number of people speaking the language of Jesus is dwindling into insignificance. Aramaic, the 2500-year-old tongue of the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Egyptians and Palestinians, is used as one of the languages in Gibson's film, yet today it is spoken in only three Syrian villages. Its probable fate as a spoken language? Extinction, say concerned linguists. It's all part of a language crisis heralding the emergence of a new linguistic world order, according to scholar David Graddol of Britain's aptly named The English Company. "We will experience some decades of rapid and perhaps disorienting change," he predicts ominously. In other words, Aramaic is not the only language facing an uncertain future. Surprisingly, as Graddol says, English is sliding down the "league table" of dominant languages. Why? To borrow from Treasurer Peter Costello, "demography is destiny". The number of people born into English-speaking communities is falling when compared with those born to parents whose native language is Cantonese, Mandarin, Arabic and Hindi or Urdu, which many linguists class as a single language. While English will power on as the language of science and politics, Graddol spots a business trend which may unsettle monolingual English speakers. "Employers in parts of Asia are already looking beyond English," he argues. "In the next decade, the new must-learn language is likely to be Mandarin." Graddol is not the only expert flagging enormous changes in what they call the world's language system, one that has evolved over centuries. David Harrison, a linguist at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, estimates that as we speak -- literally -- we do so in between 6000 and 7000 languages worldwide, but not for long. "Linguistic diversity is undergoing a precipitous and unprecedented decline," he said at the recent American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Seattle. "This state of affairs has given rise to the dire, but not entirely preposterous prediction, that fully one half of extant human languages might well vanish in the course of this century." Graddol, a linguist, went further last month in the journal Science. "We may now be losing a language every day," he wrote, adding that 90 per cent of all languages will perish this century. While Aramaic is the language of concern now, authorities such as Harrison and Graddol claim it is unlikely to be the next language to fade into nothingness. They predict that dubious honour will go to even more obscure tongues such as Middle Chulym, a language Harrison "discovered" last year in remote central Siberia. Out of a community of 426 people, he says only 35 speak it fluently. When those elders die, so too will Middle Chulym. Clearly, indigenous languages worldwide are at greatest risk of serious decline or extinction. After all, speakers experience the combined impact of declining populations, technological advances and often overwhelming economic and cultural pressure to join the global community. Case in point: Australia's Aboriginal languages. The statistics are rubbery, yet they suggest that roughly 250 indigenous languages were spoken in 1788. Today, possibly one-third of those first-contact languages are gone. Of those remaining, only about 20 have any hope of surviving. "It's undeniable that we're losing speakers," notes Faith Baisden, projects manager with the Federation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Languages, a national body advising the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission. Although she's studying it, Baisden doesn't yet speak her own ancestral tongue, Yugambeh. There are only a handful of people who do, she claims. Still, it's not all gloom and doom for so-called minority languages. Speakers of such languages and advocates such as Baisden are fighting back with some success. Hebrew was brought back from near extinction. In the US, Mohawk has undergone a revival, and ever more New Zealand kindergarteners are learning Maori. In Australia, Baisden claims that growing numbers of Aboriginal communities are working with elders, applied linguists and groups such as FATSIL and ATSIC to shore up endangered languages. They're developing dictionaries, web-based resources and other learning materials, as well as pushing for native language instruction. It's all part of an international trend to bolster ancient rural and indigenous languages, or at least to document them before they vanish. For native speakers, this is a matter of urgency. Language epitomises group identity and carries important cultural meanings, ones they hope to pass on to the next generation. Moreover, Harrison points out that collectively the world's languages embody the diverse possibilities of human speech. They embody underlying mental structures that both shape and are shaped by the way different peoples speak of their world, for instance number systems, grammatical structures and ways of classifying kinship or natural events. "Each language that vanishes without being documented leaves an enormous gap in our understanding of some of the many complex structures the human mind is capable of producing," Harrison says. University of Sydney linguistics specialist Jane Simpson, who is working to save threatened languages, agrees. "What does it matter if you lose a particular frog species or if you lose Michelangelo's David," she says. "Think of languages as works of human creativity." Simpson has teamed up with colleagues at the University of Melbourne and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies in Canberra. Along with four doctoral students, the group is following pre-school children in three Aboriginal communities in the Kimberley and Northern Territory. Over the four-year project the team hopes to learn how the youngsters manage the different languages they hear, from their native language to varieties of English. They want to know how the children shift between languages with such ease and hope to find out if the linguistic flip-flops affect language learning and use. "There are implications for how kids learn at school and what kind of teaching strategies to use," she says. But Simpson and company are particularly interested in the dynamics of hybrid languages known as creoles. Such languages develop spontaneously when -- usually -- children listen to a pidgin language cobbled together as a lingua franca by adults who speak different languages. "The Lajamanu and Kalkaringi kids are either acquiring a weird variety of a local creole, called Kriol, or they are developing a new mixed language based on Kriol," says Simpson, who explains that children everywhere are master language builders. Indeed, youngsters are on the job around the globe, especially in cities where languages mingle and change rapidly. The question is, are they creating enough new languages to counter the startling rate of language extinction? Yes, no, maybe, replies Yale University linguist Laurence Horn. Speaking at the AAAS meeting, he suggested the answer may well be a matter of definitions. "What counts as a language, a mere dialect or jargon?" he asked in rhetorical mode. According to Horn, non-linguist factors affect the answer. Power, money, literary tradition, the nature of a writing system and even whether or not a community needs a new language are all involved in separating true languages from linguistic wannabes such as Esperanto, which lingers in the conversational backwaters. Although Esperanto was devised deliberately by Ludwig Zamenhof, Eubonics is a version of English popularised by young African Americans. Is it non-standard English, a dialect, a language, or a street vernacular? Some linguists agree with the Oakland, California's 1997 school board decree that Eubonics is "a genetically-based language", while others disagree vehemently. And what about Scots, spoken in the film Trainspotting, the Slinglish of Singapore, the Japlish of Japan or any of the other Englishes of the world? Debates rage as to whether they're shiny new languages or jumped-up dialects destined for the linguistic scrap heap. At the broadest level, the definitional debates may be irrelevant if one of Graddol's predictions comes true. He argues that although a handful of languages will dominate, people will continue speaking other tongues at home. The bilingual - even multilingual - world of tomorrow may well resemble the one in which Jesus walked. After all, like his contemporaries, he probably spoke Greek, Aramaic and maybe even a touch of Latin. From dzo at BISHARAT.NET Wed Mar 10 20:30:08 2004 From: dzo at BISHARAT.NET (Don Osborn) Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 21:30:08 +0100 Subject: Fw: Request for Latin American indigenous groups US Message-ID: FYI... ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ryan Monroe" To: ; Sent: Wednesday, March 10, 2004 5:31 PM Subject: FW: Request for Latin American indigenous groups US ----Original Message Follows---- From: "Justin Estoque" To: CC: "Terry SNOWBALL" ,"Jacquetta Swift" Subject: Request for organizations and festivals for Latin Americanindigenous groups US Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 11:02:16 -0500 Ryan, I'm glad to get ahold of you briefly this morning. As I mentioned, in conjunction with the opening of the National Museum of the American Indian on the National Mall, we are inviting Native communities and non-Native supporters from throughout the Western Hemisphere to join in a Native Nations Procession on the National Mall starting at the Smithsonian Castle. The Procession will form a highly symbolic journey eastward to the site of the Opening Ceremony, adjacent to the museum at the foot of the U.S. Capitol building. Thousands of people, many in Native dress and regalia, will walk in unison to the stage of the Grand Opening ceremony. The procession, to take place Tuesday, September 21, 2004, 8 a.m.-noon. will provide an enduring symbol for the dawning of a new era-the opening of the National Museum of the American Indian. At the present moment, we have contacts for many North American groups, but would like to increase our contacts for indigenous Latin American groups in the US. Because your line of work brings you in contact with many of these groups and their community centers or festivals, are there any specific organizations that you might recommend for us to contact? Or are there any specific festivals coming up in the next 6 months? We are trying to be as inclusive as possible; that is, we would like to distribute information or pay personal visits to such organizations in the DC, Philadelphia, Baltimore, or NYC areas even if they are not 100% indigenous. We already have a Spanish language registration site (see http://www.nmai.si.edu/ ), but we are also interested in getting the word out to Portuguese- and French-speaking groups. The project managers for the procession are Jackie Swift and Terry Snowball of our museum. Any leads you can provide us would be greatly appreciated! Thanks for your help, Ryan. Justin _________________________________________________________________ Find things fast with the new MSN Toolbar ~V includes FREE pop-up blocking! http://clk.atdmt.com/AVE/go/onm00200414ave/direct/01/ From mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US Wed Mar 10 20:52:05 2004 From: mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US (Matthew Ward) Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 13:52:05 -0700 Subject: Lost in translation (fwd) Message-ID: This article echoes something that I've been saying for years: focusing too strongly on the global status of English tends to obscure what is really going on with minority languages all over the world: they are not threatened by global language(s) per se, but by dominant national languages. Of course, speakers of indigenous languages in countries like the US, Britain, Austalia and New Zealand justifiably feel that the threat is coming mostly from English, but speakers of Aramaic would feel that their language is under threat from Arabic, Tibetans feel that their language is under threat from Mandarin Chinese, Basque and Quechua speakers feel that their language is under threat from Spanish, and speakers of Breton find their language under pressure from French. Hundreds of languages spoken in the Indian subcontinent are being primarily threatened by Hindi-Urdu, many tribal languages in the Amazon are being threatened by Portuguese or Spanish, and all over the large Malay-speaking realm of Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, the primarily threat is coming from varieties of Malay. I think that everybody on this planet has a good reason to feel wary of the English language, but it is not the reason for the fact that the vast majority of languages in the world are threatened. PS: Having lived in Japan, I can vouch that there there is no thing as a variety of English called "Japlish." Numerous English loanwords in Japanese, yes, slogans written in broken English (or broken French, Italian, Hindi, or Chinese!), yes, inperfect and Japanese-language-influenced English spoken by Japanese who study English as a foreign language, yes, but a new "English" spoken in Japan? No. "Japlish" is a myth fostered by ignorant Western journalists who mistake T-shirt slogans for a linguistic variety. It's like saying that the USA has developed a distinctive variety of Chinese, as manifested by various nonsensical, poorly written, obscene, and sometimes upside-down Chinese slogans tattooed on an ever-growing number of young Americans' bodies! phil cash cash wrote: >Lost in translation > >By Leigh Dayton >11mar04 >http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,8928176%5E28737,00.html > >IT'S a modern parable. While the box office take from Mel Gibson's >controversial film The Passion of the Christ skyrockets into the >multi-millions, the number of people speaking the language of Jesus is >dwindling into insignificance. > >Aramaic, the 2500-year-old tongue of the Assyrians, Babylonians, >Persians, Egyptians and Palestinians, is used as one of the languages >in Gibson's film, yet today it is spoken in only three Syrian villages. >Its probable fate as a spoken language? Extinction, say concerned >linguists. > >It's all part of a language crisis heralding the emergence of a new >linguistic world order, according to scholar David Graddol of Britain's >aptly named The English Company. > >"We will experience some decades of rapid and perhaps disorienting >change," he predicts ominously. In other words, Aramaic is not the only >language facing an uncertain future. > >Surprisingly, as Graddol says, English is sliding down the "league >table" of dominant languages. > >Why? To borrow from Treasurer Peter Costello, "demography is destiny". >The number of people born into English-speaking communities is falling >when compared with those born to parents whose native language is >Cantonese, Mandarin, Arabic and Hindi or Urdu, which many linguists >class as a single language. > >While English will power on as the language of science and politics, >Graddol spots a business trend which may unsettle monolingual English >speakers. "Employers in parts of Asia are already looking beyond >English," he argues. "In the next decade, the new must-learn language >is likely to be Mandarin." > >Graddol is not the only expert flagging enormous changes in what they >call the world's language system, one that has evolved over centuries. >David Harrison, a linguist at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, >estimates that as we speak -- literally -- we do so in between 6000 and >7000 languages worldwide, but not for long. > >"Linguistic diversity is undergoing a precipitous and unprecedented >decline," he said at the recent American Association for the >Advancement of Science meeting in Seattle. > >"This state of affairs has given rise to the dire, but not entirely >preposterous prediction, that fully one half of extant human languages >might well vanish in the course of this century." > >Graddol, a linguist, went further last month in the journal Science. > >"We may now be losing a language every day," he wrote, adding that 90 >per cent of all languages will perish this century. > >While Aramaic is the language of concern now, authorities such as >Harrison and Graddol claim it is unlikely to be the next language to >fade into nothingness. They predict that dubious honour will go to even >more obscure tongues such as Middle Chulym, a language Harrison >"discovered" last year in remote central Siberia. Out of a community of >426 people, he says only 35 speak it fluently. When those elders die, >so too will Middle Chulym. > >Clearly, indigenous languages worldwide are at greatest risk of serious >decline or extinction. After all, speakers experience the combined >impact of declining populations, technological advances and often >overwhelming economic and cultural pressure to join the global >community. Case in point: Australia's Aboriginal languages. > >The statistics are rubbery, yet they suggest that roughly 250 indigenous >languages were spoken in 1788. Today, possibly one-third of those >first-contact languages are gone. Of those remaining, only about 20 >have any hope of surviving. > >"It's undeniable that we're losing speakers," notes Faith Baisden, >projects manager with the Federation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait >Islander Languages, a national body advising the Aboriginal and Torres >Strait Islander Commission. Although she's studying it, Baisden doesn't >yet speak her own ancestral tongue, Yugambeh. There are only a handful >of people who do, she claims. > >Still, it's not all gloom and doom for so-called minority languages. >Speakers of such languages and advocates such as Baisden are fighting >back with some success. Hebrew was brought back from near extinction. >In the US, Mohawk has undergone a revival, and ever more New Zealand >kindergarteners are learning Maori. > >In Australia, Baisden claims that growing numbers of Aboriginal >communities are working with elders, applied linguists and groups such >as FATSIL and ATSIC to shore up endangered languages. > >They're developing dictionaries, web-based resources and other learning >materials, as well as pushing for native language instruction. > >It's all part of an international trend to bolster ancient rural and >indigenous languages, or at least to document them before they vanish. >For native speakers, this is a matter of urgency. Language epitomises >group identity and carries important cultural meanings, ones they hope >to pass on to the next generation. > >Moreover, Harrison points out that collectively the world's languages >embody the diverse possibilities of human speech. They embody >underlying mental structures that both shape and are shaped by the way >different peoples speak of their world, for instance number systems, >grammatical structures and ways of classifying kinship or natural >events. > >"Each language that vanishes without being documented leaves an enormous >gap in our understanding of some of the many complex structures the >human mind is capable of producing," Harrison says. > >University of Sydney linguistics specialist Jane Simpson, who is working >to save threatened languages, agrees. > >"What does it matter if you lose a particular frog species or if you >lose Michelangelo's David," she says. > >"Think of languages as works of human creativity." > >Simpson has teamed up with colleagues at the University of Melbourne and >the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander >Studies in Canberra. Along with four doctoral students, the group is >following pre-school children in three Aboriginal communities in the >Kimberley and Northern Territory. > >Over the four-year project the team hopes to learn how the youngsters >manage the different languages they hear, from their native language to >varieties of English. They want to know how the children shift between >languages with such ease and hope to find out if the linguistic >flip-flops affect language learning and use. > >"There are implications for how kids learn at school and what kind of >teaching strategies to use," she says. > >But Simpson and company are particularly interested in the dynamics of >hybrid languages known as creoles. Such languages develop spontaneously >when -- usually -- children listen to a pidgin language cobbled >together as a lingua franca by adults who speak different languages. > >"The Lajamanu and Kalkaringi kids are either acquiring a weird variety >of a local creole, called Kriol, or they are developing a new mixed >language based on Kriol," says Simpson, who explains that children >everywhere are master language builders. Indeed, youngsters are on the >job around the globe, especially in cities where languages mingle and >change rapidly. The question is, are they creating enough new languages >to counter the startling rate of language extinction? > >Yes, no, maybe, replies Yale University linguist Laurence Horn. Speaking >at the AAAS meeting, he suggested the answer may well be a matter of >definitions. "What counts as a language, a mere dialect or jargon?" he >asked in rhetorical mode. > >According to Horn, non-linguist factors affect the answer. Power, money, >literary tradition, the nature of a writing system and even whether or >not a community needs a new language are all involved in separating >true languages from linguistic wannabes such as Esperanto, which >lingers in the conversational backwaters. > >Although Esperanto was devised deliberately by Ludwig Zamenhof, Eubonics >is a version of English popularised by young African Americans. Is it >non-standard English, a dialect, a language, or a street vernacular? >Some linguists agree with the Oakland, California's 1997 school board >decree that Eubonics is "a genetically-based language", while others >disagree vehemently. > >And what about Scots, spoken in the film Trainspotting, the Slinglish of >Singapore, the Japlish of Japan or any of the other Englishes of the >world? Debates rage as to whether they're shiny new languages or >jumped-up dialects destined for the linguistic scrap heap. > >At the broadest level, the definitional debates may be irrelevant if one >of Graddol's predictions comes true. He argues that although a handful >of languages will dominate, people will continue speaking other tongues >at home. > >The bilingual - even multilingual - world of tomorrow may well resemble >the one in which Jesus walked. After all, like his contemporaries, he >probably spoke Greek, Aramaic and maybe even a touch of Latin. > > > From coyotez at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU Wed Mar 10 22:57:26 2004 From: coyotez at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU (David Lewis) Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 14:57:26 -0800 Subject: Chinuk Lu'lu 2004 Registration In-Reply-To: <404E0F08.2080901@adisoft-inc.com> Message-ID: Jim Holton wrote: > I've put up a web page for registration. Please feel free to start > using it. The page doesn't contain a lot of information right now, but > I'll be updating it over the next few weeks, so check back often. The > URL is: > > http://www.adisoft-inc.com/lulu > > Hope to see you at the lu'lu in May. > > Klahawyem, Jim > From dzo at BISHARAT.NET Thu Mar 11 12:44:05 2004 From: dzo at BISHARAT.NET (Don Osborn) Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2004 13:44:05 +0100 Subject: Fw: [GKD] Invitation to Virtual Conference on Indigenous ICT Use Message-ID: Here's more. Not sure how much indigenous languages are used - perhaps the websites would indicate. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Luis Barnola" To: Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2004 2:31 AM Subject: Re: [GKD] Invitation to Virtual Conference on Indigenous ICT Use > On 09/03/2004, Michael Gurstein wrote / a ecrit: > > > The SMART First Nations Demonstration project is a three year initiative > > led by the Keewaytinook Okimakanak (Northern Chiefs) Council in > > partnership with the government of Canada that blends community > > leadership with technological innovation. > > > Hi Michael: > > I would like to add to your description that an excellent case study > about K-Net, a program of Keewaytinook Okimakanak tribal council, is > available online. Sponsored by ICA/IDRC and prepared by Ricardo Ramirez, > Helen Aitkin, Rebekah Jamieson and Don Richardson, a full set of > different case studies (about the rapid development of K-Net's technical > infrastructure and services, and its impacts on local health, education, > and local economic development) is available online at: > > http://www.icamericas.net/Cases_Reports/K-Net/K-Net-Spanish.pdf > (Spanish) > http://www.icamericas.net/Cases_Reports/K-Net/KNET-Final%20light%20ENG.pdf > (English) > > A wonderful website with video footage and artful versions of these > documents, is available here (Flash interface): > http://smart.knet.ca/kuhkenah_flash.html > > A one-page summary follows below: > > -------------------------------------------------- > > Harnessing ICTs: A Canadian first nations experience. K-Net Program. > > Ricardo Ramirez, Helen Aitkin, Rebekah Jamieson, Don Richardson > Guelph, Canada > November 2003 > > > This case study collection concerns the work of K-Net, a program of > Keewaytinook Okimakanak (KO) tribal council. K-Net is providing > information and communication technologies (ICTs) to First Nations > communities in remote regions of northwestern Ontario, Canada. The > network supports the development of online applications that combine > video, voice and data services requiring broadband and high-speed > connectivity solutions. This case study collection includes an > Introduction and four specialized case studies covering Network > Development, Education, Health and Economic Development. > > The KO communities are part of Nishnawbe-Aski Nation (NAN), located in > northern Ontario, across an area roughly the size of France. NAN > includes a total population of approximately 25,000 people. The majority > of this population is aboriginal and lives in remote communities with > 300-900 inhabitants. For many communities, the only year-round access > into or out of their area is by small airplane. > > What K-Net has achieved in less than a decade in terms of network and > technical infrastructure development is impressive: several communities > have gone from having one phone for 400 people four years ago, to > accessing broadband services from individual homes today. There are few > rural communities in Canada -- and particularly few remote ones -- that > have experienced such a dramatic transformation in such a short period > of time. > > The five case studies capture the rapid development of K-Net's technical > infrastructure and services, and its impact on local health, education, > and economic development. While the technologies offer new opportunities > immediately, the full extent of their impact in these sectors will take > some years to become known. The case studies were prepared using > first-hand accounts from people in the KO communities, online resources, > and a Sustainable Livelihoods conceptual framework. Please see > for the full multi-media version of this study, > complete with video footage. > > This series is entitled Harnessing ICTs. Information and communication > technologies are powerful, new vehicles that can be controlled and > directed by indigenous communities to help them arrive at their own > goals. K-Net's case studies offer stories of how people embrace change > with modern tools while balancing the traditions and ways taught by > their elders. > > This series is directed at both Canadian and international audiences, > and in particular, readers from indigenous communities in Latin America > and the Caribbean who may wish to replicate this effort. The K-Net > experience offers "lessons that can travel"; most importantly, that > community needs and demands drive technology and network infrastructure > development. Any other group around the world wishing to create a > similar network will have to respond to its own unique geographic, > political, financial and social situation. > > ---------- > > I hope you enjoy it, > Luis Barnola > > > -------------------------------------------------------- > Luis Barnola > Senior Program Specialist > Institute for Connectivity in the Americas - ICA > www.icamericas.net > 250 Albert Street, PO Box 8500, Ottawa ON, K1G 3H9 (Canada) > PHONE (613) 236 6163 #2047 FAX (613) 567 7749 > > > > ------------ > ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, a Non-Profit Organization*** > To post a message, send it to: > To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: > . In the 1st line of the message type: > subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd > Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: > > From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Thu Mar 11 15:13:01 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2004 08:13:01 -0700 Subject: Technology builds tribal relationship (fwd) Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable User-Agent: Internet Messaging Program (IMP) 4.0-cvs Technology builds tribal relationship Posted: March 10, 2004 - 9:27am EST by: Christine Graef / Correspondent / Indian Country Today WAUKESHA, Wis. - Scattered across the continent, living in neighborhoods in rural and urban areas, the Mohican people now connect through a group called Mohican-7, a Wisconsin-based interactive Web site that allows dialogue and language to flow among the tribes. "Most of the Mohican people do not live on the reservation, but are scattered across the country," said Wenona Gardner of the Stockbridge-Munsee band of Mohicans, founder of the group. "There are many Mohican people living in areas especially outside of Wisconsin who want to be connected to their tribe to learn its language, culture, arts, but never had a means to connect with other Mohicans on a regular basis." Gardner, a writer and artist, said that technology can allow the average tribal member to build more positive relationships with their own tribal members that previously were inaccessible due to location. A group such as this allows people to pool their knowledge together on how to help each other accomplish personal and group goals of shared Mohican interests. In just a few months they already have a group of over 700 messages and growing membership of almost 90 members. Members talk about such things as language and genealogy. "I believe the Mohican people=C2=92s greatest resource is its own people," she said. "Our nation needed to be talking to each other more on a person-to-person basis." Mohican-7 was established on the Internet in September 2003 to bring all Mohicans together regardless of where they live. One member was serving in the military during the Iraq war while still receiving messages via Mohican-7, from home. The Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians descended from Mohicans and Munsee Delawares who migrated from New York, Pennsylvania and New England to Wisconsin in the 1820s and 1830s. Mohican, originally pronounced Muh-he-con-ne-ok means "People of The Waters That Are Never Still." They occupied the Upper Hudson River Valley in New York state until the years between 1783 and 1786 when European settlement removed them from their homeland. "I hate the words =C2=91The Last of the Mohicans=C2=92 and the myth it has perpetuated that the Mohican tribe is dead and has been for a long time," said Gardner. "It is not very life affirming to grow up in a world that repeatedly tells you are suppose to be dead. I thought that a new idea needed to be introduced that projects life of the Mohican people not just today but in the future. What a thought, the Mohican tribe growing and thriving seven generations from now, like in the year 2300." Gardner=C2=92s interest in language began when she was in her teens and wanted to write a poem using her tribe=C2=92s language. "Language is alive. It=C2=92s organic. It is born from the spirit and minds of the people. It is spoken from their breath," said Gardner. "In my eyes the words are like golden threads weaving us all together. Having the opportunity to use the words of my ancestors are like golden heirlooms." Her interest led her to work on Schmick=C2=92s Mahican Dictionary, edited by Carl Masthay in 1991. Looking for ways to use language in her day-to-day life, she formed the group and brought Masthay on board. Gardner is also turning Schmick=C2=92s dictionary into electronic database to use in teaching Mohican-7 members from the American Philosophical Society. "I created a language experiment called Keeper of the Word," she said. "Each member picks a single word to learn and dedicate to teaching others for their entire life. People can use their word in creative ways such as part of the signature of their email, on their profile or part of a poem." This activity engages people in taking an interest in the language one word at a time and encourages sharing it with others at the same time. Language is meant to be used for community involvement, Gardner said. Communication is daily and ongoing. This group is interactive in a way that lets people upload pictures of their families, files including music, the language database, polls, and the message archives. Questions, geneology requests, debates and birthday cards are shared by members ranging from children to elders. There is a designated chat time each week. Subjects include the Mo he con nuk Confederacy, Woodland Indians, Algonquin, Stockbridge-Munsee band of Mohicans, Hudson River Valley Housatonic, Wisconsin New York tribes, Mohican language, Mohican government, Mohican Constitution and Mohican arts. "Using online groups to provide tribal members the opportunity to get to know each other, share events, knowledge, wisdom, articles, and personal insights is not just good for the individual tribal members but the tribe as a whole," said Gardner. "I believe creating this group helps the Mohican nation, and using the Internet in this way can help other Native nations work better towards achieving common goals through increasing communication." What is nice about the Internet is that you can use it for free to create and can include tribal members who may not make it to the reservation often enough to talk about matters on a regular basis, Gardner said. Gardner visited different Native language classes to observe how other Native nations were teaching their Native languages. She said that having the opportunity to interact with others is important in learning a second language. "Factor in that of the 1,500 enrolled tribal members, 1,100 members live off reservation, something unique needs to be done to connect these people to each other," Gardner said. "The web I find is a good way to connect on this language topic. There are a lot of articles on what Native people are doing to resurrect their languages. I study them and send the most intriguing ones to the group." One of the consistent compliments she said she receives about this group is that it=C2=92s much needed. "I agree," she said. "We need to see our tribe as more than just a reservation and include all of its members who live off reservation." For more information, contact http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mohican-7. This article can be found at http://IndianCountry.com/?1078928912 From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Thu Mar 11 15:55:05 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2004 08:55:05 -0700 Subject: Fw: [GKD] Invitation to Virtual Conference on Indigenous ICT Use In-Reply-To: <004f01c40766$a2ff1060$c6e4fbc1@gktg001> Message-ID: thanks Don, the flash intro... > > http://smart.knet.ca/kuhkenah_flash.html was nice. phil > ----- Message from dzo at BISHARAT.NET --------- > Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2004 13:44:05 +0100 > From: Don Osborn > Reply-To: Indigenous Languages and Technology > Subject: Fw: [GKD] Invitation to Virtual Conference on Indigenous ICT Use > To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU > > Here's more. Not sure how much indigenous languages are used - > perhaps the > websites would indicate. > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Luis Barnola" > To: > Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2004 2:31 AM > Subject: Re: [GKD] Invitation to Virtual Conference on Indigenous ICT > Use > > > > On 09/03/2004, Michael Gurstein wrote / a ecrit: > > > > > The SMART First Nations Demonstration project is a three year > initiative > > > led by the Keewaytinook Okimakanak (Northern Chiefs) Council in > > > partnership with the government of Canada that blends community > > > leadership with technological innovation. > > > > > > Hi Michael: > > > > I would like to add to your description that an excellent case > study > > about K-Net, a program of Keewaytinook Okimakanak tribal council, > is > > available online. Sponsored by ICA/IDRC and prepared by Ricardo > Ramirez, > > Helen Aitkin, Rebekah Jamieson and Don Richardson, a full set of > > different case studies (about the rapid development of K-Net's > technical > > infrastructure and services, and its impacts on local health, > education, > > and local economic development) is available online at: > > > > http://www.icamericas.net/Cases_Reports/K-Net/K-Net-Spanish.pdf > > (Spanish) > > > http://www.icamericas.net/Cases_Reports/K-Net/KNET-Final%20light%20ENG.pdf > > (English) > > > > A wonderful website with video footage and artful versions of these > > documents, is available here (Flash interface): > > http://smart.knet.ca/kuhkenah_flash.html > > > > A one-page summary follows below: > > > > -------------------------------------------------- > > > > Harnessing ICTs: A Canadian first nations experience. K-Net > Program. > > > > Ricardo Ramirez, Helen Aitkin, Rebekah Jamieson, Don Richardson > > Guelph, Canada > > November 2003 > > > > > > This case study collection concerns the work of K-Net, a program of > > Keewaytinook Okimakanak (KO) tribal council. K-Net is providing > > information and communication technologies (ICTs) to First Nations > > communities in remote regions of northwestern Ontario, Canada. The > > network supports the development of online applications that > combine > > video, voice and data services requiring broadband and high-speed > > connectivity solutions. This case study collection includes an > > Introduction and four specialized case studies covering Network > > Development, Education, Health and Economic Development. > > > > The KO communities are part of Nishnawbe-Aski Nation (NAN), located > in > > northern Ontario, across an area roughly the size of France. NAN > > includes a total population of approximately 25,000 people. The > majority > > of this population is aboriginal and lives in remote communities > with > > 300-900 inhabitants. For many communities, the only year-round > access > > into or out of their area is by small airplane. > > > > What K-Net has achieved in less than a decade in terms of network > and > > technical infrastructure development is impressive: several > communities > > have gone from having one phone for 400 people four years ago, to > > accessing broadband services from individual homes today. There are > few > > rural communities in Canada -- and particularly few remote ones -- > that > > have experienced such a dramatic transformation in such a short > period > > of time. > > > > The five case studies capture the rapid development of K-Net's > technical > > infrastructure and services, and its impact on local health, > education, > > and economic development. While the technologies offer new > opportunities > > immediately, the full extent of their impact in these sectors will > take > > some years to become known. The case studies were prepared using > > first-hand accounts from people in the KO communities, online > resources, > > and a Sustainable Livelihoods conceptual framework. Please see > > for the full multi-media version of this > study, > > complete with video footage. > > > > This series is entitled Harnessing ICTs. Information and > communication > > technologies are powerful, new vehicles that can be controlled and > > directed by indigenous communities to help them arrive at their own > > goals. K-Net's case studies offer stories of how people embrace > change > > with modern tools while balancing the traditions and ways taught by > > their elders. > > > > This series is directed at both Canadian and international > audiences, > > and in particular, readers from indigenous communities in Latin > America > > and the Caribbean who may wish to replicate this effort. The K-Net > > experience offers "lessons that can travel"; most importantly, that > > community needs and demands drive technology and network > infrastructure > > development. Any other group around the world wishing to create a > > similar network will have to respond to its own unique geographic, > > political, financial and social situation. > > > > ---------- > > > > I hope you enjoy it, > > Luis Barnola > > > > > > -------------------------------------------------------- > > Luis Barnola > > Senior Program Specialist > > Institute for Connectivity in the Americas - ICA > > www.icamericas.net > > 250 Albert Street, PO Box 8500, Ottawa ON, K1G 3H9 (Canada) > > PHONE (613) 236 6163 #2047 FAX (613) 567 7749 > > > > > > > > ------------ > > ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, a Non-Profit Organization*** > > To post a message, send it to: > > To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: > > . In the 1st line of the message type: > > subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd > > Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: > > > > > > > ----- End message from dzo at BISHARAT.NET ----- From pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET Thu Mar 11 16:25:58 2004 From: pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET (phil cash cash) Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2004 09:25:58 -0700 Subject: Interior Athabascan Tribal College Language Program Coordinator Instructor Position (fwd) Message-ID: > Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 13:43:14 -0700 > Subject: Interior Athabascan Tribal College Language Program > Coordinator Instructor Position Open > From: George Lessard > > Begin forwarded message: > Subject: IATC Language Program Coordinator Instructor Position Open > > Job Title: IATC Language Program Coordinator Instructor > > Job Summary: Job incumbent will be responsible for the design, > development, coordination, and delivery of language programs at the > Interior Athabascan Tribal College. Job incumbent will act as Liaison > between the Interior Athabascan Tribal College and the Alaska Native > Language Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. In order to > facilitate this role, IATC will seek ANLC Affiliate Faculty status for > the incumbent. > > Qualifications: Masters in Linguistics, Education or related field of > study required. Education to include study or experience in an Alaska > Native Language and language teaching. Fluency in an Athabascan > language preferred. Experience in post-secondary language instruction > and curriculum development preferred. > Ability to teach lower-division undergraduate courses in language > teaching methodology and curriculum development. Strong oral, > written, interpersonal, and analytical skills. Must maintain strict > confidentiality. Ability to work professionally with individuals in a > diverse cultural. Familiarity of TCC tribes in the TCC service area > preferred. > > Closes: 3/15/04 > > TCC application required. Applications available on-line at: > http://www.tananachiefs.org/jobs/index.html > > Any inquiries regarding this position should be directed to: > > Holly Weaver > HR Recruiter > Tanana Chiefs Conference > 122 First Avenue, Suite 600 > Fairbanks, AK 99701 > Phone: 907-452-8251 Extension 3155 > E mail: holly.weaver at tananachiefs.org From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Mar 12 16:59:14 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Fri, 12 Mar 2004 09:59:14 -0700 Subject: Technology serving as bridge between cultures (fwd) Message-ID: Technology serving as bridge between cultures http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2004/03/11/news/local/news08.txt By Andrea J. Cook, Journal Staff Writer RAPID CITY - Global-satellite photos and global- positioning systems are modern parallels to an American Indian scout seeking information for his tribe, according to James Rattling Leaf. Rattling Leaf, land and natural- resource developer for Sicangu Policy Institute at Sinte Gleska University in Mission, spoke Wednesday to students in Central High School's Lakolkiciyapi Room. Last summer, Sinte Gleska received a $5 million NASA grant to develop resource management systems and education tools. One product of the grant is a program called RezFinder, which Rattling Leaf demonstrated for the students. Using a satellite's topographic photo of Rosebud Indian Reservation, RezFinder displayed a parallel map of the same area. With the click of a computer button, Rattling Leaf expanded the satellite image to show a bird's eye view of a Rosebud community. "We can add sound," he said, giving the computer another command. Music from a Lakota drum group filled the classroom, and with another command, a Lakota speaker was heard. RezFinder is helping bridge generations on the reservation and preserve cultural awareness, Rattling Leaf said. The program has maps that show historical tribal boundaries. "We link language and songs to protect and preserve the language," he said. Rattling Leaf said it's important to get kids involved in what global information systems, or GIS, can do for them, and especially for American Indians. >From satellite imagery to a hand-held global-positioning system and demographic information, GIS encompasses a multitude of information-gathering technologies. "GIS is relevant because it's about the land, and that's what defines us as a people," Rattling Leaf told the students. In the past, a tribe depended on scouts to gather reliable information that guided the people's decisions, he said. "They wanted the best information available," he said. Today, GIS can serve a similar purpose and provide information the tribe can use for economic development and management on the reservation, he said. "We use GIS demographic information to track our high rollers at the casino," he said. GIS is also used to manage the tribe's buffalo herd. "We're pushing GIS because it's land related," Rattling Leaf said. GIS is also interdisciplinary and involves other sciences, culture and business. Central geography teacher Valerie Johns said that Rattling Leaf's presentation was important because he illustrated the correlation between math and science. Using satellite photos, Rattling Leaf showed the students thermographic images of ocean currents, the heat generated by cultivated and noncultivated land, and storms forming on land and in the sea. Rattling Leaf emphasized that a fire burning in Africa affects climate in other parts of the world. Michelle Frye, the Rapid City School District's community partnership facilitator, coordinated Rattling Leaf's visit to the freshman classroom. "You're the ones who can make a difference," she told the students who heard Rattling Leaf's presentation. "Technology is creating huge boosts to information," Frye said. "And you're going to have to learn to use that information." Rattling Leaf said, "We're trying to build this culture for merging science and technology with our traditions." The goal is also to develop a new generation of leaders capable of making the connection between the technology and the land, he said. Contact Andrea Cook at 394-8423 or andrea.cook at rapidcityjournal.com Copyright © 2004 The Rapid City Journal Rapid City, SD From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sat Mar 13 20:40:39 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2004 13:40:39 -0700 Subject: Nurture Learning From the Past (fwd) (Re: Indn Words for Science) Message-ID: Nurture Learning From the Past http://allafrica.com/stories/200403120248.html Business Day (Johannesburg) COLUMN March 12, 2004 Posted to the web March 12, 2004 By Philip Nel Johannesburg THE concept of indigenous knowledge systems is a relatively new one in the South African academic and scientific discourse, and is still regarded by some as a throwback to earlier debates over relevance and Africanisation of our education system. However, it is far more than that. Indigenous knowledge systems are about a reappropriation of the knowledge, practices, values, ways of knowing and sharing, in terms of which communities have survived for centuries. It is about accommodating and recognising displaced and misused indigenous knowledge. Indigenous knowledge systems span not only scientific knowledge about plants and medicines (as practised by traditional healers), agriculture, mathematics and geometry, but the rationality of cultural practices and rites that brought about social cohesion (for instance, lobola), the creativity and artistry of dance and music, as well as the technology of fashioning hand-made tools, clothing and beadwork. Recently, several prominent South African and overseas intellectuals made an impassioned plea for indigenous knowledge systems to be accorded their rightful place in the vast array of scientific and scholarly traditions. What they were saying in essence was that the knowledge, practices, values and modes of thinking of communities which had been suppressed, marginalised and exploited by the legacy of colonialism can, and should, contribute to the creation of new knowledge and new modes of thinking. As pointed out by participants at the international colloquium on indigenous knowledge systems at the University of the Free State earlier this month, western science has regarded indigenous knowledge as primitive not contributing to the knowledge of humankind. In reaction, scholars of indigenous knowledge systems argue that the need to reconstruct indigenous epistemologies is about claiming lost epistemology. The central challenge is to revisit the typical academic way of doing things. Has it delivered the outcomes we all hoped for? The pursuit of indigenous knowledge would say: let us sit down together and from the entry point make indigenous knowledge systems part of the methodological reshaping of the scientific agenda, recognise existing systems of knowledge and advance them through the projects we devise and the ethical codes we ascribe to. At times the debate about what constitutes indigenous knowledge systems their role in society and relationship to exogenous (western) knowledge systems and modes of thinking can become quite heated and polarised. Participants at the international colloquium raised a number of critical issues which need to be addressed. First, who and what are the practitioners and advocates of indigenous knowledge systems? As it was put by one participant: "Are we born-again social anthropologists, sociologists, historians or ethnographers?" In reality, current indigenous knowledge systems scholars include all these disciplines and more, precisely because a central feature of these systems is their multidisciplinary nature. This is also a reflection of the interconnectedness of human experience a key principle of indigenous knowledge systems, which also make human experience and the betterment of such experience their focus. This contrasts with the western scientific tradition, in which science has become divorced from its human roots, and tries to make the human link in only an effort to justify some of its outcomes. Second, the question was asked whether current indigenous knowledge systems scholars are projecting the dominant (western) modes of thinking and epistemologies on to particular projects and research and calling them indigenous knowledge systems. In other words, what is the basic difference between an indigenous knowledge systems research methodology, mode of thinking and knowledge generation, and dominant (western) ones? Third, what is the role of indigenous knowledge systems in current initiatives to transform and restructure the higher education system? The University of the Free State is a case in point. The institution has adopted a vision of a robust university critically engaged with the community on the basis of academic excellence and social justice. Surely indigenous knowledge has a role to play as a strategy to engage the existing academic paradigms so as to better serve the community? Fourth, the question arose as to how to share and increase the benefits to the community that can accrue from indigenous knowledge systems and their application in the modern world. There are many different models, and each one will be appropriate for any given set of circumstances. But the fundamental point is that the unsustainable exploitation of indigenous knowledge systems must come to an end and their benefits be shared among their custodians. This is a critical question and will certainly allow indigenous knowledge systems to contribute very tangibly to the national developmental agenda. Linked to this is the need to develop a national policy framework on intellectual property rights which links with indigenous knowledge systems. But again the question was posed at the colloquium: how do indigenous knowledge systems become intellectual property, and what is gained and what is lost for the communities concerned when their indigenous knowledge becomes a pharmaceutical product? What happens to the values, culture, tradition, world view and rationality that encapsulates indigenous knowledge in that particular community? The hegemony of a globalised scientific system might be a threat to the very noble outcomes that it promises. This imposition may be avoided if community-based and locally based knowledge systems are part and parcel of the exploratory quest for a civil society and a humanity of caring and sharing. Tertiary institutions, as the custodians of academia in particular, will have to rethink the very heart of their practice if community engagement is a value to which they subscribe. Prof Nel is African Studies department head at Free State University. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sun Mar 14 16:32:17 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sun, 14 Mar 2004 09:32:17 -0700 Subject: Heart of language beats at home (fwd) Message-ID: Heart of language beats at home http://www.guampdn.com/news/stories/20040314/localnews/73664.html By Oyaol Ngirairikl Pacific Daily News; ongirairikl at guampdn.com Chamorro language teachers have spoken of the loss of the Chamorro language. Many have noted fewer members of the younger generations of Chamorros can speak the language. With the month of March being Chamorro Month, the emphasis on learning the language has been amplified. Chamorro language teachers said there are resources available to Chamorro people and others who want to learn the language. Teachers said the Chamorro language is an integral part of the culture and the identity of a Chamorro person. Peter Onedera, a Chamorro language teacher, playwright and author, has said the Chamorro language is the "soul of the culture." "If the language disappears, the culture will slowly disappear also," Onedera said. Ann Rivera, administrator of the Department of Education Office of Chamorro Studies, said the language holds the values of the culture. Rivera gave the word chenchule as an example. One of the more common meanings of chenchule is gift or present. "These days, when you think of chenchule, many people think of the envelope with money that you bring to the christening or wedding," Rivera said. "But those who speak the language of Chamorro know there is more to 'chenchule' than that," Rivera said. "The word 'chenchule' speaks to the value of family and community. It's the reciprocation of assistance to someone in the community who is in need." "The Chamorro people, we always understood that no matter where you are in life, you're going to need help one of these days. So you have the cultural value of 'chenchule' to remind you that no one can live independently of everyone else," Rivera said. Rosa Salas Palomo, who works at the Micronesian Language Institute at the University of Guam, said there are resources available to those who want to learn the language. "We just have to harness them so we can ensure we learn the language, and our children learn the language," Palomo said, quickly adding that the home is the best place to teach and learn a language. Palomo said she is familiar with some families who are immersing their children in the Chamorro language at home. "They speak only Chamorro at home," Palomo said. "It is a conscious effort on their part to teach their children the language and really that's the best way for children to learn." Onedera said grandparents and aunts and uncles also can be tapped in the learning process. "Find someone who knows the language who can teach you," Onedera said. But what about families who don't speak Chamorro? Rivera said students are required to take Chamorro language courses in public schools. Onedera said the university offers Chamorro language courses. The Guam Community College also offers courses, said GCC spokeswoman Cathy Gogue, adding accommodations can be made for groups of at least 10 people. "We have done it in the past where we've created a class for people who say are going to be doing a presentation and want to make sure they put together a well-written speech in Chamorro or have all the pronunciation right," Gogue said. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Mon Mar 15 15:49:30 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2004 08:49:30 -0700 Subject: The World Today - Moves to save dying languages (fwd) Message-ID: The World Today - Moves to save dying languages [This is the print version of story http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2004/s1066380.htm] This is a transcript from The World Today. The program is broadcast around Australia at 12:10pm on ABC Local Radio. The World Today - Monday, 15 March , 2004  12:44:24 Reporter: Nance Haxton HAMISH ROBERTSON: According to UNESCO, more than half of the world's 6,000 languages are in danger of dying out, ranging from native American languages in the United States to Scottish Gaelic, which is now spoken by only 60,000 or so mostly elderly people. Well, with growing concern about the rapid disappearance of so many languages around the world, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission is beginning a study of Aboriginal languages in Australia. When white settlers first arrived here, it's estimated that more than 250 distinct Aboriginal languages were spoken. Today, that number has dropped to 15. Nance Haxton reports from Adelaide. NANCE HAXTON: It's been dubbed the growth of Mclanguage, the increasing global prevalence of the four super languages, English, Spanish, Chinese and Arabic at the sacrifice of all others. In the past 100 years more than half of the world's languages have effectively disappeared. ATSIC Commissioner Rodney Dillon says they hope any more Aboriginal languages going the same way by identifying which languages are endangered, that is spoken by less than 20 people. RODNEY DILLON: Languages are in danger right across Australia, but it's not only about getting the language back, it's also about talking the language and having the kids talking the language, because if you get down to ten there's something wrong in that community. So we've got to see what's breaking that down. We've got to go, you know, not only do we have to measure but we have to figure out why it's been broke down further. NANCE HAXTON: It's almost like the health of that language is an indication of the health of that community? RODNEY DILLON: Yeah, that's what we're trying to measure. NANCE HAXTON: The Pitjantjara choir from the isolated desert country in northern South Australia still sings in traditional language, but Pitjantjara is one of the few dialects in Australia still spoken by its entire community. In Australia, one indigenous language is lost each year. If the trend is left unchecked, it is estimated by 2050 no indigenous languages will exist in any meaningful sense in Australia. Mr Dillon says when a language ceases to be spoken much more is lost than words. RODNEY DILLON: These languages is the oldest languages in the world. These are 50,000 and 60,000-year-old languages, you know. This is one of the most important projects that probably we'll be doing and it's important for Australia as well, you know, to be proud that they've held onto that or it's important that they don't lose it. NANCE HAXTON: Indigenous band Waak Waak Jungi is on its own crusade to keep traditional languages spoken in a modern context. Most of the band's songs are sung in the native tongue of the two song men from Arnhem Land, but they have also reconstructed songs from the extinct language of the Victorian Yarra Aboriginal people. Band member Jimmy Djamunba says speaking their language is vital to keeping their culture alive. JIMMY DJAMUNBA: Yes. Our making of life, give life, the language will be really alive, alright, because they have to translate singing, you know, singing and telling the story. Sometimes I talk with language, you know, this language, because back in Arnhem Land, I speak only in language, alright, I can teach young people with my language. NANCE HAXTON: ATSIC Commissioner Rodney Dillon says they hope once the study details how many distinct languages are still spoken, they can develop strategies for their preservation, such as better teaching programs in schools. RODNEY DILLON: The importance of our language is our way of life. It is who we are. It is how we identify who we are and I think when you lose your language you lose a lot. A lot of Aboriginal people have lost their language and are very unlucky not to have it and it's sad that we haven't got it because for one reason or another it's no longer there. But what we're trying to do is to make sure that the people that have got their language, that their language stays strong and we not only preserve the language but we keep the language going, more people talk the language and the kids talking the language. We've had a break down in that. HAMISH ROBERTSON: That was ATSIC Commissioner Rodney Dillon, ending that report by Nance Haxton in Adelaide. © 2004 Australian Broadcasting Corporation From sdp at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Mon Mar 15 22:06:09 2004 From: sdp at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Sue Penfield) Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2004 15:06:09 -0700 Subject: Fw: Job: Salish Language CURA Project Coordinator Message-ID: ----- ----- Reply-To: ACL/CLA Subject: Poste-Job: Salish Language CURA Project Coordinator Salish Language CURA Project Coordinator: Job Description Start Date: Between 26 April, 2004 and 15 May, 2004 The Salish Language CURA is the result of an alliance between the Department of Linguistics of the University of Victoria, First Peoples' Cultural Foundation, First Peoples' Heritage Language and Culture Council, The Saanich Native Heritage Society, and the Hul'q'umi'num' Treaty Group. The CURA has two principal goals: 1. To do the research necessary to facilitate the revitalization of the two Salish languages spoken on southern Vancouver Island, SENÇOÏEN and Hul'q'umi'num', including research on the languages that is directly relevant to language learning and teaching; research on the process of language revitalization; and research on the best methods for teaching and learning the two languages (for example, how best to use media such as computers, story-telling, etc.). 2. To facilitate the development of resources, materials and programs needed to take a large coordinated step toward the revitalization of SENÇOÏEN and Hul'q'umi'num'. Objective: To support the research programs of the Salish Language CURA Project Responsibilities: o Administer and coordinate the activities supported by the CURA grant o Work closely with the Directors and Steering Committee of the CURA grant to ensure the smooth running of the project o Serve as a liaison with SSHRC, with CURA partners, with members of the Steering Committee, Elders Advisory Committee, and Peer Advisory Committee, and with individuals associated with the CURA grant Specific Duties: The exact nature of the Coordinator's duties will evolve and vary over the course of the Research Project. The coordinator will work under the direction of and meet regularly with the Director and Co-directors of the Research Project. Duties that are currently part of the job description include the following. o Administer the grant, including undertaking accounting, budget management, appointments of CURA employees, and associated secreterial work o Participate in administrative meetings and prepare reports on/minutes of these meetings o Explore and follow-up on fundraising activities associated with the CURA's various sub-projects; work with communities to coordinate funding applications o Participate in Human Resources activities: preparing job descriptions and coordinating hiring of project employees o Assist the Directors in developing funding and project proposals o Assist the Directors in preparing project reports o Coordinate any publicity associated with the CURA, including the setting-up and maintenance of a website o Other related activities, as required Minimum Requirements: Education: o Post secondary education: at least a Bachelor's degree (preferably with background in Linguistics or Language Education) or equivalent combination of education and experience o 2-3 years related experience Knowledge: o Knowledge of issues related to First Nations languages o Knowledge and work experience related to First Nations issues and concerns o Experience in and knowledge of a postsecondary academic institutional setting o Understanding of the culture of doing research o Demonstrated knowledge of budgeting and reporting requirements for funding agencies o Ability to handle documents electronically, including word-processing, using the internet and email o Ability to design and maintain a website o Knowledge of funding sources for language proposals Required Skills: o Excellent communication, written, interpersonal, and organizational skills o Computer literacy, including Microsoft Office software on a Macintosh computer, knowledge of bookkeeping software (e.g., Quickbooks) o Ability to handle confidential materials and deal with liaison activities with tact and discretion o Strong commitment to First Nations language preservation, culture, education and community o Ability to work to deadlines, determine priorities and schedule activities o Ability to work independently and to feel comfortable working alone o Public speaking skills and experience o Valid Driver's License The position is based at the University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, but some travel may occasionally be required. The position has a salary range of $40,000-45,000 per year. This is a limited term position. The period of tenure of the position can be no longer than approximately 5 years, and may be shorter. Please submit a resume and coverletter by fax (250-721-7423), email (salish at uvic.ca) or by mail before 4:00 pm April 1, 2004 Salish Language CURA Department of Linguistics University of Victoria PO Box 3045, Stn CSN Victoria, B.C V8W 3P4 Canada For more information, please contact Ewa Czaykowska-Higgins at (250)-721-7428, or by email eczh at uvic.ca ----- End forwarded message ----- From mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US Mon Mar 15 22:47:53 2004 From: mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US (Matthew Ward) Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2004 15:47:53 -0700 Subject: Heart of language beats at home (fwd) Message-ID: I once had a young Chamorro man as a roommate. He had grown up largely in the mainland US, so he understood Chamorro more than he spoke it, but I was impressed that when his girlfriend and some other college students from Guam came over, they spoke largely their own language to each other. They were very passionate about protecting their language; they spoke a lot about efforts in Guam to raise the status of their own language. They told me that in 1925, the US authorities gathered together all of the Chamorro dictionaries and burned them. The old standby, beating children who spoke their native language in schools, was also used. Since Guam is a US territory, we are really looking at yet another indigenous American language, facing the consequences of years of abuse. phil cash cash wrote: >Heart of language beats at home >http://www.guampdn.com/news/stories/20040314/localnews/73664.html > >By Oyaol Ngirairikl >Pacific Daily News; ongirairikl at guampdn.com > >Chamorro language teachers have spoken of the loss of the Chamorro >language. Many have noted fewer members of the younger generations of >Chamorros can speak the language. > >With the month of March being Chamorro Month, the emphasis on learning >the language has been amplified. > >Chamorro language teachers said there are resources available to >Chamorro people and others who want to learn the language. > >Teachers said the Chamorro language is an integral part of the culture >and the identity of a Chamorro person. > >Peter Onedera, a Chamorro language teacher, playwright and author, has >said the Chamorro language is the "soul of the culture." > >"If the language disappears, the culture will slowly disappear also," >Onedera said. > >Ann Rivera, administrator of the Department of Education Office of >Chamorro Studies, said the language holds the values of the culture. > >Rivera gave the word chenchule as an example. One of the more common >meanings of chenchule is gift or present. > >"These days, when you think of chenchule, many people think of the >envelope with money that you bring to the christening or wedding," >Rivera said. > >"But those who speak the language of Chamorro know there is more to >'chenchule' than that," Rivera said. > >"The word 'chenchule' speaks to the value of family and community. It's >the reciprocation of assistance to someone in the community who is in >need." > >"The Chamorro people, we always understood that no matter where you are >in life, you're going to need help one of these days. So you have the >cultural value of 'chenchule' to remind you that no one can live >independently of everyone else," Rivera said. > >Rosa Salas Palomo, who works at the Micronesian Language Institute at >the University of Guam, said there are resources available to those who >want to learn the language. > >"We just have to harness them so we can ensure we learn the language, >and our children learn the language," Palomo said, quickly adding that >the home is the best place to teach and learn a language. > >Palomo said she is familiar with some families who are immersing their >children in the Chamorro language at home. > >"They speak only Chamorro at home," Palomo said. "It is a conscious >effort on their part to teach their children the language and really >that's the best way for children to learn." > >Onedera said grandparents and aunts and uncles also can be tapped in the >learning process. > >"Find someone who knows the language who can teach you," Onedera said. > >But what about families who don't speak Chamorro? > >Rivera said students are required to take Chamorro language courses in >public schools. Onedera said the university offers Chamorro language >courses. > >The Guam Community College also offers courses, said GCC spokeswoman >Cathy Gogue, adding accommodations can be made for groups of at least >10 people. > >"We have done it in the past where we've created a class for people who >say are going to be doing a presentation and want to make sure they put >together a well-written speech in Chamorro or have all the >pronunciation right," Gogue said. > > > From CMcMillan at WVC.EDU Mon Mar 15 23:22:21 2004 From: CMcMillan at WVC.EDU (McMillan, Carol) Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2004 15:22:21 -0800 Subject: language and science Message-ID: The discussions of science and language inspired a four-in-the-morning "ah-ha" experience for me. I'm sending a copy of the draft of its result. As a non-Indian who works with the Colville Tribes' language program and who also teaches science, I have written this with other science teachers in mind as its audience. If you can take the time to read it (four pages,) I would greatly appreciate any and all feedback. If you like it, what do you think I should do with it? (If you don't like it, please don't answer the last question...) :-) Thanks, Carol McMillan DRAFT Besides Linearity: Lessons from Native American Languages for Rethinking Our Science Education Paradigm Carol McMillan, Ph.D. March 9, 2004 Wenatchee Valley College at Omak lies unobtrusively in the Okanogan Valley of Washington State. Nestled between two ranges of mountains, the Okanogan River marks a geologic boundary between colliding continental plates; a place of great drama if viewed on a grand time scale. From the perspective of us ephemeral humans who live here, the more visible collision is not geologic, but one of cultures. Rare in our U.S. history, some of the local Native American tribes remain at home, living where their ancestors have fished, hunted, dug roots, and picked huckleberries for many thousands of years. The culture is ancient, sophisticated, and rich in what’s often referred to as “deep knowledge,” those things that can only be learned through countless generations of observation. I am one of the suyapis, those flighty, invasive newcomers whose ancestors, when driven from their native lands of Scotland and Ireland by the invading British, came to America and became the invaders of this land. As with most cultures, ours tends to be arrogant and ethnocentric, believing that we hold the truths with which we may enlighten others. Before our arrival, education flowed from the elders, both human and non-human. Correct behaviors were modeled rather than preached, silent observation of natural phenomenon led to deep understandings of the workings of nature, and psychological principles were taught through stories told in the darkness of winter. These were long-evolved paradigms for education; demonstrably successful over thousands of years. As a faculty member of the local community college, I am a purveyor of the new system. Merely a few hundred years old at best, this system has been demonstrably awesome in the manipulation of molecules, forcing them into intriguing categories and shapes. Like a bunch of aging children, we seem unable to resist the temptation to simply try something out and see what happens. We seem less concerned about ultimate results than we are infatuated by immediate novelties. While quite impressive materially, the driving force behind this culture does not seem to bode well for sustainability. Never-the-less, our forefathers (and, yes, also our foremothers) set about eliminating the existent educational systems of this continent, replacing them as completely as possible with one in which captive children are removed from their homes for between six and twenty-four hours each day, imprisoned in a square-cornered building filled with well-meaning adults who require them to think and behave in terms of linear, hierarchical subdivisions. While almost every parent complains about the local schools, we tend to believe whole-heartedly in their basic premises. Okanogan County can only be reached from outside by traveling over a hundred miles on two-lane roads. There was little violent combat between males when the white people arrived; most of the violence was carried out silently by the accompanying viruses, or was visited upon the heads of the children in the mission schools. This last was literal, not merely figurative. In the 1980’s, at our college’s first Pow-wow, a woman in her sixties spoke of attending the local boarding school. If she spoke her own language, the woman reported, the nun’s would strike a match and extinguish it on her tongue. Hearing these stories causes us suyapis to flinch in White guilt; we’d rather they were laid to rest. But if we move past the discomfort and past a bit of our innate ethnocentric worldviews, there awaits an awesome world of wisdom. Many Native Americans are understandably reluctant to share much of this wisdom, both because they were shamed for it and because of the painfully literal truth of the saying, “Once burned, twice shy.” But for Indian children to succeed in the imposed school system without being totally subsumed into the white worldview, the cultural paradigms must be incorporated into our understanding of how learning takes place. Such a shift benefits not only Indian children, but would expand the worldviews of all learners passing through our institutions of education. Since all people learn in multiple ways, sincere teachers worldwide have been rediscovering methods that teach holistically. A generation ago, when linearity reined king, we were asked to outline all papers before beginning to write. An outline consisted of a linear, hierarchical ordering of our thoughts, deemed necessary before intelligible writing could begin. Although reared and nurtured in a highly logical, “scientific” family, I have never mastered that art. My outlines were generated ex post facto, created after the papers were completed. More recently educators invented “clustering,” balloons of linked concepts placed in no particular order. Neither lineal nor hierarchical, clustering allows an author to view all thoughts on a subject holistically before organizing them. Clustering shows an example of the possibilities awaiting us through non-linear thinking. A basic precept of anthropology teaches that cultures that build circular structures tend to view time as a spiral, to problem solve by council, and to think holistically. Cultures that build in squares and pyramids, on the other hand, tend to have hierarchies with coercive powers, to view time as linear, and to think sequentially: a goes to b, b goes to c. We also read that language and culture interweave, inextricably tied together, both reflecting and shaping a worldview. Since 1999 the Language Preservation Program of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation and Wenatchee Valley College have been working together to offer a course of study in which students can incorporate the learning of their native languages into a college degree program. Through extensive contact with elders, I have begun to glimpse the magnitude of a parallel universe in which I was not raised. Most of the languages taught in our schools are Indo-European, sharing an ancestry and structural similarly. We have textbooks and dictionaries with lists of words to memorize and incorporate into increasingly complex dialogs. Most of what challenges the reciprocal learners of these languages is the conjugation of verbs. For these we must learn to recognize various affixes, small units of meaning attached to the root words, indicating person and tense. Trying to consciously dissect a verb when hearing a language spoken leads to ones comprehension falling behind the words; the learner becomes lost. Only when these verbal affixes become “second nature” to us can we begin to understand and to speak, automatically recognizing the meanings of the conjugations without trying to translate. Now try to imagine a language made up primarily of affixes. With fewer separate words standing on their own, the majority of meaning in a given sentence lies in a string of what linguists refer to as “bound morphemes,” small units of meaning that cannot stand alone. Using English, one can say, “Suddenly he decided to walk along the river, quickly moving upstream.” In the native languages of the Pacific Northwest, however, one encounters a single word constructed from multiple affixes: “Person not oneself or the person being spoken to – alone – going – in an upstream direction– along a small river - deciding suddenly to do this – moving quickly – in the past.” Haruo Aoki’s monumental dictionary of nimiputimptki, the Nez Perce language, is organized by word stems or roots.1 These can act either as nouns or verbs, depending on the affixes. To look up a Nez Perce word, one must be able to recognize which section holds the primary unit of meaning, a feat involving considerable knowledge of the language. The word "hiwacaptka?ykima" translates as “He ran back and forth with his, through the length of the longhouse.”2 One can find it listed under the stem “capati,” meaning “to lie or move lengthwise,” with the subheading “we,” meaning “to run.” Also under capati one finds the command “?inahicilcaptx,” meaning “Climb on a branch with it.” The reader must recognize “capt” as the root section in each. One can see that our brains must approach the Nez Perce language differently than Indo-European languages. In English we can say, “They collectively took down each one of the items he was carrying for him.” But in nimiputimtki the same meaning is conveyed with “pewi?nekehneysene.” The latter cannot be deciphered in the linear manner one would use on the first. Listening to an Indo-European language one tracks the words sequentially, unconsciously knowing when to expect each part of speech. One’s brain can follow the flow of words, ticking off subjects, verbs, and modifying phrases as they are spoken. But, even unconsciously, a listener cannot use the same heuristic to decipher the second sentence. The brain must wait for all the affixes to present themselves, and then organize them into a meaningful whole. Martina Whelshula, a tribal educator who is seeking to become fluent in her heritage language, verbalized this shift beautifully. Her face lit with joy as she exclaimed, “My language paints a picture in my head; I just watch it!”3 How the brain is utilized may differ somewhat depending on the language one speaks. The implications of this difference for science education may be quite large. Through language itself, Indo-European speakers practice sequential thought, while speakers of Native Languages process language more holistically. Logical, sequential brain functions may be consciously controlled; one can use “critical thinking” inductively to reach conclusions. Holistic thinking, on the other hand, seems to be based on less conscious processes. One feeds the brain information and waits for the “ah-ha” to be supplied to one’s conscious awareness, one must wait for the picture to be painted. Neuroscientists continue to make great strides in understanding learning and memory. Although the pre-frontal cortex appears to be the site of conscious, analytical thought, it is not the primary recipient of incoming sensory data. The thalamus and amygdala, tied more to our emotive processes, have first decision-making rights as to how data will be processed. Depending on our previous experience with a situation, these unconscious areas of our brains can choose to send impulses to our conscious minds for processing, can cause us to flee or avoid a situation, or can even shut down all neural channels to our frontal cortex, causing our minds to literally “go blank.”4 Even if our frontal cortex receives the sensory data, it must rely on the unconscious processes of the hippocampus to retrieve bits of relevant stored memory from various sections of the brain and, after processing, to return the data for storage. By far the greatest amount of brain function in learning and memory are unconscious processes. Despite this fact, our educational systems continue to deify conscious, logical processes as the only valid method of learning. Controlled, sequential thought fits well with the linear paradigm of Anglo-American culture. Holistic thought, on the other hand, requires a great deal more trust and the release of conscious control. The unconscious mind must be trusted to be the bastion of learning and memory that it actually is. In the Anglo paradigm we tend to identify our “selves” with areas of controlled consciousness. I would argue that Native Americans tend to have a broader definition of “self,” encompassing more of the unconscious connections. This paper itself is based on a four-in-the-morning “ah-ha” experience. Each winter for the past twenty years I have taught a course called “Life Continuity” at Wenatchee Valley College. During those years I have refined and fine-tuned the class until I will admit to being quite pleased with my method of instruction; years after being in the class, students often contact me to say how it has stayed with them. These are the outcomes an instructor strives for. Yet this year, as I taught it again, my conscious mind registered a pattern that I’d been unconsciously observing throughout the history of the course. For the first half of the quarter I teach the processes of genetics. My goal is to have students become “fluent” in the language of genes: what genes actually are, how they are created, how they work in the body, and how they are passed on. The second half of the quarter covers population genetics and evolution. Once students truly understand genes, we look at what happens to them in ecosystems, how the genes of various organisms affect each other. The two halves of the course are taught and assessed quite differently. I teach the genetic processes in a neat, organized, linear fashion: e.g., in “transcription” there first comes a recognition of the allele on the DNA, then the chromosome “puffs,” then RNA polymerase begins putting in matching nucleotides along the DNA bases . . . etcetera, etcetera, and so forth. Linear, sequential me and most of my linear, sequential-thinking students love it. I make it funny and fairly hands-on. But fairly quickly most of the Native American students in the class tend to begin losing the sparkle in their eyes. I must leap in with extra encouragement, convincing people they can understand it, re-explaining in my linear, sequential fashion. And somehow we muddle through to reach the second half of the quarter. Once we begin discussing ecosystems, how populations holistically interact, the Native students tend to blossom. Students who tended previously to be silent in class offer examples of complex adaptations and interactions. My morning “ah-ha” that inspired this writing stemmed from a student who came to my office to do her “check-off” for one of the genetic processes, her third attempt at explaining it to receive the requisite points for her grade. As she started drawing out the “steps,” I attempted to intervene where I perceived she was leaving something out. To my way of thinking she was about to “miss a step.” She pushed out her arm toward me, gesturing away my attempt to interrupt, saying, “Just wait till I’ve got it all.” She then proceeded, in a non-linear fashion, to cover the paper with the appropriate drawings. Sitting back, obviously satisfied, when they were all drawn, she said, “Now,” and proceeded to explain the process perfectly, pointing to each element and identifying its role, and thus receiving her points. She was using clustering, as opposed to outlining, to organize the material. The immediate response for both of us was relief and happiness. She tearfully hugged me and said, “Now I can do the others.” My understanding of her process arrived at four the next morning, waking me up both literally and figuratively. While in my mind mRNA transcription and all the other processes I teach must go from a to b to c to d, in actuality they are circular and simultaneous in the body. Everything truly is happening at once. My dentist has a paper that he authored mounted on the wall of his office; it argues that time is merely a mental construct we use in order to explain motion.5 Time is not perceived as linear in all cultures. Sequencing is not the innate reality of all things. Linearity is a cultural concept. Ah-ha. I have taught these ideas for years in anthropology classes, but on that day I “got it.” I approached my native students the next day, seeking their thoughts about my insight. The response was immediate and almost palpable, as if each person exhaled a breath she’d been holding for the entire quarter. Yes, the second half of the class is much easier. Yes, explain the processes of the first half in a more circular fashion; try to let all the elements be viewed. This way of thinking and teaching will take some adjustment. Linearity is useful as a mode of thinking and understanding; but it is not the only method, and possibly not even the most effective. It is an aspect of the culture into which I was born, and a fits glove-like with the language I speak. To serve all students we must venture into ways of thinking, knowing, and teaching that require conscious reliance on less conscious brain functions, quite a stretch for those of us who gain most comfort from a feeling of control. Although science purports to recognize the necessity of both inductive and deductive reasoning, and although many great scientists report that important ideas seem to arrive unbidden in their minds, our scientific educational systems mostly remain locked in linear methodologies. In an increasingly multicultural world where more recognition is being given to the power of diverse ways of gaining and processing information, perhaps it is time to venture out of the comfort zones. Many of us succeeded in the educational system because it was designed by and for our languages and our ways of thinking. By seeking and experimenting with holistic paradigms, inestimable benefit will be derived from the inclusion of diverse minds in the educational pool. 1Aoki, Haruo, Nez Perce Dictionary, 1994. University of California Press. Berkeley. 2 ibid. p. 7. 3Whelshula, Martina, personal communication. 4Passer, Michael W. and R.E. Smith, 2004. Psychology: the Science of Mind and Behavior, 2nd ed. McGraw Hill, New York. p. 89. 5Loudon, Merle, unpublished document. From miakalish at REDPONY.US Tue Mar 16 15:28:30 2004 From: miakalish at REDPONY.US (Mia - Main Red Pony) Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2004 08:28:30 -0700 Subject: language and science Message-ID: Dear Carol: I read your inspiration, or more accurately, skimmed, because I am already late for the "before meeting shower". . . but I was so touched by the small line: If you don't like it. . . I don't know quite where to publish this, which I assume is what you mean. Having just read it, my mind has not had time to percolate some of the ideas. (My dad was Irish; my mom Eastern European, btw). However, if you give me a little more time, and if you tell me whether you might be interested in exploring some of the ideas further. For example, there are 2 interesting books: Mysteries of the Hopewell, and Native American Science, both of which talk about the more abstract skills of the people who live here before. The mathematics, the symmetry, of the Hopewell mounds, is stunning, IMHO. The relation of mathematical abstraction to cultural needs is also very interesting. People seem to forget that the Western interpretation of mathematics and science is simply a set of languages that represent abstractions that derive from the needs and curiosites (and power struggles) of the Europeans. No more. No less. So let me know what you think. Based on the responses I have gotten from people, assembling a Major Concept of Native Science, and its Representation in Language may be worthy of a grant submission to the NSF. Tell me what you think. Regards, Mia ----- Original Message ----- From: "McMillan, Carol" To: Sent: Monday, March 15, 2004 4:22 PM Subject: language and science > > The discussions of science and language inspired a four-in-the-morning "ah-ha" experience for me. I'm sending a copy of the draft of its result. As a non-Indian who works with the Colville Tribes' language program and who also teaches science, I have written this with other science teachers in mind as its audience. If you can take the time to read it (four pages,) I would greatly appreciate any and all feedback. If you like it, what do you think I should do with it? (If you don't like it, please don't answer the last question...) :-) > Thanks, > Carol McMillan > > > > DRAFT > > Besides Linearity: Lessons from Native American Languages for > Rethinking Our Science Education Paradigm > > Carol McMillan, Ph.D. > March 9, 2004 > > Wenatchee Valley College at Omak lies unobtrusively in the Okanogan Valley of Washington State. Nestled between two ranges of mountains, the Okanogan River marks a geologic boundary between colliding continental plates; a place of great drama if viewed on a grand time scale. From the perspective of us ephemeral humans who live here, the more visible collision is not geologic, but one of cultures. Rare in our U.S. history, some of the local Native American tribes remain at home, living where their ancestors have fished, hunted, dug roots, and picked huckleberries for many thousands of years. The culture is ancient, sophisticated, and rich in what�~@~Ys often referred to as �~@~\deep knowledge,�~@~] those things that can only be learned through countless generations of observation. > I am one of the suyapis, those flighty, invasive newcomers whose ancestors, when driven from their native lands of Scotland and Ireland by the invading British, came to America and became the invaders of this land. As with most cultures, ours tends to be arrogant and ethnocentric, believing that we hold the truths with which we may enlighten others. > Before our arrival, education flowed from the elders, both human and non-human. Correct behaviors were modeled rather than preached, silent observation of natural phenomenon led to deep understandings of the workings of nature, and psychological principles were taught through stories told in the darkness of winter. These were long-evolved paradigms for education; demonstrably successful over thousands of years. > As a faculty member of the local community college, I am a purveyor of the new system. Merely a few hundred years old at best, this system has been demonstrably awesome in the manipulation of molecules, forcing them into intriguing categories and shapes. Like a bunch of aging children, we seem unable to resist the temptation to simply try something out and see what happens. We seem less concerned about ultimate results than we are infatuated by immediate novelties. While quite impressive materially, the driving force behind this culture does not seem to bode well for sustainability. Never-the-less, our forefathers (and, yes, also our foremothers) set about eliminating the existent educational systems of this continent, replacing them as completely as possible with one in which captive children are removed from their homes for between six and twenty-four hours each day, imprisoned in a square-cornered building filled with well-meaning adults who require them to think and behave in terms of linear, hierarchical subdivisions. While almost every parent complains about the local schools, we tend to believe whole-heartedly in their basic premises. > Okanogan County can only be reached from outside by traveling over a hundred miles on two-lane roads. There was little violent combat between males when the white people arrived; most of the violence was carried out silently by the accompanying viruses, or was visited upon the heads of the children in the mission schools. This last was literal, not merely figurative. In the 1980�~@~Ys, at our college�~@~Ys first Pow-wow, a woman in her sixties spoke of attending the local boarding school. If she spoke her own language, the woman reported, the nun�~@~Ys would strike a match and extinguish it on her tongue. > Hearing these stories causes us suyapis to flinch in White guilt; we�~@~Yd rather they were laid to rest. But if we move past the discomfort and past a bit of our innate ethnocentric worldviews, there awaits an awesome world of wisdom. Many Native Americans are understandably reluctant to share much of this wisdom, both because they were shamed for it and because of the painfully literal truth of the saying, �~@~\Once burned, twice shy.�~@~] But for Indian children to succeed in the imposed school system without being totally subsumed into the white worldview, the cultural paradigms must be incorporated into our understanding of how learning takes place. Such a shift benefits not only Indian children, but would expand the worldviews of all learners passing through our institutions of education. > Since all people learn in multiple ways, sincere teachers worldwide have been rediscovering methods that teach holistically. A generation ago, when linearity reined king, we were asked to outline all papers before beginning to write. An outline consisted of a linear, hierarchical ordering of our thoughts, deemed necessary before intelligible writing could begin. Although reared and nurtured in a highly logical, �~@~\scientific�~@~] family, I have never mastered that art. My outlines were generated ex post facto, created after the papers were completed. More recently educators invented �~@~\clustering,�~@~] balloons of linked concepts placed in no particular order. Neither lineal nor hierarchical, clustering allows an author to view all thoughts on a subject holistically before organizing them. Clustering shows an example of the possibilities awaiting us through non-linear thinking. > > A basic precept of anthropology teaches that cultures that build circular structures tend to view time as a spiral, to problem solve by council, and to think holistically. Cultures that build in squares and pyramids, on the other hand, tend to have hierarchies with coercive powers, to view time as linear, and to think sequentially: a goes to b, b goes to c. We also read that language and culture interweave, inextricably tied together, both reflecting and shaping a worldview. > Since 1999 the Language Preservation Program of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation and Wenatchee Valley College have been working together to offer a course of study in which students can incorporate the learning of their native languages into a college degree program. Through extensive contact with elders, I have begun to glimpse the magnitude of a parallel universe in which I was not raised. Most of the languages taught in our schools are Indo-European, sharing an ancestry and structural similarly. We have textbooks and dictionaries with lists of words to memorize and incorporate into increasingly complex dialogs. Most of what challenges the reciprocal learners of these languages is the conjugation of verbs. For these we must learn to recognize various affixes, small units of meaning attached to the root words, indicating person and tense. Trying to consciously dissect a verb when hearing a language spoken leads to ones comprehension falling behind the words; the learner becomes lost. Only when these verbal affixes become �~@~\second nature�~@~] to us can we begin to understand and to speak, automatically recognizing the meanings of the conjugations without trying to translate. > Now try to imagine a language made up primarily of affixes. With fewer separate words standing on their own, the majority of meaning in a given sentence lies in a string of what linguists refer to as �~@~\bound morphemes,�~@~] small units of meaning that cannot stand alone. Using English, one can say, �~@~\Suddenly he decided to walk along the river, quickly moving upstream.�~@~] In the native languages of the Pacific Northwest, however, one encounters a single word constructed from multiple affixes: �~@~\Person not oneself or the person being spoken to �~@~S alone �~@~S going �~@~S in an upstream direction�~@~S along a small river - deciding suddenly to do this �~@~S moving quickly �~@~S in the past.�~@~] > Haruo Aoki�~@~Ys monumental dictionary of nimiputimptki, the Nez Perce language, is organized by word stems or roots.1 These can act either as nouns or verbs, depending on the affixes. To look up a Nez Perce word, one must be able to recognize which section holds the primary unit of meaning, a feat involving considerable knowledge of the language. The word "hiwacaptka?ykima" translates as �~@~\He ran back and forth with his, through the length of the longhouse.�~@~]2 One can find it listed under the stem �~@~\capati,�~@~] meaning �~@~\to lie or move lengthwise,�~@~] with the subheading �~@~\we,�~@~] meaning �~@~\to run.�~@~] Also under capati one finds the command �~@~\?inahicilcaptx,�~@~] meaning �~@~\Climb on a branch with it.�~@~] The reader must recognize �~@~\capt�~@~] as the root section in each. > One can see that our brains must approach the Nez Perce language differently than Indo-European languages. In English we can say, �~@~\They collectively took down each one of the items he was carrying for him.�~@~] But in nimiputimtki the same meaning is conveyed with > �~@~\pewi?nekehneysene.�~@~] The latter cannot be deciphered in the linear manner one would use on the first. Listening to an Indo-European language one tracks the words sequentially, unconsciously knowing when to expect each part of speech. One�~@~Ys brain can follow the flow of words, ticking off subjects, verbs, and modifying phrases as they are spoken. But, even unconsciously, a listener cannot use the same heuristic to decipher the second sentence. The brain must wait for all the affixes to present themselves, and then organize them into a meaningful whole. Martina Whelshula, a tribal educator who is seeking to become fluent in her heritage language, verbalized this shift beautifully. Her face lit with joy as she exclaimed, �~@~\My language paints a picture in my head; I just watch it!�~@~]3 > > How the brain is utilized may differ somewhat depending on the language one speaks. The implications of this difference for science education may be quite large. Through language itself, Indo-European speakers practice sequential thought, while speakers of Native Languages process language more holistically. Logical, sequential brain functions may be consciously controlled; one can use �~@~\critical thinking�~@~] inductively to reach conclusions. Holistic thinking, on the other hand, seems to be based on less conscious processes. One feeds the brain information and waits for the �~@~\ah-ha�~@~] to be supplied to one�~@~Ys conscious awareness, one must wait for the picture to be painted. > Neuroscientists continue to make great strides in understanding learning and memory. Although the pre-frontal cortex appears to be the site of conscious, analytical thought, it is not the primary recipient of incoming sensory data. The thalamus and amygdala, tied more to our emotive processes, have first decision-making rights as to how data will be processed. Depending on our previous experience with a situation, these unconscious areas of our brains can choose to send impulses to our conscious minds for processing, can cause us to flee or avoid a situation, or can even shut down all neural channels to our frontal cortex, causing our minds to literally �~@~\go blank.�~@~]4 Even if our frontal cortex receives the sensory data, it must rely on the unconscious processes of the hippocampus to retrieve bits of relevant stored memory from various sections of the brain and, after processing, to return the data for storage. By far the greatest amount of brain function in learning and memory are unconscious processes. > Despite this fact, our educational systems continue to deify conscious, logical processes as the only valid method of learning. Controlled, sequential thought fits well with the linear paradigm of Anglo-American culture. Holistic thought, on the other hand, requires a great deal more trust and the release of conscious control. The unconscious mind must be trusted to be the bastion of learning and memory that it actually is. In the Anglo paradigm we tend to identify our �~@~\selves�~@~] with areas of controlled consciousness. I would argue that Native Americans tend to have a broader definition of �~@~\self,�~@~] encompassing more of the unconscious connections. > > This paper itself is based on a four-in-the-morning �~@~\ah-ha�~@~] experience. Each winter for the past twenty years I have taught a course called �~@~\Life Continuity�~@~] at Wenatchee Valley College. During those years I have refined and fine-tuned the class until I will admit to being quite pleased with my method of instruction; years after being in the class, students often contact me to say how it has stayed with them. These are the outcomes an instructor strives for. Yet this year, as I taught it again, my conscious mind registered a pattern that I�~@~Yd been unconsciously observing throughout the history of the course. > For the first half of the quarter I teach the processes of genetics. My goal is to have students become �~@~\fluent�~@~] in the language of genes: what genes actually are, how they are created, how they work in the body, and how they are passed on. The second half of the quarter covers population genetics and evolution. Once students truly understand genes, we look at what happens to them in ecosystems, how the genes of various organisms affect each other. The two halves of the course are taught and assessed quite differently. I teach the genetic processes in a neat, organized, linear fashion: e.g., in �~@~\transcription�~@~] there first comes a recognition of the allele on the DNA, then the chromosome �~@~\puffs,�~@~] then RNA polymerase begins putting in matching nucleotides along the DNA bases . . . etcetera, etcetera, and so forth. Linear, sequential me and most of my linear, sequential-thinking students love it. I make it funny and fairly hands-on. But fairly quickly most of the Native American students in the class tend to begin losing the sparkle in their eyes. I must leap in with extra encouragement, convincing people they can understand it, re-explaining in my linear, sequential fashion. And somehow we muddle through to reach the second half of the quarter. Once we begin discussing ecosystems, how populations holistically interact, the Native students tend to blossom. Students who tended previously to be silent in class offer examples of complex adaptations and interactions. > My morning �~@~\ah-ha�~@~] that inspired this writing stemmed from a student who came to my office to do her �~@~\check-off�~@~] for one of the genetic processes, her third attempt at explaining it to receive the requisite points for her grade. As she started drawing out the �~@~\steps,�~@~] I attempted to intervene where I perceived she was leaving something out. To my way of thinking she was about to �~@~\miss a step.�~@~] She pushed out her arm toward me, gesturing away my attempt to interrupt, saying, �~@~\Just wait till I�~@~Yve got it all.�~@~] She then proceeded, in a non-linear fashion, to cover the paper with the appropriate drawings. Sitting back, obviously satisfied, when they were all drawn, she said, �~@~\Now,�~@~] and proceeded to explain the process perfectly, pointing to each element and identifying its role, and thus receiving her points. She was using clustering, as opposed to outlining, to organize the material. The immediate response for both of us was relief and happiness. She tearfully hugged me and said, �~@~\Now I can do the others.�~@~] > My understanding of her process arrived at four the next morning, waking me up both literally and figuratively. While in my mind mRNA transcription and all the other processes I teach must go from a to b to c to d, in actuality they are circular and simultaneous in the body. Everything truly is happening at once. My dentist has a paper that he authored mounted on the wall of his office; it argues that time is merely a mental construct we use in order to explain motion.5 Time is not perceived as linear in all cultures. Sequencing is not the innate reality of all things. Linearity is a cultural concept. Ah-ha. I have taught these ideas for years in anthropology classes, but on that day I �~@~\got it.�~@~] > I approached my native students the next day, seeking their thoughts about my insight. The response was immediate and almost palpable, as if each person exhaled a breath she�~@~Yd been holding for the entire quarter. Yes, the second half of the class is much easier. Yes, explain the processes of the first half in a more circular fashion; try to let all the elements be viewed. > > This way of thinking and teaching will take some adjustment. Linearity is useful as a mode of thinking and understanding; but it is not the only method, and possibly not even the most effective. It is an aspect of the culture into which I was born, and a fits glove-like with the language I speak. To serve all students we must venture into ways of thinking, knowing, and teaching that require conscious reliance on less conscious brain functions, quite a stretch for those of us who gain most comfort from a feeling of control. Although science purports to recognize the necessity of both inductive and deductive reasoning, and although many great scientists report that important ideas seem to arrive unbidden in their minds, our scientific educational systems mostly remain locked in linear methodologies. In an increasingly multicultural world where more recognition is being given to the power of diverse ways of gaining and processing information, perhaps it is time to venture out of the comfort zones. Many of us succeeded in the educational system because it was designed by and for our languages and our ways of thinking. By seeking and experimenting with holistic paradigms, inestimable benefit will be derived from the inclusion of diverse minds in the educational pool. > > 1Aoki, Haruo, Nez Perce Dictionary, 1994. University of California Press. Berkeley. > 2 ibid. p. 7. > 3Whelshula, Martina, personal communication. > 4Passer, Michael W. and R.E. Smith, 2004. Psychology: the Science of Mind and Behavior, 2nd ed. McGraw Hill, New York. p. 89. > 5Loudon, Merle, unpublished document. > From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Mar 17 15:46:32 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2004 08:46:32 -0700 Subject: Microsoft goes even more global (fwd) Message-ID: Microsoft goes even more global http://www.theolympian.com/home/news/20040317/business/5622.shtml ALLISON LINN THE ASSOCIATED PRESS On the Web http://www.microsoft.com SEATTLE -- Microsoft Corp. is already known for its aggressive efforts to extend its global reach. Now, it's taking those efforts one step further. The latest versions of the company's dominant Windows computer operating system and popular Office software soon will be available in languages ranging from Ethiopia's Amharic to Inuktitut of the Arctic's Inuit, under a project involving Microsoft and various local governments and universities. The Local Language Program has already resulted in a Hindi version of Microsoft's software, and there are plans to make Windows and Office available in nine additional languages spoken in India in the next year. The Redmond software maker hopes the program will soon double the roster of languages available for Microsoft products, from 40 to 80. Hundreds of millions of people speak the languages that will be offered, but it's unclear how many of them have access to computers right now. Microsoft is providing technology and footing the bill for the projects, then working with local officials in a country or community to build a glossary. Microsoft executive Maggie Wilderotter said the goal is to make sure the glossary reflects both language and local culture. "I think the main benefit is the cultural benefit," Wilderotter said. "Language is one of the most central parts of culture, and preservation of culture, and technology has this tendency to make everything very global." It won't cost extra for users to get the software in their native language. And while Microsoft will own the technology used to build the glossaries, the company said local officials are free to use those glossaries to adapt other, competing software in their language. Joe Wilcox, an analyst with Jupiter Research, said the local language offering might help Microsoft gain an edge in new markets that otherwise might be lost to homegrown competitors. "If you look at Microsoft's success, it's really built on regions like North America and Europe, but where's the growth? It's Asia, it's China, it's India. These are the countries with massive populations, and also countries most likely to produce (another) Microsoft." ©2004 The Olympian From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Thu Mar 18 16:06:39 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2004 09:06:39 -0700 Subject: Linguists in race to save languages (fwd) Message-ID: Linguists in race to save languages http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2001881818_tongues18.html By Earl Lane Newsday WASHINGTON — In half a dozen fishing villages in a remote part of central Siberia, the Middle Chulym people are losing their language, one of hundreds of tongues likely to vanish around the world during the next half century. Among the Middle Chulym, who survive by ancestral ways of hunting, gathering and fishing, only about 40 of 426 people continue to speak the native language, according to K. David Harrison, a linguist at Swarthmore College who traveled to the region last year to document two Turkic languages in imminent danger. He found that no one younger than 52 can speak Middle Chulym fluently, and the rest speak only Russian. "Each language that vanishes without being documented leaves an enormous gap in our understanding of some of the many complex structures the human mind is capable of producing," Harrison said. Number systems, grammatical structures and classification systems can be lost, along with knowledge about medicinal plants, animal behavior, weather signs and hunting techniques. Siberian language in peril Another Siberian language called Tofa also is threatened, with 35 of 600 in the community able to speak it. When such native languages die, Harrison said recently at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, villagers lose an oral history as well as detailed knowledge of the local environment. The Tofa people are reindeer herders, Harrison said, and their language has special ways of describing reindeer by sex, age, fertility, color and ease of riding. Such descriptions do not translate easily into Russian, he said. "Human languages are vanishing as we speak," said Harrison, who argues that the rate of loss is every bit as disturbing as the extinction of animal species. Stephen Anderson, a Yale University linguist, estimates that "probably 40 percent or more of the world's languages will cease to be spoken within the next 50 to 100 years." Ethnologue, a database maintained by SIL International of Dallas, lists 6,809 languages worldwide. That number is subject to debate, say Anderson and others. Laurence Horn, a Yale linguist, said the number of languages sometimes is influenced by politics as much as linguistics. Cantonese and Mandarin are distinct languages, he said, but the Chinese government prefers to consider them dialects. Horn cited the oft-quoted comment, attributed to Yiddish linguist Max Weinreich, that a language is "a dialect with an army and a navy." Harrison said languages begin to decline when native speakers view them as less prestigious or not accepted as widely as the dominant language in a region. That has been the case with Middle Chulym, Harrison said. Native languages Of the indigenous languages of North America, Anderson said, only eight have as many as 10,000 speakers. Navajo is the largest, with about 160,000 speakers, he said. But many young Navajos no longer are learning the language as their first tongue, he said. "Once young children don't learn it as a first language," Anderson said, "then it has only as many years to go as the life expectancy of its current native speakers." Language-maintenance efforts are under way in American Indian communities, he said, but studying the language for a few hours a week in school is not sufficient to rescue a threatened language. Some elementaries, including one on the Mohawk reservation in northern New York, teach the traditional tongue as a first language in immersion programs aimed at preserving language and culture. The loss of languages is not inevitable, Anderson said. Linguists such as Harrison have been trying to record and document endangered languages, help foster interest in them among local populations and develop written forms to help preserve them. Whenever a language dies, Anderson said, "it's a human tragedy and one of the few human tragedies that linguists can do something about." From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sun Mar 21 16:33:14 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sun, 21 Mar 2004 09:33:14 -0700 Subject: Tribe fears loss of culture through mandated school standardization (fwd) Message-ID: Tribe fears loss of culture through mandated school standardization http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2004/03/21/news/top/news01.txt By MICHAEL JAMISON of the Missoulian BROWNING - A hard, cold wind hummed unchecked through the big empty, hammering across a rolling ocean of midwinter brown and nagging at the hem of Justin Little Dog's jacket. The 6-year-old gave his dad a hug, and turned out of the early morning frost to board the school bus. His bus stop, located along a lonely strip of pavement on Montana's Blackfeet Indian Reservation, is just this side of the middle of nowhere, a rural outpost marked by big horizons and stark drifts of month-old snow. "Be good," his dad called into the wind. Justin waved, and the bus pulled away, toward Browning, toward an all too common reservation town where unemployment can hit 85 percent in the winter months and more than a third of the townsfolk live below the poverty line. It's a place where, by some estimates, adult alcoholism can top 70 percent, and where three of every four homes is a single-parent household. Passing those households, where metal roofs are pinned down against the wind by stacks of bald tires, Justin's bus threaded its way toward the school. If he makes it to high school, which is no sure bet in these parts, young Little Dog will enter classrooms where more than 40 percent drop out before graduation. "He'll be lucky if he makes it," said Darrel Kipp. "Our children have already been left behind." Kipp is one who made it, growing up in Browning and graduating and leaving and finally coming back home with a master's degree from Harvard. Today, he runs a private, nonprofit school where 30 kids from kindergarten through eighth grade are taught in the ancestral Blackfeet tongue. His school, which began in 1994, has no administrators, no superintendents, no boards and no chairmen and no principal. Most notably, it has no standardized tests. "Standardized tests are great for standard kids," Kipp said. "But our kids aren't standard kids. They don't live in standard American homes." Standardized tests, as required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act, fail Browning's students, he said, rather than the other way around. The act requires states to craft standard tests for all schools, and schools must score high enough to clear the federal bar. If they fail, they are put on "improvement." (Browning schools have been on improvement since the act took effect.) If they fail consistently, the schools can lose their federal funding. In fact, the entire state system could lose its funding. Educators in Indian Country, people like Kipp, worry that children who are culturally distant from the "standard" are at a disadvantage when taking the tests. Although the kids are as smart as their "standard" peers, they might not share the same fundamental knowledge base, or so the theory goes. Take, for example, the lesson of the awning. Shiela Rutherford is the eighth-grade counselor at Browning Middle School, where kids have been practicing this winter for the upcoming state tests. She couldn't help but notice that nearly all her students missed the vocabulary question about the word "awning." "Of course they missed it," Rutherford said. "This is Browning. Nobody has an awning. The wind blows 70 miles per hour." The last awning seen in Browning, she joked, was flapping its way toward Ohio. It was the same story with the question about the "babbling brook." "Our students come from a totally different background," said Mary Johnson, superintendent of Browning Public Schools. "They speak English, but it's not the English of Iowa." Robert Rides-At-The-Door, a member of the Browning School Board, believes the new tests should have the flexibility to reflect "regionalized English." "Someone from Illinois who creates a test to measure how English-effective you are, he doesn't understand English on the reservation," Rides-At-The-Door said. Nor does he understand the English of New England or the South, not to mention the English of the barrio and the 'hood. And if Blackfeet English is not the English of Iowa, nor is Blackfeet science the science of Iowa. Walk the crowded and noisy aisles of the Browning Middle School science fair and you find an inordinate number of studies into the effects of fetal alcohol syndrome, the impacts of methamphetamine use, the power of ancient medicines distilled from native plants. And then there's Kourtnie Gopher's science project, which looked like a lesson in history. But it wasn't, and therein lies the rub. Gopher's project was an exercise in the present, a scientific exploration of current events in her community. It was good science, all about heat transfer and relative energy loss. But you can bet that when it comes time to take the annual standardized tests at Browning Middle School, there will be no questions about whether you'll stay cozier in a tepee, a long house, a kiva or a sweat lodge. Perhaps, Rutherford suggests, the tests should ask about pemmican rather than awnings. But then, of course, the kids in Iowa might not do so well on that question, she adds. "It's frustrating," said Superintendent Johnson. "Should there be something in these tests about us, too?" Johnson is quick to tell you she's no opponent of the "basic premise" behind the No Child Left Behind Act. "Traditionally, Indian children have been left behind by mainstream American education," she said. But, she wonders, is the solution to make the mainstream even more mainstream? Kipp doesn't think so. "I think the public schools are faced with a dilemma," he said. "They are being presented with more bureaucracy, when the truth is less bureaucracy is the answer." Johnson tends to agree. "I don't mind being held accountable as an educator," she said. "Public schools should be held accountable, no matter where they are. But I would like the luxury of doing things a little bit differently, to reflect who we are and what we know. The people who wrote this act want everybody to be the same; but the fact is, we're not all the same." "Not the same at all," Kipp insists. He calls No Child Left Behind a "major assimilation policy," and Johnson doesn't argue. The assimilation years still are fresh in the collective memory of Indian Country; they were the decades when the federal government gave up trying to defeat Indians militarily and instead tried to "whitewash" the reservations. The idea, Kipp said, was to dissolve Indian culture out of Indians, stirring centuries of cultural diversity into the homogeneity of the melting pot. The new school testing requirements, he said, do much the same, assimilating not just Indians but also Asian Americans and black Americans and Hispanic Americans. The loss of diversity in the classroom, he said, finally harms not just Indian culture, but also Indian education. Which is exactly why Kipp's private school teaches in the Blackfeet language, and why its graduates are leading their public high school classes. "In English," Kipp said, "you have taken a very beautiful word and bastardized it. It's the word 'equality.' 'Equality' by itself is a very strong and beautiful word, but it has been changed to mean 'sameness,' or 'uniformity.' It's about control. The more uniform a thing is, the easier it is to control. Standardized testing focuses on conformity. In doing so, they take away the ingenuity that comes with diversity, and the result is totalitarianism." Kipp defines totalitarianism as an attempt from on high to "decide who deserves to get what." "If you go the other way, away from totalitarianism," he said, "then you enliven diversity, and diversity is where creativity comes from. Sameness produces dullness. Diversity produces vibrancy and life. That's why we need true equality - education that's equal, but different." The emphasis on diversity has, in fact, been showing signs of success in Browning Schools, Johnson said, and she hopes not to lose it now that teachers are "teaching to the test" (she calls it "standards-based education") in preparation for new requirements. "The things that work, in terms of strategies to improve mainstream education, don't always translate well here," she said. In recent years, she said, the biggest improvements have come from school district efforts to move away from standardized education, not toward it. The schools now teach Blackfeet language classes, she said, and classes in Blackfeet history. Those lessons are then translated into skills that will help children "become literate in both cultures." A lesson in crafting a traditional drum, for instance, is packed with geometry skills. A lesson in the ancient Blackfeet constellations is a way of introducing Greek mythology. "Knowing who you are and where you come from makes you secure," Kipp said. "You know you can succeed. You're not as likely to feel intimidated; you're not wanting to be someone else." For generations, he said, Indians were told their language was bad, their religion was bad, their cosmology was bad, their culture was bad. That message was strongest in the schools, where there were no Indian teachers, no Indian pictures on the walls, no Indian language. "The schools told us we were stupid, ugly and bad," he said, "and after enough repetition, we started to believe it. We no longer believed we held potential." And that, Johnson said, is a primary reason so many parents still will have nothing to do with the schools. Elders still live who remember the government boarding schools where they were beaten for speaking their language. "It goes all the way back to the mission schools," Johnson said. "Historically, the schools took away our identity. "They took our language and culture. I believe we have a moral obligation to restore that." The trick will be finding a way to restore culture and teach basic reading and math skills while at the same time teaching to the test. "Our kids are already behind," she said, "but now we have to teach even more curriculum in the same amount of time. Does it create a culture versus standardization situation? That is a concern. Are they asking us to choose? In some respects, I guess they are." The makers of the law insist no one will have to make a choice between standardization and culture, and point to flexibility built into the act that allows states to custom-fit exams to regional difference. "It's really not in our hands," said Elaine Quesinberry, a public relations officer for the federal Department of Education. "Each state is responsible for figuring out what test works best for all the children in that state." "Impossible," replies Linda McCulloch, Montana's superintendent of public instruction. There is no way, McCulloch said, to craft one single test that is equally accessible to students in Missoula and in Browning. The federal Department of Education talks about giving states flexibility with regard to the test, she said, "but you don't really have any latitude in anything that matters." She, like Kipp and others, worry that culturally based education programs will be lost in the push to teach to the test, even though culturally based education is proving to work better than anything tried so far. And the fears of assimilation through standardization, she said, are "very real." Faced with the dilemma of how to accommodate Montana's Indian students, McCulloch first had a long sit-down with the folks at the company from which Montana is purchasing its test. Then, she and lots of educators from around the state walked through the questions, looking for red flags. Now, each time the results come in, they pore over the results, looking for red flags they might have missed. And up in Browning, Johnson has created "school improvement teams" for each building, as well as a districtwide committee that focuses exclusively on getting ahead of the curve with No Child Left Behind. They're analyzing achievement test data and planning programs narrowly aimed at answering the sorts of questions that appear on the tests. "No Child Left Behind has been my life for most of two years now," McCulloch said. "It's consuming all our time. That's the problem of putting all the focus on one method of testing." But the fact is, McCulloch said, Indian children generally are being left behind. A "standard" Montana kid comes to school packing about 30,000 English words, she said. An Indian kid might come with 2,500 English words. The problem, she said, is not necessarily that the schools are failing. It's that English is a second language in many of the families. It's that parents tend to be less involved in education. It's that parents have less schooling, and are more likely to be divorced. It's that competition-based testing does not translate well into a tribal culture founded on cooperation. It's that poverty is the standard. McCulloch, who started her career teaching on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation, wonders how one statewide test can hope to accurately assess what's going on in Indian education. "Not all education happens at school," she said. "You can't tell me that 70 percent unemployment doesn't affect education, because it does." Of course, the folks who designed and implemented No Child Left Behind have no control over such social factors. What they do control, however, is a pretty big checkbook, some of which has been aimed at improving basic education in Indian Country. "The act has provided some money for reading in Indian schools," McCulloch said, "and that's a very good thing." Last September, the act also also provided about $105 million in grants to Indian Country educators, including money for everything from early childhood development to professional training for teachers. The money is not, however, available for use in crafting culturally sensitive tests. "That's the real problem," Rides-At-The-Door said. "They give you more of the same old, when we know the same old isn't working. We don't need more of what's not working. We need the freedom to continue with what we know is working." What's working, he and Johnson and Kipp said, is a creative blend of Blackfeet culture and basic reading, writing and arithmetic lessons. "Doing that enriches us all," Johnson said. "What Browning is becoming famous for is creating the cultural background that provides the support system that helps develop a whole person. Not a standard person, a whole person." In the meantime, however, Johnson needs to get off that "improvement" list in the next three years. Can she do it? "We have to," she said. "Our kids have lots of talents and skills that just aren't measured by those tests. But by golly, if we have to do well on those tests, then we'll do it." But can she do it while at the same time continuing to see overall improvement in all facets of education, including graduation rates? "That will be tougher," she admits. "We would like to be able to continue with what we know is working. This No Child Left Behind law, it's like a thorn in your side all the time. Before it came along, we were doing a much better job than we had in generations. We can't lose that." After all, she said, what's at stake is the future of a people who have endured generations of assault on their very identity. "I feel very strongly about reading and literacy," Johnson said. "These kids here, their parents had to learn about Blackfeet history by reading what was written by non-Indians. I want our children to develop the skills necessary to write our own stories. We need to write our own stories." Reporter Michael Jamison can be reached at 1-800-366-7186 or at mjamison at missoulian.com From Rrlapier at AOL.COM Mon Mar 22 05:03:06 2004 From: Rrlapier at AOL.COM (Rrlapier at AOL.COM) Date: Mon, 22 Mar 2004 00:03:06 EST Subject: Feature Article Message-ID: Front page feature in the Sunday, March 21, 2004, Missoulian. Tribe fears loss of culture through mandated school standardization By MICHAEL JAMISON of the Missoulian Kelly Little Dog gives his son Justin, 6, a hug as the youngster heads to school in Browning on the Blackfeet Reservation earlier this month. Schools in Indian Country, like many schools in Montana, are finding it difficult to achieve the standards required in the No Child Left Behind Act. Photo by MICHAEL GALLACHER/Missoulian BROWNING - A hard, cold wind hummed unchecked through the big empty, hammering across a rolling ocean of midwinter brown and nagging at the hem of Justin Little Dog's jacket. The 6-year-old gave his dad a hug, and turned out of the early morning frost to board the school bus. His bus stop, located along a lonely strip of pavement on Montana's Blackfeet Indian Reservation, is just this side of the middle of nowhere, a rural outpost marked by big horizons and stark drifts of month-old snow. "Be good," his dad called into the wind. Justin waved, and the bus pulled away, toward Browning, toward an all too common reservation town where unemployment can hit 85 percent in the winter months and more than a third of the townsfolk live below the poverty line. It's a place where, by some estimates, adult alcoholism can top 70 percent, and where three of every four homes is a single-parent household. Passing those households, where metal roofs are pinned down against the wind by stacks of bald tires, Justin's bus threaded its way toward the school. If he makes it to high school, which is no sure bet in these parts, young Little Dog will enter classrooms where more than 40 percent drop out before graduation. "He'll be lucky if he makes it," said Darrel Kipp. "Our children have already been left behind." Kipp is one who made it, growing up in Browning and graduating and leaving and finally coming back home with a master's degree from Harvard. Today, he runs a private, nonprofit school where 30 kids from kindergarten through eighth grade are taught in the ancestral Blackfeet tongue. His school, which began in 1994, has no administrators, no superintendents, no boards and no chairmen and no principal. Most notably, it has no standardized tests. "Standardized tests are great for standard kids," Kipp said. "But our kids aren't standard kids. They don't live in standard American homes." Standardized tests, as required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act, fail Browning's students, he said, rather than the other way around. The act requires states to craft standard tests for all schools, and schools must score high enough to clear the federal bar. If they fail, they are put on "improvement." (Browning schools have been on improvement since the act took effect.) If they fail consistently, the schools can lose their federal funding. In fact, the entire state system could lose its funding. Educators in Indian Country, people like Kipp, worry that children who are culturally distant from the "standard" are at a disadvantage when taking the tests. Although the kids are as smart as their "standard" peers, they might not share the same fundamental knowledge base, or so the theory goes. Take, for example, the lesson of the awning. Shiela Rutherford is the eighth-grade counselor at Browning Middle School, where kids have been practicing this winter for the upcoming state tests. She couldn't help but notice that nearly all her students missed the vocabulary question about the word "awning." "Of course they missed it," Rutherford said. "This is Browning. Nobody has an awning. The wind blows 70 miles per hour." The last awning seen in Browning, she joked, was flapping its way toward Ohio. It was the same story with the question about the "babbling brook." "Our students come from a totally different background," said Mary Johnson, superintendent of Browning Public Schools. "They speak English, but it's not the English of Iowa." Robert Rides-At-The-Door, a member of the Browning School Board, believes the new tests should have the flexibility to reflect "regionalized English." "Someone from Illinois who creates a test to measure how English-effective you are, he doesn't understand English on the reservation," Rides-At-The-Door said. Nor does he understand the English of New England or the South, not to mention the English of the barrio and the 'hood. And if Blackfeet English is not the English of Iowa, nor is Blackfeet science the science of Iowa. Walk the crowded and noisy aisles of the Browning Middle School science fair and you find an inordinate number of studies into the effects of fetal alcohol syndrome, the impacts of methamphetamine use, the power of ancient medicines distilled from native plants. And then there's Kourtnie Gopher's science project, which looked like a lesson in history. But it wasn't, and therein lies the rub. Gopher's project was an exercise in the present, a scientific exploration of current events in her community. It was good science, all about heat transfer and relative energy loss. But you can bet that when it comes time to take the annual standardized tests at Browning Middle School, there will be no questions about whether you'll stay cozier in a tepee, a long house, a kiva or a sweat lodge. Perhaps, Rutherford suggests, the tests should ask about pemmican rather than awnings. But then, of course, the kids in Iowa might not do so well on that question, she adds. "It's frustrating," said Superintendent Johnson. "Should there be something in these tests about us, too?" Johnson is quick to tell you she's no opponent of the "basic premise" behind the No Child Left Behind Act. "Traditionally, Indian children have been left behind by mainstream American education," she said. But, she wonders, is the solution to make the mainstream even more mainstream? Kipp doesn't think so. "I think the public schools are faced with a dilemma," he said. "They are being presented with more bureaucracy, when the truth is less bureaucracy is the answer." Johnson tends to agree. "I don't mind being held accountable as an educator," she said. "Public schools should be held accountable, no matter where they are. But I would like the luxury of doing things a little bit differently, to reflect who we are and what we know. The people who wrote this act want everybody to be the same; but the fact is, we're not all the same." "Not the same at all," Kipp insists. He calls No Child Left Behind a "major assimilation policy," and Johnson doesn't argue. The assimilation years still are fresh in the collective memory of Indian Country; they were the decades when the federal government gave up trying to defeat Indians militarily and instead tried to "whitewash" the reservations. The idea, Kipp said, was to dissolve Indian culture out of Indians, stirring centuries of cultural diversity into the homogeneity of the melting pot. The new school testing requirements, he said, do much the same, assimilating not just Indians but also Asian Americans and black Americans and Hispanic Ameri cans. The loss of diversity in the classroom, he said, finally harms not just Indian culture, but also Indian education. Which is exactly why Kipp's private school teaches in the Blackfeet language, and why its graduates are leading their public high school classes. "In English," Kipp said, "you have taken a very beautiful word and bastardized it. It's the word 'equality.' 'Equality' by itself is a very strong and beautiful word, but it has been changed to mean 'sameness,' or 'uniformity.' It's about control. The more uniform a thing is, the easier it is to control. Standardized testing focuses on conformity. In doing so, they take away the ingenuity that comes with diversity, and the result is totalitarianism." Kipp defines totalitarianism as an attempt from on high to "decide who deserves to get what." "If you go the other way, away from totalitarianism," he said, "then you enliven diversity, and diversity is where creativity comes from. Sameness produces dullness. Diversity produces vibrancy and life. That's why we need true equality - education that's equal, but different." The emphasis on diversity has, in fact, been showing signs of success in Browning Schools, Johnson said, and she hopes not to lose it now that teachers are "teaching to the test" (she calls it "standards-based education") in preparation for new requirements. "The things that work, in terms of strategies to improve mainstream education, don't always translate well here," she said. In recent years, she said, the biggest improvements have come from school district efforts to move away from standardized education, not toward it. The schools now teach Blackfeet language classes, she said, and classes in Blackfeet history. Those lessons are then translated into skills that will help children "become literate in both cultures." A lesson in crafting a traditional drum, for instance, is packed with geometry skills. A lesson in the ancient Blackfeet constellations is a way of introducing Greek mythology. "Knowing who you are and where you come from makes you secure," Kipp said. "You know you can succeed. You're not as likely to feel intimidated; you're not wanting to be someone else." For generations, he said, Indians were told their language was bad, their religion was bad, their cosmology was bad, their culture was bad. That message was strongest in the schools, where there were no Indian teachers, no Indian pictures on the walls, no Indian language. "The schools told us we were stupid, ugly and bad," he said, "and after enough repetition, we started to believe it. We no longer believed we held potential." And that, Johnson said, is a primary reason so many parents still will have nothing to do with the schools. Elders still live who remember the government boarding schools where they were beaten for speaking their language. "It goes all the way back to the mission schools," Johnson said. "Historically, the schools took away our identity. "They took our language and culture. I believe we have a moral obligation to restore that." The trick will be finding a way to restore culture and teach basic reading and math skills while at the same time teaching to the test. "Our kids are already behind," she said, "but now we have to teach even more curriculum in the same amount of time. Does it create a culture versus standardization situation? That is a concern. Are they asking us to choose? In some respects, I guess they are." The makers of the law insist no one will have to make a choice between standardization and culture, and point to flexibility built into the act that allows states to custom-fit exams to regional difference. "It's really not in our hands," said Elaine Quesinberry, a public relations officer for the federal Department of Education. "Each state is responsible for figuring out what test works best for all the children in that state." "Impossible," replies Linda McCulloch, Montana's superintendent of public instruction. There is no way, McCulloch said, to craft one single test that is equally accessible to students in Missoula and in Browning. The federal Department of Education talks about giving states flexibility with regard to the test, she said, "but you don't really have any latitude in anything that matters." She, like Kipp and others, worry that culturally based education programs will be lost in the push to teach to the test, even though culturally based education is proving to work better than anything tried so far. And the fears of assimilation through standardization, she said, are "very real." Faced with the dilemma of how to accommodate Montana's Indian students, McCulloch first had a long sit-down with the folks at the company from which Montana is purchasing its test. Then, she and lots of educators from around the state walked through the questions, looking for red flags. Now, each time the results come in, they pore over the results, looking for red flags they might have missed. And up in Browning, Johnson has created "school improvement teams" for each building, as well as a districtwide committee that focuses exclusively on getting ahead of the curve with No Child Left Behind. They're analyzing achievement test data and planning programs narrowly aimed at answering the sorts of questions that appear on the tests. "No Child Left Behind has been my life for most of two years now," McCulloch said. "It's consuming all our time. That's the problem of putting all the focus on one method of testing." But the fact is, McCulloch said, Indian children generally are being left behind. A "standard" Montana kid comes to school packing about 30,000 English words, she said. An Indian kid might come with 2,500 English words. The problem, she said, is not necessarily that the schools are failing. It's that English is a second language in many of the families. It's that parents tend to be less involved in education. It's that parents have less schooling, and are more likely to be divorced. It's that competition-based testing does not translate well into a tribal culture founded on cooperation. It's that poverty is the standard. McCulloch, who started her career teaching on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation, wonders how one statewide test can hope to accurately assess what's going on in Indian education. "Not all education happens at school," she said. "You can't tell me that 70 percent unemployment doesn't affect education, because it does." Of course, the folks who designed and implemented No Child Left Behind have no control over such social factors. What they do control, however, is a pretty big checkbook, some of which has been aimed at improving basic education in Indian Country. "The act has provided some money for reading in Indian schools," McCulloch said, "and that's a very good thing." Last September, the act also also provided about $105 million in grants to Indian Country educators, including money for everything from early childhood development to professional training for teachers. The money is not, however, available for use in crafting culturally sensitive tests. "That's the real problem," Rides-At-The-Door said. "They give you more of the same old, when we know the same old isn't working. We don't need more of what's not working. We need the freedom to continue with what we know is working." What's working, he and Johnson and Kipp said, is a creative blend of Blackfeet culture and basic reading, writing and arithmetic lessons. "Doing that enriches us all," Johnson said. "What Browning is becoming famous for is creating the cultural background that provides the support system that helps develop a whole person. Not a standard person, a whole person." In the meantime, however, Johnson needs to get off that "improvement" list in the next three years. Can she do it? "We have to," she said. "Our kids have lots of talents and skills that just aren't measured by those tests. But by golly, if we have to do well on those tests, then we'll do it." But can she do it while at the same time continuing to see overall improvement in all facets of education, including graduation rates? "That will be tougher," she admits. "We would like to be able to continue with what we know is working. This No Child Left Behind law, it's like a thorn in your side all the time. Before it came along, we were doing a much better job than we had in generations. We can't lose that." After all, she said, what's at stake is the future of a people who have endured generations of assault on their very identity. "I feel very strongly about reading and literacy," Johnson said. "These kids here, their parents had to learn about Blackfeet history by reading what was written by non-Indians. I want our children to develop the skills necessary to write our own stories. We need to write our own stories." Reporter Michael Jamison can be reached at 1-800-366-7186 or at mjamison at missoulian.com Rosalyn LaPier Piegan Institute www.pieganinstitute.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Tue Mar 23 19:09:28 2004 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2004 11:09:28 -0800 Subject: FYI Message-ID: Yes, I would schedule April 25-30th as booked for the Language review session. The Commissioner has not given us a definite yes, but we need all the Language reviewers we have. We will be calling for sure next week. Have a Great Weekend and I look forward to talking to you next week Thanks AnnaMarie AnnaMarie Wilber Administration for Native Americans 370 L'Enfant Promenade SW Aerospace Center Bldg. - 8th Floor West Washington, DC 20447-0002 (877) 922-9262 Toll Free (202) 690-8360 Phone (202) 690-7441 Fax awilber at acf.hhs.gov Website: www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ana -- André Cramblit: andre.p.cramblit.86 at alum.dartmouth.org is the Operations Director Northern California Indian Development Council NCIDC (http://www.ncidc.org) is a non-profit that meets the development needs of American Indians To subscribe to a news letter of interest to Natives send an email to: IndigenousNewsNetwork-subscribe at topica.com or go to: http://www.topica.com/lists/IndigenousNewsNetwork/subscribe/?location=listinfo From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Mar 24 16:15:14 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2004 09:15:14 -0700 Subject: HP Technology Transforms Native American Reservations (fwd) Message-ID: HP Technology Transforms Native American Reservations; Tribal Digital Village Celebrates Three Years of Cultural Preservation and Prosperity Through Technology Innovation http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20040324005301&newsLang=en SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 24, 2004--PALA RESERVATION/ HP (NYSE:HPQ) (Nasdaq:HPQ) and the Southern California Tribal Chairmen's Association (SCTCA) today announced the third anniversary of the Tribal Digital Village, a project designed to help the tribal community bridge the digital divide and meet key community and economic development needs through the creative application of information and communications technology. HP, SCTCA, University of California at San Diego, Palomar College and other partners are commemorating the anniversary today at a community event at the Pala Reservation in San Diego County. Activities include tours of Hi Rez Digital Solutions and San Pasqual Resource Center, cultural performances by tribal members, presentations on project achievements by digital village leaders and comments from HP executives. "The success of the Tribal Digital Village began by listening to the needs of the Native American community and taking an innovative approach to provide HP technology to meet those needs," said Debra Dunn, senior vice president, Corporate Affairs, HP. "Throughout our three-year partnership with the tribal community, HP has been proud of the achievements of the tribal community to utilize technology to enhance their rich traditional way of life." Since the Tribal Digital Village was launched in 2001 with a $5 million HP grant to SCTCA, the program has successfully fostered cultural, educational, community and economic development in the Southern California tribal community. HP's contributions have enabled the diverse tribal communities to connect and communicate with each other and preserve their culture through the use of technology and they have provided opportunities for economic growth with the establishment of a for-profit digital printing business, Hi Rez Digital Solutions. The Tribal Digital Village has engaged community youth and adults to ensure the development and transfer of technical knowledge and expertise going forward. In addition, the Tribal Digital Village has conducted outreach to communicate its goals to organizations and institutions outside of the tribal community. As a result, in December 2003, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell visited the Tribal Digital Village, providing an opportunity to gain exposure for the community's accomplishments, share best practices that can be leveraged by other communities and possibly yield federal support from programs that enable isolated, rural communities to install, maintain or upgrade their technological infrastructure. Together, SCTCA and HP have achieved the Tribal Digital Village's goals of providing the Native American community with programs that address five key areas. They are: linking the tribes to a community network infrastructure; preserving traditions and culture for future generations; improving education opportunities through distance learning; enabling community interaction using online tools; and launching a community-led economic development project. Tribal Digital Village achievements: -- Community Network Infrastructure: An impressive, high-speed wireless Internet and wide area network infrastructure spread over several thousand square miles and utilizing 200-plus miles of point-to-point and point-to-multipoint links was designed, built and implemented by newly trained tribal community members. Local high school students participated in Youth Academy programs where they were trained to use topographic and global positioning system software to identify and survey potential sites for the solar-powered wireless network line-of-sight radio nodes. The community backbone links thousands of American Indians across the region and enables interaction and collaboration among members of rural tribal areas, and it provides access to educational resources outside the reservations. More than 50 buildings, including 20 computer labs, are now connected. -- Community Service Access: Tribal members can now access their own Web portal and e-mail system, leverage video and webcams, and access other online cultural, medical and technological information. The team also has created a portal to enable individual tribes to host their government and educational Web sites. Multiple community calendars are helping facilitate communication throughout tribal communities. -- Distance Learning: Community members, including young people and seniors, are connecting to each other's tribes, surrounding school districts, health agencies and colleges for distance learning, tutoring and mentoring programs. -- Cultural Education and Preservation: Tribal members, from youth to elders, are creating audio and video materials for a variety of projects related to community members' histories, languages and cultures. The Tribal Digital Village collaborated with First Peoples Cultural Foundation to launch a Web-based, multimedia, indigenous language dictionary system (www.FirstVoices.com). FirstVoices provides tools for language preservation efforts while giving control of content to each tribe. In addition, Tribal Resource Centers are now using distance-learning services through Internet-based video conferencing. -- Entrepreneurial Spirit: Two businesses that launched in October 2003 - Hi Rez Digital Solutions and Southern California Tribal Technologies (S.C.T.T.) - are believed to be the only American Indian consortium-owned, technology-based for profit businesses in the United States. Hi Rez provides digital printing services in the Southern California area using an HP-donated HP Indigo 3000 series digital press, as well as HP service and support. S.C.T.T. is an Internet service provider and technical-support business. One goal of the businesses is to generate income for the 18 community tribes; a portion of profits is planned for use in funding ongoing tribal community programs. The ventures also will provide technology-based jobs for Native Americans throughout the region. "In 2001, the SCTCA had a vision of bringing together remote tribal communities via a powerful wireless network," said Denis Turner, executive director, SCTCA. "HP's contribution and involvement in the Tribal Digital Village made this vision possible. Over the past three years, we've established a wireless infrastructure that has brought together 18 tribes dispersed across several hundred square miles, preserving culture and promoting sustainable growth simultaneously." HP's commitment to e-inclusion The Tribal Digital Village is part of a growing global network of communities HP is partnering with as part of its e-inclusion program. The program seeks to provide people access to greater social and economic opportunities by closing the gap between technology-empowered and technology-excluded communities, focusing on sustainability for the communities and HP. Other communities include the empowerment zone of East Baltimore, Md.; East Palo Alto, Calif.; Dikhatole, South Africa; Kuppam, India, and Mogalakwena, South Africa. Over the last 20 years, HP has contributed more than $1 billion in cash and equipment to schools, universities, community organizations and other not-for-profit organizations around the world. In 2003, HP's giving worldwide amounted to more than $62 million in cash and equipment. About Southern California Tribal Chairmen's Association The Southern California Tribal Chairmen's Association (SCTCA) is a multi-service non-profit corporation established in 1972 for a consortium of 19 federally recognized Indian tribes in Southern California. The primary goals and objectives of SCTCA are the health, welfare, safety, education, culture, economic and employment opportunities for its tribal members. A board of directors comprised of tribal chairpersons from each of its member tribes governs SCTCA. More information about Tribal Digital Village is located at http://www.sctdv.net/ About HP HP is a technology solutions provider to consumers, businesses and institutions globally. The company's offerings span IT infrastructure, personal computing and access devices, global services and imaging and printing. For the last four fiscal quarters, HP revenue totaled $74.7 billion. More information about HP is available at www.hp.com. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Mar 24 16:21:34 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2004 09:21:34 -0700 Subject: Rescue bid for languages (fwd) Message-ID: Rescue bid for languages http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/3564267.stm Languages threatened with extinction are being recorded and protected at a research centre being opened in London. A £20m donation is funding an endangered languages research project at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. It is claimed that out of the 6,500 languages spoken in the world about a half are under threat of extinction. The research centre will build a digital archive of languages that could disappear. The Hans Rausing Endangered Languages Project is claimed as the largest research centre of its type in the world. Disappearing languages Peter Austin, director of the Endangered Languages Academic Project, says that the scheme will preserve a record of many languages that are set to disappear in the next century. "There are languages which might have thousands of speakers, but the communities are switching to another language - often a larger regional, national or international language. "This is mainly because parents think that it's an advantage to their children, socially, economically or politically," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. The centre will train researchers in recording and documenting threatened languages - so that there will be a way of hearing and understanding these lost languages in the future. This will involve the setting up of a multimedia archive of languages. Professor Austin said that it was not inevitable that threatened languages would disappear - as he said there was growing awareness of the cultural loss that accompanied the death of a language. "There are communities around the world where they are realising that the loss of a language means the loss of their history, their culture, their identity," he said. And he said that the increasing number of people who said that they could speak Welsh was a reflection of how the "tide is turning". Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/education/3564267.stm Published: 2004/03/24 12:53:08 GMT From coyotez at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU Wed Mar 24 19:34:28 2004 From: coyotez at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU (David Lewis) Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2004 11:34:28 -0800 Subject: [Fwd: Coquille Culture Conference] Message-ID: To all: Please see attachment. Please make copies. Please circulate. Please spread the word. Additional information will follow in next few days. With luck, it will all get posted on our web page. Hope you can make it. I will be soliciting some of you personally for your attendance and participation in the program. If you plan to attend, please send a reply ASAP confirming same. Thanks. Don Ivy Director, Coquille Cultural Resources Department -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: Don Ivy Subject: Coquille Culture Conference Date: Mon, 22 Mar 2004 19:05:35 -0800 Size: 39779 URL: From coyotez at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU Wed Mar 24 19:59:11 2004 From: coyotez at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU (David Lewis) Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2004 11:59:11 -0800 Subject: CALL FOR PAPERS, Ayaangwaamizin: The International Journal Message-ID: CALL FOR PAPERS, Ayaangwaamizin: The International Journal of Indigenous Philosophy announces a theme issue, ³Techaminsh Oytpamanatityt or Kennewick Man?² This issue is directed to philosophical issues raised by the recent 9th Circuit Court of appeals opinion: http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/ca9/newopinions.nsf/AAFB80F54839DD2D88256 E300069CF95/$file/0235994.pdf?openelement It is our purpose to have this issue in print by October, in the hope that if the case goes to the U.S. Supreme Court, indigenous thinkers might have an opportunity to address the controversy at a meaningful time. You may also submit by e-mailing as a Microsoft Word or WordPerfect attachment to: leehester at sbcglobal.net PLEASE SUBMIT BY JUNE 1, 2004 From dzo at BISHARAT.NET Fri Mar 26 15:39:43 2004 From: dzo at BISHARAT.NET (Donald Z. Osborn) Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 09:39:43 -0600 Subject: Botswana: Tribal coalition calls for end to "assimilationist policies" Message-ID: Of possible interest (from Pambazuka News #149): BOTSWANA: TRIBAL COALITION CALLS FOR END TO 'ASSIMILATIONIST POLICIES' http://www.minorityrights.org/ A coalition of thirteen associations of non-Tswana speaking ethnic groups in Botswana, including the Wayeyi tribal community, have raised their concerns over 'assimilationist policies' which deny their linguistic and cultural rights and leave them marginalized. Calling for dialogue with the government, the coalition representative stated that non-Tswana speaking groups are not recognized or consulted on decisions affecting their lives through their chiefs, lack rights to land, and do not have their languages used in education, the national radio and other social domains. From pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET Fri Mar 26 16:30:55 2004 From: pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET (phil cash cash) Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 09:30:55 -0700 Subject: Fwd: All Nations News Update for Friday March 26, 2004 Message-ID: fyi, Aboriginal Voices Radio is airing the following story: Ottawa plans to protect Aboriginal languages Begin forwarded message: > All Nations News Update > Broadcasting in Downtown Toronto - CFIE 106.5 FM > Internet Radio stream at http://www.aboriginalradio.com > Date: Friday March 26, 2004 > Published by Aboriginal Voices Radio Inc. > (http://www.aboriginalradio.com) > > -------------------------------------------------- > > Today's Stories: > > Miq Maq bands in Nova Scotia hesitate to agree to federal control over > where and when they fish. > > B.C. first Nations fight in highest court over the issue of property > rights and Aboriginal titles. > > Tawassen First Nation in final stages of signing BC treaty process. > > Ottawa plans to protect Aboriginal languages. > > Winnipeg holds comedy festival featuring Native comedians. > > -------------------------------------------------- > > Broadcast times: M-F, 5 AM - 6 AM - 8 AM - 9 AM - NOON - 2 PM - 5 PM - > 6 PM - 8 PM - 9 PM (ALL TIMES EASTERN) > > ALL NATIONS NEWS IS NOW ON DEMAND AT > http://www.aboriginalradio.com/ANN.shtml > > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > ----------------------------- > > Aboriginal Voices Radio's All Nations News is pleased to announce that > WAHTA Radio Hawk CFWP-FM 98.3 (http://www.wahta.com) is now > broadcasting All Nations News. If your community would like to carry > our news service contact andre.morriseau at aboriginalradio.com > > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > ----------------------------- > > All Nations News (ANN) would like to thank the Trillium Foundation > (http://www.trilliumfoundation.org) for it's financial support. > > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > ----------------------------- > > > Aboriginal Voices Radio Inc. > Studio City Building > 366 Adelaide St. E., Suite 323 > Toronto, ON, M5A 3X9 > (tel) 416-703-1287 > (fax) 416-703-4328 From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sat Mar 27 16:41:01 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2004 09:41:01 -0700 Subject: In Siberia, a race to preserve a dying language (fwd) Message-ID: In Siberia, a race to preserve a dying language http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/business/index.ssf?/newsflash/get_story.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?f0028_BC_WSJ--Siberia-Language&&news&newsflash-financial By JEANNE WHALEN The Associated Press 3/26/04 9:02 AM The Wall Street Journal LUKASHKIN YAR, Russia -- Lyuba Parnyuk had traveled thousands of miles across frozen swampland to make an elderly woman sing, but the sun was going down, and the young linguist's tape recorder was still empty. Outside, her Siberian snowmobile driver was cold and hungry. "Please," she pleaded. "Just one song." Sitting next to her in the remote cabin was 71-year-old Elizaveta Sigilyetova, one of the last living speakers of a rare dialect of Khanty, a regional tongue nearly overwhelmed by Russia's slavic majority. Forced to speak Russian since her school days, the petite grandmother was slow to remember her native language. But finally, fiddling with the tails of her headscarf, she filled the room with a hoarse melody: "Ankel wajah qimlen semkan lalten pa qit' qaskin ninet." "The eagle owl with sad eyes sings that all the men and women have gone." Delighted, Ms. Parnyuk scribbled down new words and coaxed a few more songs from her hostess. It was a coup for the 22-year-old graduate student, who braves blizzards and voyages to the farthest corners of the taiga to document little-known languages before they die out. Based in Tomsk, an oil and university town lined with 18th-century log cabins, Ms. Parnyuk and her colleagues at Tomsk State Pedagogical University are fighting a global epidemic: Linguists estimate that two-thirds of the world's 6,500 languages will disappear this century as the increasingly global economy and culture promote a few dominant languages. A crossroads of migrating peoples since the Stone Age, Siberia's forests once echoed with the songs and legends of the Saams, the Karels, the Veps and Moris, and dozens of other tribes. Their remoteness helped preserve their cultures for centuries, but Siberia's Russification over the last 50 years means the last generation of about 30 language groups is now dying off. To many -- even to some native Siberians -- the drive to preserve local tongues seems futile. Yet every time a language is lost, thousands of years of culture, religion and medical knowledge die with it, linguists argue. They worry about the disappearance of Pongyong (in Nepal), Arabama (in Australia) and Lower Sorbian (in Germany). "If you wait another two years in this region, it'll be too late," Ms. Parnyuk said after her recording session, sipping tea in the kitchen of a nearby Khanty family. Ms. Parnyuk's travels took her to three remote villages along the Ob River, a shallow waterway 2,000 miles east of Moscow that once supported thousands of Khanty. The tribe is distantly related to the Finns, Estonians and Hungarians, who migrated west from Siberia 40,000 years ago. Some linguists also see links to native Americans. For centuries the Khanty fished and hunted rabbit and moose near the Ob. Their language had no alphabet but was rich with legends about mammoths, shamans and pagan gods. Awestruck by bears, the Khanty invented a whole separate vocabulary to describe the animal and its body parts. Slavic missionaries turned up in the 18th century to preach Christianity. Then the Russian Revolution brought lasting change. Bent on forging hundreds of ethnic minorities into one Soviet citizenry, the Bolsheviks herded Khanty children to boarding schools and adults to collective farms, where they were forced to speak Russian. When the Soviets discovered oil in Siberia in the 1960s, millions of Russian-speaking workers invaded Khanty land to drill wells and build cities. Demoralized, most Khanty either assimilated into Russian life or took to drink, typically vodka or moonshine. "Russians tell us to this day that we weren't literate, we couldn't read or write. Well, OK, they brought culture, literacy and education, but they also destroyed our way of life," says Klavdia Demko, a Khanty activist who helps arrange Ms. Parnyuk's travels. In the 1950s, a distinguished Soviet linguist named Andrei Dulzon began meticulously documenting indigenous languages, traveling by motorboat to remote settlements along the Ob. Today, at the university in Tomsk, surrounded by stacks of Mr. Dulzon's vocabulary-card files, graduate students compile dictionaries, write ABC books for kids, and train teachers to keep up the languages in rural schools. They set out on expeditions as often as possible. Andrei Filtchenko, a Tomsk linguist finishing his Ph.D. on Khanty dialects at Rice University in Houston, once walked 40 miles through a bog to visit two elderly Khanty hunters. Navigating the knee-deep water in rubber boots, he finally reached a log house sitting on a shallow lake. Delighted by the company, the hunters regaled him with tall tales about bears. "Ninety percent of my language data comes from bear stories," says Mr. Filtchenko, who developed an interest in indigenous people after reading "The Last of the Mohicans" as a child. Khanty superstitions pepper every journey. Last summer, Mr. Filtchenko cut himself while swimming. The wound swelled. The next day, several Khanty led him to a sacred log cabin where he laid a piece of cloth and a few coins before a wooden deity inside. "The cut healed in one or two days," he says. Ms. Parnyuk paid for her recent two-week expedition herself, keeping costs to under $250. She stayed with families and often hitched rides with drivers such as Father Alexei, an orthodox priest who drove her from village to village in a 1979 Moskvich, the Soviet equivalent of a Ford Escort. The priest's rattly car broke down twice and finally plowed into a snowbank. In Lukashkin-Yar, population 600, Ms. Parnyuk cruised from cabin to cabin on a snowmobile in the minus 40 degree temperatures. She found only three remaining Khanty who could speak the regional dialect, known as Alexandrovskoye. They helped the linguist correct a draft of a Khanty dictionary and filled her notebook with legends. After her tea break, she zoomed off to another elderly informant, a retired oil worker who had chatted at length with her the previous summer. Ducking into the door of his disheveled hut, she found him sitting in his undershorts, drunk on moonshine. "Tell us about all the oil fields you've explored," she said gently. But realizing it was no use, she left a package of food and departed. The Tomsk linguists hope to finish their Khanty dictionary by 2008. Ms. Demko, the activist, has offered to raise money from local Khanty to help sponsor the book. "We are all counting on Lyuba," she says. But she admits young Khanty such as her nephew, a computer programmer, are more interested in studying English. Ms. Parnyuk, who now speaks Khanty better than many of her informants, has few illusions that her work will restore the Alexandrovskoye dialect. Still, she adds, the Khanty have remarkable faith in renewal. "When they bury someone, they put broken things in his grave," she says. "They think that in the next life, all broken things will become whole again." ------ Word Play Khanty ways of saying "bear": "Ih" -- Bear, as hunters would say it "Pupi" -- Bear, as women or children would say it "Qaqi" -- Bear, a sweet nickname that means "little brother" "Worong Qu" -- Bear, meaning "man of the forest" "Mae elle ih welsim" -- I killed a big bear From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sat Mar 27 16:43:10 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2004 09:43:10 -0700 Subject: Lightning strikes twice for endangered Aboriginal tongues (fwd) Message-ID: Lightning strikes twice for endangered Aboriginal tongues http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/03/26/1079939845162.html By Linda Doherty, Education Editor March 27, 2004 Kelsey Strasek-Barker's sweet voice sings out strange words to the popular children's ditty, the Hokey pokey. "Nginda dhina way, Nginda dhina dhuwimay" in the Yuwaalaraay language means "You put your foot in, you take your foot out." Kelsey, 9, of Tamworth, is one of the stars of Yugal, a CD of songs recorded in Yuwaalaraay and Gamilaraay for a language revival project in northern inland NSW. "I'm proud of singing the Aboriginal language, and it's fun. I starting learning in Lightning Ridge when I was five," she said. Many Aboriginal tongues are fast dying out, and linguists such as Christian Brother John Giacon, of Walgett, rely on 1970s recordings of elders to rediscover the words, grammar and pronunciation. Two years ago the Board of Studies said not a single child in NSW could competently speak one of the 60 native languages. But that is changing in Catholic and public schools in Walgett, Lightning Ridge, Toomelah-Boggabilla, Coonabarabran and Goodooga, where the CD and an accompanying Yuwaalaraay and Gamilaraay dictionary are vital teaching resources. The similar languages were once widespread from Lightning Ridge in the west, to Goondiwindi in the north and Tamworth in the south. The main learning hub is St Joseph's primary school at Walgett, where more than half of the 190 pupils are Aboriginal. All children in kindergarten to year 3 learn the languages, as do indigenous pupils in senior primary classes. On Thursday the children sang and made speeches in the ancient languages for a Harmony Day concert, and it is not unusual for them to now greet each other with "yaama" instead of "hello". "They enjoy singing, and it's a great way to get them actually using the language," Brother John said. A frustration is that there are many gaps in the vocabulary, and no words for modern phenomena like television or telephones. But for Kelsey's mother, Priscilla, who has taught Yuwaalaraay at Lightning Ridge, building on the few words she grew up with brings immense pride. "It's great just to know the language of my nan and great-nan and pop. The kids pick it up really easily, but it's harder for adults because you have to get used to rolling your tongue." This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/03/26/1079939845162.html From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sat Mar 27 16:44:57 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2004 09:44:57 -0700 Subject: Maori language television makes it (fwd) Message-ID: Maori language television makes it http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2004/3/26/latest/16616Maorilang&sec=latest WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - The indigenous Maori language was banned in New Zealand schools from the 1880s and now is spoken by only one in 10 Maoris, but its supporters believe the launch of nationwide Maori TV broadcasts will help ensure its survival. After 16 years of struggle and controversy, the new taxpayer-funded Maori Television Service, or MTS, begins operation Sunday. Its first broadcasts coincide with a bitter debate in New Zealand over race relations sparked by a pledge by opposition National Party leader Don Brash to end preferential government treatment for Maori ranging from welfare payments to funding for the new TV network. A National Party spokesman said the party likely would pull the plug on the new channel if it wins power in elections next year. "I don't see MTS as having a long life,'' the party's Maori affairs spokesman, Gerry Brownlee, said this week. Opponents have fought the project since the country's highest court ruled in 1991 that the government had a legal responsibility to fund Maori TV to protect the language under a 1840 treaty between Maori and British settlers. Since then, every step of the fledgling TV service's creation has been dogged by controversy. Its first appointed chief executive, Canadian John Davy - who spoke no Maori and had no knowledge of the culture - was jailed in 2002 and later deported for false claims about his credentials for the job. Earlier efforts to run a private Maori TV channel ended in bankruptcy after it squandered millions of dollars of taxpayer cash. There was outrage when it was revealed one of its directors used taxpayer money to buy 85 New Zealand dollar (US$55) pairs of silk boxer shorts. Maori are among New Zealand's least-educated, least-healthy and worst-housed citizens, have high unemployment levels and fill more than half the nation's prison cells. Their language, spoken by less than 10 percent of the nation's 530,000 Maori, was only recognised as an official national language alongside English in 1987. Maori elder and academic Huirangi Waikerepuru led the fight for its recognition, which spawned the 1987 Maori Language Act and paved the way for Maori language schools and Maori radio stations. "The launch of Maori television is yet another milestone for us and our language,'' Waikerepuru said this week. "My being at the launch will be out of respect for the kuia and koroua (elderly women and men) who told ... their stories of being punished at school for speaking their native tongue,'' Waikerepuru said. Legislation setting up the new channel requires Maori to be used in at least 50 percent of its programming. It plans to eventually subtitle all programs to make them accessible to non-Maori. It promises a broad range of programs, including dramas, entertainment, cooking shows and a daily news hour focusing on Maori issues. Even its weather bulletins will be different - looking not only at temperatures and storm patterns but also at tides and good times to fish and work in the garden. Prime Minister Helen Clark said the service should be judged on its merits, not its turbulent past. She said despite the problems, other minority groups around the world had found that to keep a language alive they needed a voice on television. Associate Maori Affairs Minister John Tamihere, a Maori, said the channel will be a "powerful voice for Maori. I am very pleased that voice will be a bilingual one.'' He said he hopes the new channel will help end some of the "ignorance and misunderstanding'' about Maori issues fueling the nation's acrimonious race relation debate. - AP From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Mon Mar 29 15:42:34 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2004 08:42:34 -0700 Subject: Native language classes teach manners in addition to words (fwd) Message-ID: Native language classes teach manners in addition to words Students want to reclaim culture, bone up or learn a new tongue http://www.adn.com/front/story/4901271p-4836278c.html [two photo insets] By SANDI GERJEVIC Anchorage Daily News (Published: March 29, 2004) It is a sunny spring morning, but Moon Woman, Bear Woman, Little Bird and Baby Baby -- their translated Aleut names -- are huddled inside an annex of the Alaska Native Heritage Center, trying to master the sound of a rough "G." In the western dialect of the Aleut, or Unangax, language, the sound of a regular "G" comes from one part of the mouth and the sound of a rough "G" comes from another -- subtle but critical to meaning. "Forget it. You're going to get yourself upset," Sally Swetzof (Moon Woman) tells her aunt, Angelina Guenther (Baby Baby). Guenther is trying hard to get her tongue around a certain word but gives the whole thing up with an "Ay-yi-yi." Swetzof, the instructor, was a little tougher on her aunt than the other two students, calling on her often, coaching her through words and correcting her with a firm "No, aunt." Unangax is one of four Alaska Native language classes taught at the Heritage Center weekly in March. The program draws Natives and non-Natives of all ages, said the center's Kay Ashton. Some attend to bone up for Bush travel. Some want enough of their own cultural language to introduce themselves publicly. Others have personal reasons. Guenther forgot her language when she left Atka to attend boarding school at age 6. Now, at 63, she wants to recapture it. "It was such a part of me when I was younger," she said. Sitting next to her, Tatiana Petticrew (Little Bird) was a striking contrast. A crown of black hair fell across her shoulders. She wore a sprinkle of garnets in her earlobes, and her nails were painted coal black. Petticrew, 11, has studied Unangax in Atka since preschool. When she and her mother, Jolene Petticrew (Bear Woman), moved to Anchorage, Tatiana wanted to continue lessons with Swetzof, who also teaches in the Aleutian Region School District. The women pored over words like baliikax (smoked fish), gis-xix (rookery) and ganax (the glow in the sky when the sun is setting). Along with mastering ways to introduce themselves and other conversation starters, students pick up a few protocol pointers for traveling in the Alaska Bush -- things like learning to wait a few beats after asking a question. It's one of the things that irks Swetzof: when a non-Native asks a question and then, not getting an instant response, jumps in with another or, worse yet, asks the question in another way, as if the Native person hadn't understood. Phrasing is important in speaking to an elder, said Marie Meade, who teaches a class in Yup'ik. In that case, you might say: "Would you like some coffee?" Not "Do you want coffee?" There is a distinction that shows a measure of respect, she said. Here is another tip: If someone offers you food you don't want, it's OK to say "No, thanks" if you say it in a nice way. Sometimes, it's easiest to tell the truth. For example, if you're hopping a prop plane in a few hours, you might explain that you have to be careful what you eat. An even simpler tack is to ask the host to wrap a portion to go. "Whatever you do with it after that, it's between you and the all-seeing eye," said Paul Marks, who teaches a Tlingit class at the center later on Saturdays. Marks revealed common cultural gaffes. In Tlingit, it's considered inappropriate to ask a lot of questions, he said. There's a time for that, but to lead off a conversation with questions might be considered forward or rude. Traditionally, you would avoid asking anyone for anything in a direct manner. An example would be a woman who wants her husband to clean out the garage. Not only would she not ask directly, she would not even ask indirectly. She would wait until the husband was within earshot and then mention to someone else how badly the garage needs to be cleaned. Also, in a formal setting, women allow men to take the lead when speaking, Marks said. He acknowledged these are cultural practices that may be out of fashion or in direct opposition to a Western style (and maddening to women, in fact). Nevertheless, he said, "When in Rome ..." Marks, 54, grew up in Juneau, speaking Tlingit in his family, which he characterized as a long-standing and traditional clan. He has traveled and earned an education at a number of schools. He once dated a non-Native woman. In most contexts, she suited him well. But in the company of other Natives, she stood out. "When she was in my circle, her cultural etiquette ... was very obvious to me," he said. Marks had trouble defining that exactly, except to say the girlfriend was too exuberant, too boisterous, too willing to lead the conversation. "It was so un-Tlingit," he said. That's not a bad thing, he added. But it is different from how he was raised. Once, Marks said, he was sitting at a table with his sister, who is in her mid-70s. She turned to him and asked whether he'd ever heard the Lord's Prayer sung in Tlingit, as the Russian Orthodox sing it. No, he said. So she sang it to him. Marks thought about that exchange for some time. He understood there was a difference between his sister telling him he needed to know the song and her offering the song to him, almost as a gift. In general, the rules of etiquette that apply in town are the same in the Bush and incorporate common sense, the language teachers said. Take your shoes off (it's an Alaska thing). Be quiet and listen. Ask before blundering in. Thank people. Be sincere. In other words, a respectful manner and a smile go a long way in any language. When a culture has been offended so many times, Marks said, it shuts down. And that, he pointed out, is the death of communication. Daily News features writer Sandi Gerjevic can be reached at 257-4325 or sgerjevic at adn.com. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Mon Mar 29 15:54:57 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2004 08:54:57 -0700 Subject: Windows learns to speak Inuktitut in crucial move for Inuit cultural survival (fwd) Message-ID: Windows learns to speak Inuktitut in crucial move for Inuit cultural survival http://www.canada.com/technology/story.html?id=22A4CD21-CE73-430E-B999-7A613032470C BOB WEBER Canadian Press Sunday, March 28, 2004 (CP) - In a move that could be central to the survival of Inuit culture, the world's largest software company is teaching its most powerful computer operating system to speak the ancient tongue of Arctic hunters. Microsoft is developing software to run its popular Windows XP system in Inuktitut. This marks the first time the world's most popular operating system will speak a Canadian aboriginal language. "We're doing this to support the language," said Microsoft spokeswoman Mina Gharbi-Hamel from Toronto. The company is developing a so-called language interface pack, to be available as a free download. That means menus will drop down with Inuktitut commands. Applications from e-mail to databases will be available in Inuktitut. Inuktitut speakers will be able to use Windows and all its features in their own language. Gharbi-Hamel saw first-hand the problems English-only Windows is causing in Nunavut when she visited government offices last February. "I saw people translating menus on little yellow sticky notes and putting them around their PC screen to be able to understand the application being used," she said. "If I'm using an application, I'd like to be able to understand my menus." Officials in Nunavut, where preserving Inuktitut is a powerful political issue, welcome the language pack. "An operating system that uses Inuktitut is incredibly important," said Jonathan Dewar of Nunavut's Office of the Language Commissioner. "(It) gives young people the opportunity to use Inuktitut in their school lives and their work lives so they can be immersed in their culture without having to put their English hat on when they leave the house in the morning." Relative to many other aboriginal languages, Inuktitut remains healthy. Government surveys suggest that Inuktitut remains the mother tongue of 84 per cent of Nunavut's roughly 21,000 Inuit, with about the same percentage speaking it at least reasonably well. But that reassuring number drops for young people. Nearly 88 per cent of Inuit aged 15-24 say they speak English well, compared with only 79 per cent for Inuktitut. And it's not hard to understand why. Only 27 per cent of Inuit report using Inuktitut as the language of work - a figure that falls to 11 per cent for schools. The Windows language pack could help change that, says Chris Douglas, Nunavut's director of official languages. "I think it's extremely important - mainly because the government of Nunavut is committed to making Inuktitut the language of government by 2020," he said. But first, software developers have to come up with Inuktitut equivalents for geekspeak such as "upload," "file format," and "database." Other terms already in more-or-less general use, such as "matuirli" for "open" or "matuli" for "close," have to be standardized and accepted by the general community. "Some of it will be identifying words that exist and some of it will be making new words," said Gavin Nesbitt of the Pirurvik Centre in Iqaluit, which is running the project for Microsoft. Creating the language interface is expected to take about a year, said Gharbi-Hamel. Microsoft has already written such software for local languages around the world, from Ukrainian to Urdu to Swahili. Inuktitut will be the first aboriginal language in Canada to receive the software, but it may not be the last. "We are addressing the Inuktitut language first," said Gharbi-Hamel. "It doesn't mean we will stop there." Dewar says the Windows language interface could be a crucial link between the next generation of Inuktitut speakers and the tongue of their elders. "It's young people who are accessing modern technology, and they're the demographic that is most at risk of losing the language," he says. "Young people have to be able to use the language in day-to-day life." © Copyright  2004 The Canadian Press From dzo at BISHARAT.NET Mon Mar 29 23:25:09 2004 From: dzo at BISHARAT.NET (Donald Z. Osborn) Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2004 17:25:09 -0600 Subject: Interview on "assimilation" Message-ID: The following request for help was posted on the Assimilation group, which is still very small, so I hope it's okay that I crosspost it. Please address replies directly to the student. Don Osborn Bisharat.net To: Assimilation at yahoogroups.com From: "Angela" Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2004 17:58:38 -0000 Subject: [Assimilation] Seeking an interview Hello, my name is Angela, and I am seeking out someone who can interviewed about their opinion on assimlation into different societies(preferably professional). You can be either pro or con. I am doing a college research paper about the effects that assimilation has on a culure, specifically how it has affected the aborigines in Australia. The interview can be via e-mail or by phone. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Assimilation/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: Assimilation-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Tue Mar 30 16:48:48 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 09:48:48 -0700 Subject: Teacher Reviving Language (fwd) Message-ID: Teacher Reviving Language http://www.swtimes.com/archive/2004/March/29/news/language.html By Marcus Blair TIMES RECORD • MBLAIR at SWTIMES.COM GORE — Each time Phyllis Yargee hears children speaking Cherokee on the playground, she knows her difficult job is worth the effort. Teaching a complex, dying language to children isn’t easy, even among a student body that is 71 percent American Indian. Most Cherokees are unable to speak their native language, and even fewer can read or write the characters of the Cherokee syllabary, Yargee said. “I think people should know the language because they live in the heart of the Cherokee Nation,” the Notchietown resident said. “There are now so few speakers and most of them are elders.” Yargee spent 14 years working for the Johnson O’Malley program for the advancement of American Indian students. She helped develop the Cherokee Challenge Bowl in which young Cherokees test their knowledge of tribal culture. Through the experience, she learned basic Cherokee words. Since being hired last year by Gore Schools and fueled by a desire to keep the language from dying, Yargee has learned more about her native tongue. The dialect connects Cherokees to their heritage and helps students of other races learn about another culture, Yargee said. She believes stereotypes fall and students are more accepting of others when they receive a multicultural education. Yargee teaches 45-minute classes daily to students from kindergarten to fifth grade. The sessions are steeped in tribal history, government and customs. Yargee’s students seem to devour their lessons and are acquiring more of the language on their own, school officials said. One student astonished Yargee by learning her name in Cherokee without the help of a teacher. The learning also produced some unexpected results, Yargee said. Students are using Cherokee as a secret language around teachers who can’t speak it. The conspiratorial aspect of the speech is an unusual drawing card that piqued the interest of the students, Yargee said. Superintendent Marvin Thouvenel said the language is never a problem because the school is ecstatic to see the children enthusiastic about learning. “I hear them sometimes when I’m down there at the elementary,” Thouvenel said. “I like to hear them speak Cherokee and I ask them to. I wish all of them could do it.” Yargee is the first Cherokee teacher at Gore Schools to introduce the written language of the tribe to the elementary students. She developed the curriculum, which was a monumental task, said Sandy Williams, federal programs coordinator for the school. “Phyllis has done a tremendous job. She’s the one who decided to implement the syllabary and there is no written curriculum for that from the state,” Williams said. Yargee is searching for ways to involve parents who can’t help with homework because they are unable to decipher the lessons of their children. To help parents get acquainted with the language, Yargee is developing several tools, including a Cherokee lunch menu designed to teach adults the names of foods. The developing language barrier between adults and children may be a positive sign that shows a revival of the Cherokee dialect that was not experienced in previous generations, Yargee said. School officials say they are thankful to have Yargee, a member of the Cherokee Tribal Council, as a teacher. Yargee has enthusiasm and knowledge that are irreplaceable in teaching, Williams said. “When we asked her to come here, we never dreamed we would get her,” Williams said. “She brings a knowledge and experience to the school that is a huge asset to us.” From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Wed Mar 31 16:30:41 2004 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 08:30:41 -0800 Subject: Language Maintenance Message-ID: 03/18/2004 - WASHINGTON By Earl Lane, Newsday In half a dozen fishing villages in a remote part of central Siberia, the Middle Chulym people are losing their language, one of hundreds of tongues likely to vanish around the world during the next half century. Among the Middle Chulym, who survive by ancestral ways of hunting, gathering and fishing, only about 40 of 426 people continue to speak the native language, according to K. David Harrison, a linguist at Swarthmore College who traveled to the region last year to document two Turkic languages in imminent danger. He found that no one younger than 52 can speak Middle Chulym fluently, and the rest speak only Russian. "Each language that vanishes without being documented leaves an enormous gap in our understanding of some of the many complex structures the human mind is capable of producing," Harrison said. Number systems, grammatical structures and classification systems can be lost, along with knowledge about medicinal plants, animal behavior, weather signs and hunting techniques. Siberian language in peril Another Siberian language called Tofa also is threatened, with 35 of 600 in the community able to speak it. When such native languages die, Harrison said recently at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, villagers lose an oral history as well as detailed knowledge of the local environment. The Tofa people are reindeer herders, Harrison said, and their language has special ways of describing reindeer by sex, age, fertility, color and ease of riding. Such descriptions do not translate easily into Russian, he said. "Human languages are vanishing as we speak," said Harrison, who argues that the rate of loss is every bit as disturbing as the extinction of animal species. Stephen Anderson, a Yale University linguist, estimates that "probably 40 percent or more of the world's languages will cease to be spoken within the next 50 to 100 years." Ethnologue, a database maintained by SIL International of Dallas, lists 6,809 languages worldwide. That number is subject to debate, say Anderson and others. Laurence Horn, a Yale linguist, said the number of languages sometimes is influenced by politics as much as linguistics. Cantonese and Mandarin are distinct languages, he said, but the Chinese government prefers to consider them dialects. Horn cited the oft- quoted comment, attributed to Yiddish linguist Max Weinreich, that a language is "a dialect with an army and a navy." Harrison said languages begin to decline when native speakers view them as less prestigious or not accepted as widely as the dominant language in a region. That has been the case with Middle Chulym, Harrison said. Native languages Of the indigenous languages of North America, Anderson said, only eight have as many as 10,000 speakers. Navajo is the largest, with about 160,000 speakers, he said. But many young Navajos no longer are learning the language as their first tongue, he said. "Once young children don't learn it as a first language," Anderson said, "then it has only as many years to go as the life expectancy of its current native speakers." Language-maintenance efforts are under way in American Indian communities, he said, but studying the language for a few hours a week in school is not sufficient to rescue a threatened language. Some elementaries, including one on the Mohawk reservation in northern New York, teach the traditional tongue as a first language in immersion programs aimed at preserving language and culture. The loss of languages is not inevitable, Anderson said. Linguists such as Harrison have been trying to record and document endangered languages, help foster interest in them among local populations and develop written forms to help preserve them. Whenever a language dies, Anderson said, "it's a human tragedy and one of the few human tragedies that linguists can do something about." -- André Cramblit: andre.p.cramblit.86 at alum.dartmouth.org is the Operations Director Northern California Indian Development Council NCIDC (http://www.ncidc.org) is a non-profit that meets the development needs of American Indians To subscribe to a news letter of interest to Natives send an email to: IndigenousNewsNetwork-subscribe at topica.com or go to: http://www.topica.com/lists/IndigenousNewsNetwork/subscribe/?location=listinfo From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Mar 31 16:45:23 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 09:45:23 -0700 Subject: A window of opportunity for the Inuit (fwd) Message-ID: A window of opportunity for the Inuit http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=115&art_id=qw1080719282828C535&set_id=1 Toronto - How would an Inuit hunter who scratches out a meagre living in the Arctic chill write "email", "log off" or "shut down"? That's a teaser facing Microsoft programers in their new project to adapt Windows XP and Office applications to the ancient tongue of Inuktitut, spoken by the Inuit, formerly known as Eskimos. The frozen Inuit homeland encompasses some of the planet's coldest and most inhospitable regions in parts of north-eastern Russia, areas of Greenland, Alaska and northern Canada. Computing is not among the Inuit's typical pursuits, as the civilisation has been passed from generation to generation with storytelling, drum dancing and hunting and fishing skills. 'It will bring the community closer' So the first task for software engineers is to find words and concepts in the Inuit language applicable to computers. "It is very important to us to make sure the composition of the words is acceptable to the community," said Mina Gharbi-Hamel, Windows International Programming Manager to Microsoft Canada. Microsoft's venture will mark the first time the software behemoth's programs have been made available in an aboriginal Canadian language. The move will also represent a substantial boost for a language, which like other ancient and native tongues is suffering from the global onslaught of English. A development team is to spend four to six months compiling a glossary of words to be used in the program, which will allow Inuit users to follow the menus and commands familiar to millions of Windows users. Inuit is a particularly difficult language to adapt as it is written as a mixture of symbols and consonants. The program will be offered free as a downloadable "skin" on Microsoft's website to existing Windows customers. Gharbi-Hamel visited the northern Canadian territory of Nunavut, earlier this year, where Inuit is the official government language, to research potential consumers for the project. "It will bring the community closer," she said. "I think there will be some job opportunities too, in areas where there is technology but where people see barriers because of their language." Published on the Web by IOL on 2004-03-31 09:48:03 From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Mar 31 16:53:59 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 09:53:59 -0700 Subject: Language promoted through technology (fwd) Message-ID: Language promoted through technology http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/zones/sundaytimes/newsst/newsst1080724304.asp Wednesday March 31, 2004 11:21 - (SA) The government announced it is about to embark on a project to bring indigenous languages into line with current international norms.   This was the message from Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the Minister of Minerals and Energy, Arts, Culture, Science and Technology when she announced an innovative language scheme at the Durban Convention Centre.   The minister said Africa as a whole had a woeful history as far as honouring the languages of the people of the continent was concerned.   "African languages' biggest problem stems from the days of colonialism and the ill-conceived idea that African languages were inferior to colonial languages and unfit for any functional role in business or politics," said the minister.   As part of a strategy to reverse this situation the minister announced three initiatives - a bursary scheme, the establishment of language research and development centres (LRDCs) and the launch of a human language technologies (HLT) initiative.   "I would like to state that it is the government's goal to have all the official languages of South Africa adequately developed in order to serve the complex and diverse requirements of modern communication," she said.   "Developing a language requires the use of realistic strategies, and a proper plan of action with clear goals and objectives. When one thinks about developing languages one has to think about research, which provides the backbone of all language development strategies.   "It is for this reason that we have decided to establish language research and development centres and to link them with academic institutions. The mandates of these centres are terminology development, literature development and research, and language planning research.   Mlambo-Ngcuka said the human language technologies unit would co-ordinate the work that was done in terms of developing and managing electronic language and speech resources in all the official languages of South Africa.   Department spokesman Xolile Mfaxa said the new technology could be used in all sections of society such as universities, government and the private sector in promoting the use of indigenous languages.   "We want to see capacity built along the lines of terminology so there is no excuse for not using a particular language - for example not using Zulu because it doesn't have certain technical terms."   Mfaxa said five bursaries worth R40,000 each, were awarded to post-graduate students in the fields of translation and editing, interpreting, terminology development, human language technologies and language planning.   All of these initiatives follow the February 2003 adoption by government of the National Language Policy Framework. Sapa From CRANEM at MAIL.ECU.EDU Wed Mar 31 19:39:26 2004 From: CRANEM at MAIL.ECU.EDU (Bizzaro, Resa Crane) Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 14:39:26 -0500 Subject: Info on epidemics Message-ID: Hi, everyone. I have a special request of you all. Can anyone suggest places to look for information on the smallpox, measles, and mumps epidemics in this country among indigenous peoples? I have a friend who's an immunologist who is going to teach a course on the politics of infection/chemical warfare, and he wants to read some materials and use them in his class. In particular, it would be helpful if these things were written from our (i.e., a Native American) perspective. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Resa Resa Crane Bizzaro English Department East Carolina University Greenville, NC 27858 (252) 328-1395 - Office (252) 328-4889 - Fax -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From bischoff at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Mar 31 20:12:27 2004 From: bischoff at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (s.t. bischoff) Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 13:12:27 -0700 Subject: Info on epidemics In-Reply-To: <7F4FA3FB24EC7040825418FFCCA088FB1EB830@ecufacstaf1.intra.ecu.edu> Message-ID: Hi Resa, There is a book by Ward Churchill, "A Little Matter of Genocide: Holocaust and Denial in the Americas, 1492 to the Present". In one of the essays he talks about talks about the use of 'smallpox' as a means of 'chemical warfare' and cites some interesting letters from early military figures and politicians. It has been some time since I read the material, but if memory serves me the references would be a good source of material. I think he covers other issues as well, like the distribution of medicines for such diseases and military policy governing such distribution (or lack of distribution). Best of luck, Shannon -- S.T. Bischoff bischoff at email.arizona.edu Department of Linguistics University of Arizona Quoting "Bizzaro, Resa Crane" : > Hi, everyone. I have a special request of you all. Can anyone suggest > places to look for information on the smallpox, measles, and mumps epidemics > in this country among indigenous peoples? I have a friend who's an > immunologist who is going to teach a course on the politics of > infection/chemical warfare, and he wants to read some materials and use them > in his class. In particular, it would be helpful if these things were > written from our (i.e., a Native American) perspective. Any suggestions > would be greatly appreciated. > > Thanks. > > Resa > > Resa Crane Bizzaro > English Department > East Carolina University > Greenville, NC 27858 > (252) 328-1395 - Office > (252) 328-4889 - Fax > From dba at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Mar 31 20:24:33 2004 From: dba at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Diana Archangeli) Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 13:24:33 -0700 Subject: Info on epidemics In-Reply-To: <7F4FA3FB24EC7040825418FFCCA088FB1EB830@ecufacstaf1.intra.e cu.edu> Message-ID: Linda Green, in the UA's department of Anthropology & reachable at lbgreen at email.arizona.edu, might be able to help. best, Diana At 02:39 PM 3/31/04 -0500, you wrote: > > Hi, everyone. I have a special request of you all. Can anyone suggest > places to look for information on the smallpox, measles, and mumps epidemics > in this country among indigenous peoples? I have a friend who's an > immunologist who is going to teach a course on the politics of > infection/chemical warfare, and he wants to read some materials and use them > in his class. In particular, it would be helpful if these things were > written from our (i.e., a Native American) perspective. Any suggestions > would be greatly appreciated. > > Thanks. > > Resa > > Resa Crane Bizzaro > English Department > East Carolina University > Greenville, NC 27858 > (252) 328-1395 - Office > (252) 328-4889 - Fax Diana Archangeli Associate Dean, Research, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences University of Arizona Tucson, AZ 85721 520-621-2184 Director, Social and Behavioral Sciences Research Institute University of Arizona 520-621-3930 Professor, Linguistics University of Arizona 520-621-2184 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From CRANEM at MAIL.ECU.EDU Wed Mar 31 21:55:58 2004 From: CRANEM at MAIL.ECU.EDU (Bizzaro, Resa Crane) Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 16:55:58 -0500 Subject: Info on epidemics Message-ID: Thanks, Shannon. I look forward to seeing this book and to hearing from other people on the list. Resa -----Original Message----- From: s.t. bischoff [mailto:bischoff at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU] Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 3:12 PM To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU Subject: Re: Info on epidemics Hi Resa, There is a book by Ward Churchill, "A Little Matter of Genocide: Holocaust and Denial in the Americas, 1492 to the Present". In one of the essays he talks about talks about the use of 'smallpox' as a means of 'chemical warfare' and cites some interesting letters from early military figures and politicians. It has been some time since I read the material, but if memory serves me the references would be a good source of material. I think he covers other issues as well, like the distribution of medicines for such diseases and military policy governing such distribution (or lack of distribution). Best of luck, Shannon -- S.T. Bischoff bischoff at email.arizona.edu Department of Linguistics University of Arizona Quoting "Bizzaro, Resa Crane" : > Hi, everyone. I have a special request of you all. Can anyone > suggest places to look for information on the smallpox, measles, and > mumps epidemics in this country among indigenous peoples? I have a > friend who's an immunologist who is going to teach a course on the > politics of infection/chemical warfare, and he wants to read some > materials and use them in his class. In particular, it would be > helpful if these things were written from our (i.e., a Native > American) perspective. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. > > Thanks. > > Resa > > Resa Crane Bizzaro > English Department > East Carolina University > Greenville, NC 27858 > (252) 328-1395 - Office > (252) 328-4889 - Fax > From CRANEM at MAIL.ECU.EDU Wed Mar 31 22:02:52 2004 From: CRANEM at MAIL.ECU.EDU (Bizzaro, Resa Crane) Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 17:02:52 -0500 Subject: Info on epidemics Message-ID: Hi, Diana. Thanks for the info. I'll forward it to my friend in immunology. Resa -----Original Message----- From: Diana Archangeli [mailto:dba at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU] Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 3:25 PM To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU Subject: Re: Info on epidemics Linda Green, in the UA's department of Anthropology & reachable at lbgreen at email.arizona.edu, might be able to help. best, Diana At 02:39 PM 3/31/04 -0500, you wrote: Hi, everyone. I have a special request of you all. Can anyone suggest places to look for information on the smallpox, measles, and mumps epidemics in this country among indigenous peoples? I have a friend who's an immunologist who is going to teach a course on the politics of infection/chemical warfare, and he wants to read some materials and use them in his class. In particular, it would be helpful if these things were written from our (i.e., a Native American) perspective. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Resa Resa Crane Bizzaro English Department East Carolina University Greenville, NC 27858 (252) 328-1395 - Office (252) 328-4889 - Fax Diana Archangeli Associate Dean, Research, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences University of Arizona Tucson, AZ 85721 520-621-2184 Director, Social and Behavioral Sciences Research Institute University of Arizona 520-621-3930 Professor, Linguistics University of Arizona 520-621-2184 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Wed Mar 31 22:13:43 2004 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 14:13:43 -0800 Subject: Ancient Voices-Modern Tools (language) Message-ID: Greetings from Seattle! Registration is now open for "ANCIENT VOICES/MODERN TOOLS: Language and Tech-Knowledge", to be held on the University of Washington campus in Seattle from August 20 to 23, 2004. Hosted in collaboration by Indigenous Language Institute and the University of Washington, this symposium is in response to tribal language programs throughout North America and beyond that want to use computer technology in their language programs. The goal of the workshops is to ensure that attendees have a chance to acquire practical, useful information, and enhanced computer skills to start new or to strengthen existing language programs. The 2 1/2 day program will: 1) provide lectures and demonstrations on ways of collecting language materials, including stories, songs, personal interviews, word lists, and photographs through audio and audiovisual recordings, digital scanning of documents and photographs and more; 2) allow participants to explore ideas about what can be taught with old and newly collected materials and for what purpose; 3) provide opportunities for considering various technologies available for language programs to present their existing collections in diverse formats such as games, videos, CDs, interactive CD-ROMs, and more; and 4) help people learn how to put materials onto interactive, multimedia CD-ROMs using simple programs. Hands-on "computer camps" will be led by experts who will coach attendees on the creation of videos, DVDs, CDs or CD-ROMs. Attendees are expected to bring materials they wish to use in language instruction such as photographs, video recordings, audio recordings, old or new documents, and curriculum materials from current or past indigenous language classes. In addition we have arranged for an affordable room and board package in the UW dormitories. You are not required to stay in the dorms while you participate in the workshops, but they are much less expensive than most hotels in Seattle. The attached registration brochure contains descriptive information about the computer workshops and the featured events. This information is also available on the conference website: http://depts.washington.edu/ili2004 Our goal is to minimize postage and phone expenses by distributing as much information as possible by email. However if you are unable to open this attachment then please let us know and we will promptly send you a brochure by fax or mail. While the program continues to be developed we will add new information to the website as it becomes available, so please visit it often to view the latest updates. Feel free to forward this message to anyone who might be interested in participating. Attendance will be limited so we urge you to register early to avoid disappointment. Pages 3 & 4 of this brochure comprise the registration application. Complete both pages and return them to us with payment by fax or mail by April 15 if possible. We hope that everyone who wishes to attend will be able to; however if we receive more registrations than we can accommodate we will make selections based on our ability to meet your needs as described on the registration form. We are very excited about providing this opportunity to assist you in discovering the ways in which technology can be used to aid you in your language preservation efforts. Please make plans now to join us in Seattle in August. Best Regards, Sue-Ellen Jacobs, University of Washington Inee Yang Slaughter, Indigenous Language Institute From coyotez at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU Wed Mar 31 23:48:48 2004 From: coyotez at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU (David Lewis) Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 15:48:48 -0800 Subject: Info on epidemics In-Reply-To: <7F4FA3FB24EC7040825418FFCCA088FB1EB838@ecufacstaf1.intra.ecu.edu> Message-ID: Hi Resa, The book, The Coming of the Spirit of Pestilence: Introduced Infectious Diseases and Population Decline among Northwest Coast Indians, 1774-1874, by Robert Boyd, University of Washington Press, 1999, is an excellent source and well referenced. David Lewis From anguksuar at YAHOO.COM Mon Mar 1 01:05:31 2004 From: anguksuar at YAHOO.COM (Richard LaFortune) Date: Sun, 29 Feb 2004 17:05:31 -0800 Subject: thanks from MN In-Reply-To: <1078087640.166c986b16dc0@www.email.arizona.edu> Message-ID: Thank you to Natasha, Jeannette & Susan for helping me with my Seattle language-program question. Richard __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Get better spam protection with Yahoo! Mail. http://antispam.yahoo.com/tools From dzo at BISHARAT.NET Mon Mar 1 05:35:00 2004 From: dzo at BISHARAT.NET (Don Osborn) Date: Mon, 1 Mar 2004 06:35:00 +0100 Subject: Say No More (fwd) Message-ID: Thanks, Phil. I reposted some thoughts prompted by this article to http://niamey.blogspot.com if anyone is interested. DZO ----- Original Message ----- From: "phil cash cash" To: Sent: Sunday, February 29, 2004 9:47 PM Subject: Say No More (fwd) > Say No More > by Jack Hitt > > Languages die the way many people do -- at home, in silence, attended by > loved ones straining to make idle conversation.... > > http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/29/magazine/29LANGUAGE.html?ex=1078635600&en=31f3796588457b34&ei=5062 From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Tue Mar 2 01:02:53 2004 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Mon, 1 Mar 2004 17:02:53 -0800 Subject: Grants (language) Message-ID: The Administration for Native Americans (ANA), within the Administration for Children and Families, announces the availability of fiscal year (FY) 2004 funds for new community-based activities under ANA's Native Language program. Financial assistance is provided utilizing a competitive process in accordance with the Native American Programs Act of 1974, as amended. ANA provides financial assistance to eligible applicants for the purpose of assisting Native Americans in assuring the survival and continuing vitality of their languages. The Administration for Native Americans (ANA) believes that the responsibility for achieving self-sufficiency rests with the governing bodies of Indian Tribes, Alaska Native villages, and in the leadership of Native American groups. This belief supports the ANA principle that the local community and its leadership are responsible for determining goals, setting priorities, and planning and implementing programs that support the community's long-range goals. Therefore, since preserving a language and ensuring its continuation is generally one of the first steps taken toward strengthening a group's identity; activities proposed under this program announcement will contribute to the social development of Native communities and significantly contribute to their efforts toward self-sufficiency. The Administration for Native Americans recognizes that eligible applicants must have the opportunity to develop their own language plans, improve technical capabilities, and have access to the necessary financial and technical resources in order to assess, plan, develop and implement programs to assure the survival and continuing vitality of their languages. ANA also recognizes that ! potential applicants may have specialized knowledge and capabilities to address specific language concerns at various levels. This program announcement reflects these special needs and circumstances. This program announcement will emphasize community-based, locally designed projects. This emphasis will increase the number of grants to local community organizations and expand the number of partnerships among locally based nonprofit organizations. ANA will accept applications from multiple organizations in the same geographic area. Previously, under each competitive program area, ANA accepted one application that served or impacted a reservation, Tribe or Native American community. The reason for this change is to expand and support large Native American rural and urban communities that provide a variety of services in the same geographic area. Eligible Applicants ? Federally recognized Indian Tribes; ? Consortia of Indian Tribes; ? Incorporated nonfederally recognized Tribes; ? Incorporated nonprofit multipurpose community-based Indian organizations; ? Urban Indian Centers; ? National or regional incorporated nonprofit Native American organizations with Native American community-specific objectives; ? Alaska Native villages, as defined in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANSCA) and/or nonprofit village consortia; ? Incorporated nonprofit Alaska Native multipurpose community based organizations; ? Nonprofit Alaska Native Regional Corporations/Associations in Alaska with village specific projects; ? Nonprofit Native organizations in Alaska with village specific projects; ? Public and nonprofit private agencies serving Native Hawaiians; ? Public and nonprofit private agencies serving native peoples from Guam, American Samoa, or the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (the populations served may be located on these islands or in the continental United States); ? Tribally controlled Community Colleges, Tribally controlled Postsecondary Vocational Institutions, and colleges and universities located in Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa or the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands which serve Native peoples; and ? Nonprofit Alaska Native community entities or Tribal governing bodies (Indian Reorganization Act or Traditional Councils) as recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The due date for applications is April 2, 2004. http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/14mar20010800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2004/04-3655.htm -- Andr? Cramblit: andre.p.cramblit.86 at alum.dartmouth.org is the Operations Director Northern California Indian Development Council NCIDC (http://www.ncidc.org) is a non-profit that meets the development needs of American Indians To subscribe to a news letter of interest to Natives send an email to: IndigenousNewsNetwork-subscribe at topica.com or go to: http://www.topica.com/lists/IndigenousNewsNetwork/subscribe/?location=listinfo From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Tue Mar 2 03:22:11 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Mon, 1 Mar 2004 20:22:11 -0700 Subject: Dozens of Languages in China =?iso-8859-1?b?kUVuZGFuZ2VyZWSS?= (fwd) Message-ID: Dozens of Languages in China ?Endangered? http://english.epochtimes.com/news/4-3-1/20187.html Translated by Aaron Ho Central News Agency Mar 01, 2004 TAIPEI - Social science experts in China fear that several dozen local languages are endangered and have appealed to the government, saying, ?Similar to species vanishing, endangered languages need to be protected.? Ironically, just two days after the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization declared Feb. 21 to be "World?s Mother Tongue Day,? the news that many languages in China are on the verge of extinction was announced. According to Beijing Entertainment, UNESCO reported that Chinese people spoke 82 different languages in the year 2000; however, the academy said that Mainland China has approximately 120 indigenous languages. Ethnology and anthropology researcher Xu Shixuan of the Social Science Institute, author of ?Research of Endangered Languages,? said that among the 120 languages, half are in decline with several dozens seriously endangered. ?There are only a dozen old people who can speak Heshe language,? Xu said, ?and at most 50 people who can barely understand Heshe. Another language, Man, can only be understood by about 100 people with only 50 who can speak it. The Tataer tribe with a population of 5,064 has less than 1,000 people who can speak their native tongue. Only about 100 people can speak the Xiandao language used by Achang tribe. As for the Jinuo tribe, the 30,000 natives have already given up teaching their native language.? Xu pointed out two major reasons for the steady decline of local native languages, with the language of the cultural majority taking precedence over local languages contributing the most. Also, most endangered languages are not continually updated and lack corresponding words for modern society. They are only used for oral conversation and songs and can be easily forgotten. Researchers of the endangered languages in China need to report to authorities about the situation, Xu said. The Social Science Institute fund only needs five people to support it, but because of a lack of funding, records are piled up in the institute. For the past 10 years, it has been his dream to build a national language museum; however, he has yet to receive a reply. Translated from Chinese by Aaron Ho Aaron.ho at cnh.com Copyright 2004 - The Epoch Times From mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US Tue Mar 2 23:15:39 2004 From: mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US (Matthew Ward) Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2004 16:15:39 -0700 Subject: AZ AG: public schools not exempt from Prop. 203 Message-ID: This is sickening and outrageous.. I'm amazed that there haven't been more responses to this article. What century are we living in, anyway? Sounds like it's time for major acts of civil disobedience. I'm sorry to sound extreme, but anybody who voted for an English-only law in Arizona, of all places, needs to move. And, the idea that the law applies to schools on reservations... This really, really needs to be publicized. If anyone can point me to an organization fighting this, I would be very grateful. Liko Puha wrote: >AZ AG: public schools not exempt from Prop. 203 > >By Bill Donovan - Navajo Times > >WINDOW ROCK - A couple of years ago, educators went on the offensive >when Arizona voters went to the polls to decide whether English would be >the only language that classes would be taught in. > >At that time, a compromise was reached that public school educators >thought would allow them an exemption so they could provide instruction >in Native American languages in the early grades. > >Boy, were they wrong. > >Education officials for the state of Arizona are now saying that based >on an opinion by the state's attorney general, public schools on the >reservation have to comply with the English Only law (Proposition 203). >Only Bureau of Indian Affairs schools are exempt. > >"This is a major step backwards," said Deborah Jackson-Dennison, >superintendent of the Window Rock Unified School District. > >Jackson-Dennison has got President Joe Shirley Jr. involved in her >efforts to get the state to change its policy and exempt public schools >on reservations that have a large Native American student population. > >Shirley and other tribal officials were in Phoenix Tuesday meeting with >state education officials to get the matter clarified. > >What's at risk, Jackson-Dennison said, were Navajo language immersion >programs like the one at Window Rock where students in the primary >grades get instruction in their native language. As they get into higher >grades, they receive more and more instruction in English. > >By doing this, she said, it now appears that school districts will be >putting in jeopardy some of their state funding. > >She said that on many state funding requests, the Arizona Department of >Education has placed a new item asking districts if they are complying >with the English Only law. > >"The form gives us only two options - yes or no," said Jackson-Dennison. >"There is not a third option labeled 'exempt.'" > >By filling out the "no" blank, public schools on reservations within the >state are taking a definite risk of getting their application denied. If >they mark "yes," programs like Window Rock's Navajo Immersion Program >will be eliminated. > >State school officials have made it very clear that classes - all >classes - will be taught only in English. > >Margaret Garcia-Dugan, associate superintendent for the Arizona >Department of Education, said that while BIA schools are exempt from >complying with Proposition 203, public schools are not. > >In a written statement, she said that "if a public school has a large >Native American student population, it must still adhere to the >provisions set forth in Proposition 203 regardless of whether or not >that school is on a reservation. > >"Proposition 203 does allow teaching other languages besides English as >an elective (such as Navajo Language and Cultural Instruction)," she >said. "All other courses such as history, math, English, and physical >education are to be in (English Only) unless the student receives a >waiver." > >This, said Jackson-Dennison, doesn't make a lot of sense since federal >statutes contain provisions that protect and encourage the development >of native languages such as those offered within the Window Rock school >district. > >"The No Child Left Behind Act also encourages the teaching of native >languages," she said. > >Now, the state is coming in and saying that the school district could >lose some of its state funding by following the federal laws and this >isn't right, she said. > > > > >Rosalyn LaPier >Piegan Institute >www.pieganinstitute.org > > > From fnkrs at UAF.EDU Tue Mar 2 23:57:40 2004 From: fnkrs at UAF.EDU (Hishinlai') Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2004 14:57:40 -0900 Subject: AZ AG: public schools not exempt from Prop. 203 Message-ID: You know, I thought the same thing!!!! I wanted to forward it to the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) in Alaska, but I couldn't find their e-mail address. NARF has offices in various other states, so you might want to look at their website. There is one person in particular who works at the Alaska NARF office as a lawyer by the name of Heather Kendall-Miller who is a Dena'ina Athabascan. I thought she should see this because I know that same barbaric law also passed in Alaska but is currently upheld in the courts because it had been challenged. There is also an office on civil rights that should probably see this, if they haven't already. >===== Original Message From Indigenous Languages and Technology ===== >This is sickening and outrageous.. I'm amazed that there haven't been >more responses to this article. What century are we living in, anyway? > Sounds like it's time for major acts of civil disobedience. I'm sorry >to sound extreme, but anybody who voted for an English-only law in >Arizona, of all places, needs to move. And, the idea that the law >applies to schools on reservations... This really, really needs to be >publicized. If anyone can point me to an organization fighting this, I >would be very grateful. > >Liko Puha wrote: > >>AZ AG: public schools not exempt from Prop. 203 >> >>By Bill Donovan - Navajo Times >> >>WINDOW ROCK - A couple of years ago, educators went on the offensive >>when Arizona voters went to the polls to decide whether English would be >>the only language that classes would be taught in. >> >>At that time, a compromise was reached that public school educators >>thought would allow them an exemption so they could provide instruction >>in Native American languages in the early grades. >> >>Boy, were they wrong. >> >>Education officials for the state of Arizona are now saying that based >>on an opinion by the state's attorney general, public schools on the >>reservation have to comply with the English Only law (Proposition 203). >>Only Bureau of Indian Affairs schools are exempt. >> >>"This is a major step backwards," said Deborah Jackson-Dennison, >>superintendent of the Window Rock Unified School District. >> >>Jackson-Dennison has got President Joe Shirley Jr. involved in her >>efforts to get the state to change its policy and exempt public schools >>on reservations that have a large Native American student population. >> >>Shirley and other tribal officials were in Phoenix Tuesday meeting with >>state education officials to get the matter clarified. >> >>What's at risk, Jackson-Dennison said, were Navajo language immersion >>programs like the one at Window Rock where students in the primary >>grades get instruction in their native language. As they get into higher >>grades, they receive more and more instruction in English. >> >>By doing this, she said, it now appears that school districts will be >>putting in jeopardy some of their state funding. >> >>She said that on many state funding requests, the Arizona Department of >>Education has placed a new item asking districts if they are complying >>with the English Only law. >> >>"The form gives us only two options - yes or no," said Jackson-Dennison. >>"There is not a third option labeled 'exempt.'" >> >>By filling out the "no" blank, public schools on reservations within the >>state are taking a definite risk of getting their application denied. If >>they mark "yes," programs like Window Rock's Navajo Immersion Program >>will be eliminated. >> >>State school officials have made it very clear that classes - all >>classes - will be taught only in English. >> >>Margaret Garcia-Dugan, associate superintendent for the Arizona >>Department of Education, said that while BIA schools are exempt from >>complying with Proposition 203, public schools are not. >> >>In a written statement, she said that "if a public school has a large >>Native American student population, it must still adhere to the >>provisions set forth in Proposition 203 regardless of whether or not >>that school is on a reservation. >> >>"Proposition 203 does allow teaching other languages besides English as >>an elective (such as Navajo Language and Cultural Instruction)," she >>said. "All other courses such as history, math, English, and physical >>education are to be in (English Only) unless the student receives a >>waiver." >> >>This, said Jackson-Dennison, doesn't make a lot of sense since federal >>statutes contain provisions that protect and encourage the development >>of native languages such as those offered within the Window Rock school >>district. >> >>"The No Child Left Behind Act also encourages the teaching of native >>languages," she said. >> >>Now, the state is coming in and saying that the school district could >>lose some of its state funding by following the federal laws and this >>isn't right, she said. >> >> >> >> >>Rosalyn LaPier >>Piegan Institute >>www.pieganinstitute.org >> >> >> <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Hishinlai' "Kathy R. Sikorski", Gwich'in Instructor University of Alaska Fairbanks Alaska Native Language Center P. O. Box 757680 Fairbanks, AK 99775-7680 P (907) 474-7875 F (907) 474-7876 E fnkrs at uaf.edu ANLC-L at www.uaf.edu/anlc/ Laraa t'aahch'yaa kwaa k'it tr'agwah'in. Nigwiinjik kwaa k'it juu veet'indhan veet'indhan ts'a' nak'arahtii kwaa k'it ch'andzaa. or "Work like you don't need the money. Love like you've never been hurt, and Dance like you do when nobody's watching." From miakalish at REDPONY.US Wed Mar 3 02:16:51 2004 From: miakalish at REDPONY.US (Mia - Main Red Pony) Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2004 19:16:51 -0700 Subject: Indn Words for Science Message-ID: Hello. In the middle of these devastating assaults on Native languages, laws that say classes must be taught in English, No [Rich] child left behind. . . and so on, I have what I think is an important question to ask, especially for people working on revitalization. Do your languages have words for science? I have been looking through my dictionaries (Young and Morgan's Colloquial Navajo, Perry's Western Apache Dictionary, Bray's version of the Western Apache-English Dictionary, Toluwa and Hupa]. I have a small set of really basic words: add, subtract, multiply, divide, circle, square, triangle, measure, count, repeat, rhythm, angle, line, cloud, mountain, rain. Most of the languages have recorded words for circle, mountain, and rain. Many have words for cloud, although Toluwa, in the Pacific Northwest, and with words for fog, don't have one listed for "cloud". So, my really important question: Do Your Languages have these words? Some? You don't have to send me what they are, unless you would enjoy engaging with them. But I would like to know if they exist. I am convinced that Powell created a limited, and somewhat pernicious, view of the people who lived here originally with his prescriptive Introduction to the Study of Indian Languages: Words, phrases and sentences to be collected. I am also convinced that without this narrow and exclusive view, some, of not all, of the language issues that we have today, particularly with regard to languages which may be used in schools for teaching, would not exist. The question arose because I am looking at geometric patterns at Three Rivers Petroglyphs. The patterns show up in pottery designs in 1100-1300 ad. I wondered if people had conceptualized these forms linguistically. Thanks in advance for your help. Mia Kalish PS: Thanks for that information on grants, Andre. Wouldn't this be just a Perfect Project! "Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking about them. Alfred North Whitehead Mia Kalish, M.A. PhD Student, Computer Science Tularosa, New Mexico USA 88352 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Ivy.gif Type: image/gif Size: 5665 bytes Desc: not available URL: From pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET Wed Mar 3 16:04:52 2004 From: pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2004 09:04:52 -0700 Subject: Tribes take to wireless web (fwd) Message-ID: Tribes take to wireless web http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3489932.stm Wireless technology is helping native Americans in California go online and learn computing skills, reports Elizabeth Biddlecombe from San Francisco. Before the Tribal Digital Village project, Jack Ward could not get online when it rained. "The telephone lines are very old," explained the director of the Digital Village. "In the heat of the desert it doesn't take long for them to deteriorate." Things are different now. Everybody has at least a broadband DSL connection. The Tribal Digital Village (TDV) is based in Southern California's San Diego County. This mountainous and remote land is home to 18 native American reservations - each one a sovereign nation - with an aggregate population of 15,000. As with other rural areas of the US, wiring Native American reservations for telephony and internet access has never been an attractive proposition for established phone companies. The number of subscribers per mile makes recouping costs a tricky proposition. Nor has deregulation of the telecoms market changed the picture. HP donations Tribal governments have taken matters into their own hands. Three years ago, the Southern California Tribal Chairmen's Association applied for a $5m grant from Hewlett-Packard. "With no basic economy, many of the young people have to leave the tribe to work. Now they can stay," Jack Ward, Tribal Digital Village. The technology giant had decided to set up three so-called digital villages, but not just for philanthropic reasons. "We really wanted to understand what it would take to be successful in serving underserved and emerging markets," said Scott Bossinger of HP. In addition to training and support, the company has donated, "pretty much everything across the product portfolio", he said, including handheld iPaqs, computers and wireless access points. A wireless internet connection now spans an area 150 miles long by 75 miles wide. Bubbles of wi-fi networks cover local government offices, libraries, schools and museums. More than 900 computers are connected to the network. More than 1,500 people use e-mail and access online tribal calendars. Educational software is available to supplement high school courses. There are 25 learning labs equipped with video, audio and digital photography equipment. The TDV offers a range of computing courses. One tribal chairman is doing a Cisco Academy certification course in order to be able to support his tribe of eight people. But people have not gone on to get jobs with outside companies as yet. "Everybody we've trained is busy doing it here at the moment," said Jack Ward. Staunching the brain drain from these deprived communities was another objective of the project. Commercial expansion This is where the HP 3000 printing press comes in. A new company, Hi-Rez Digital Solutions, was inaugurated in October and hopes to break-even by April by providing high-quality, short-run print services. Not only will this cutting-edge technology enable a lucrative business, said Mr Ward, but it will enable the tribes to train and employ their own communities. "With no basic economy, many of the young people have to leave the tribe to work. Now they can stay," he enthused. "With technology support, the tribes can become a true sovereign nation." Having connectivity has made it easier for most tribes to provide local services such as courts, fire and security departments as well as apply for the many grants they use to run their nations. A handful of reservations in the coverage area have no water, power or phone lines. They therefore rely on the Tribal Digital Village resource centres of their better connected neighbours. The three-year HP project comes to an end this month and the Tribal Digital Village will enter a new phase. The network is currently being upgraded from its current bandwidth of 3Mbps to 45 Mbps. This will make it more possible to connect individual homes. Such an expansion will be funded by new commercial contracts. For instance the directors are looking into providing internet connectivity to neighbouring non-Indian communities that already fall under the coverage of the wireless network. Taking control While they are learning a new hi-tech vocabulary, TDV also enables these Americans to strengthen their knowledge of older tongues. An online resource called First Voices allows archiving and instruction in the four different native languages used in the region. Jack Ward takes pleasure in another result of the award-winning project: technical parity with other sectors of North American society. "Technology is no longer something [the tribes] see on TV or in the newspaper adverts," he said. "It has become real to them." Other native communities are also taking control of their telecoms infrastructure. Thirty received loans and grants totalling more than US$42 million from the Rural Utilities Services, part of the Department of Agriculture in 2003. And as part of its Indian Initiatives, US regulator, the Federal Communications Commission, recently announced an agreement with tribal governments to improve communication between native Americans and the companies who build mobile phone towers either on Indian-owned land or places held by indigenous Americans to be sacred. Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/3489932.stm Published: 2004/03/03 09:37:08 GMT -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 5576 bytes Desc: not available URL: From pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET Wed Mar 3 16:22:32 2004 From: pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2004 09:22:32 -0700 Subject: Radio program connects remote Indigenous communities (fwd) Message-ID: Radio program connects remote Indigenous communities [This is the print version of story http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2004/s1058243.htm] The World Today - Wednesday, 3 March?, 2004? 12:48:25 Reporter: Anne Barker HAMISH ROBERTSON: Most of us take radio and television for granted. But that's not always the case in remote communities, where TV and radio sets are either non-existent or simply useless, because the Indigenous population can't speak English. Yet efforts to set up Indigenous language broadcasts have often failed, leaving these small communities geographically isolated, and caught in an information vacuum. But a unique project in eastern Arnhem Land could soon bring radio to thousands of people across the Top End. Our North Australia correspondent Anne Barker has just visited Nhulunbuy on the Gove Peninsula, and she took a look at new efforts to bring an Indigenous radio signal to every home in the region. (Sound of Indigenous pop song) ANNE BARKER: The Yolngu people of Eastern Arnhem Land have a rich and vibrant culture that goes back tens of thousands of years. Nearly 8,000 people here still speak Yolngu Matha as their native tongue. For them, English is a foreign language. But switch on the TV or radio anywhere between Kakadu National Park and the Gulf of Carpentaria, and English language programs are the norm. Yolngu Matha is almost non-existent on the air waves, meaning local people have limited access to mainstream news and information. It's something one Indigenous organisation is working hard to change. Here, in a makeshift studio at Nhulunbuy, Richard Trudgen and his colleagues at ARDS, or Aboriginal Resource and Development Services are setting up a new educational radio station, that will broadcast in Yolngu Matha to five major communities, and nearly 100 smaller homelands right across Arnhem Land. RICHARD TRUDGEN: What we've done is a lot of research, and we find out they're not listening to the current radio services, they're not even switched on in some cases, including the Aboriginal media services. What we hear people listening to is their own song cycles which they've recorded themselves on tape recorders, and they play those tapes back until they wear them out. So we've said to people, what do you want to hear? And they say well, just like what we're hearing now, our own song cycles and information in language. ANNE BARKER: So is English language radio out of Nhulunbuy, largely irrelevant to people in Arnhem Land? RICHARD TRUDGEN: Most Yolngu that I've spoken to over a 30-year period have said that English just makes them extremely tired and they switch off. They say they can get some points of it and it actually frustrates them because they get some part of it and they don't get the crunch. So I believe all education at the moment aimed at Yolngu people in English is a waste of time. ANNE BARKER: There are meant to be Indigenous language radio services right across the Top End called BRACs or Broadcasting for Remote Aboriginal Communities. But an ATSIC inquiry last year found most were completely dysfunctional, because of a lack of staff. Or, they were used only to retransmit English language stations like the ABC. Richard Trudgen says local communities desperately need radio in their own language. RICHARD TRUDGEN: I know that a handful of Yolngu only knew about customary law review, but the rest of Australia knew about it. So everybody else was discussing stuff that Yolngu should know about; they themselves don't even know about it. To me it's almost a criminal offence these days, that we're creating on Yolngu because they just haven't got equal access as citizens of Australia to information. ANNE BARKER: Some people might argue that all they need to do is learn English. RICHARD TRUDGEN: Well, that's like saying to somebody who's drowning, all you need to do is get out of the water. You know, it's such a stupid statement because a Yugoslavian person can come to Australia and they immediately can move into learning English with self-learning tools ? a thing called a dictionary. No dictionary exists in English to Yolngu Matha. What we're doing is building the building blocks here for a very powerful self-teaching medium which people, which Yolngu can control themselves. HAMISH ROBERTSON: That was Richard Trudgen who was speaking to Anne Barker in Nhulunbuy on the Gove Peninsula in eastern Arnhem Land. ? 2003 Australian Broadcasting Corporation -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 4748 bytes Desc: not available URL: From Rrlapier at AOL.COM Wed Mar 3 17:56:47 2004 From: Rrlapier at AOL.COM (Rrlapier at AOL.COM) Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2004 12:56:47 EST Subject: NALA vs. NCLB Message-ID: Has anyone written an analysis of NALA vs. NCLB? Rosalyn LaPier Piegan Institute www.pieganinstitute.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Mar 3 18:05:32 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2004 11:05:32 -0700 Subject: NALA vs. NCLB In-Reply-To: <1dc.1b86a3d7.2d77765f@aol.com> Message-ID: good question Rosalyn! if there is such an analysis, maybe we can have it posted here to ILAT. phil cash cash UofA, ILAT > ----- Message from Rrlapier at AOL.COM --------- > Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2004 12:56:47 EST > From: Rrlapier at AOL.COM > Reply-To: Indigenous Languages and Technology > Subject: NALA vs. NCLB > To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU > > Has anyone written an analysis of NALA vs. NCLB? > > > Rosalyn LaPier > Piegan Institute > www.pieganinstitute.org > > > ----- End message from Rrlapier at AOL.COM ----- From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Mar 3 18:34:48 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2004 11:34:48 -0700 Subject: NALA vs. NCLB In-Reply-To: <1dc.1b86a3d7.2d77765f@aol.com> Message-ID: WRITTEN STATEMENT ON S.575, A BILL TO AMEND THE NATIVE AMERICAN LANGUAGES ACT BEFORE THE SENATE INDIAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE Submitted By John W. Cheek May 15, 2003 [ILAT note: the above statement includes a brief review of NCLB. this was found at http://indian.senate.gov/] > ----- Message from Rrlapier at AOL.COM --------- > Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2004 12:56:47 EST > From: Rrlapier at AOL.COM > Reply-To: Indigenous Languages and Technology > Subject: NALA vs. NCLB > To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU > > Has anyone written an analysis of NALA vs. NCLB? > > > Rosalyn LaPier > Piegan Institute > www.pieganinstitute.org > > > ----- End message from Rrlapier at AOL.COM ----- -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: cheek.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 18680 bytes Desc: not available URL: From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Thu Mar 4 00:04:36 2004 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2004 16:04:36 -0800 Subject: Indn Words for Science In-Reply-To: <04f601c400c5$97b75bb0$6400a8c0@computer> Message-ID: FYI (attached) Mia - Main Red Pony wrote: > Hello. > > In the middle of these devastating assaults on Native languages, laws > that say classes must be taught in English, No [Rich] child left > behind. . . and so on, I have what I think is an important question to > ask, especially for people working on revitalization. > > Do your languages have words for science? > > I have been looking through my dictionaries (Young and Morgan's > Colloquial Navajo, Perry's Western Apache Dictionary, Bray's version > of the Western Apache-English Dictionary, Toluwa and Hupa]. I have a > small set of really basic words: add, subtract, multiply, divide, > circle, square, triangle, measure, count, repeat, rhythm, angle, line, > cloud, mountain, rain. > > Most of the languages have recorded words for circle, mountain, and > rain. Many have words for cloud, although Toluwa, in the Pacific > Northwest, and with words for fog, don't have one listed for "cloud". > > So, my really important question: Do Your Languages have these words? > Some? > > You don't have to send me what they are, unless you would enjoy > engaging with them. But I would like to know if they exist. > > I am convinced that Powell created a limited, and somewhat pernicious, > view of the people who lived here originally with his prescriptive > Introduction to the Study of Indian Languages: Words, phrases and > sentences to be collected. > > I am also convinced that without this narrow and exclusive view, some, > of not all, of the language issues that we have today, particularly > with regard to languages which may be used in schools for teaching, > would not exist. > > The question arose because I am looking at geometric patterns at Three > Rivers Petroglyphs. The patterns show up in pottery designs in > 1100-1300 ad. I wondered if people had conceptualized these forms > linguistically. > > Thanks in advance for your help. > > Mia Kalish > > PS: Thanks for that information on grants, Andre. Wouldn't this be > just a Perfect Project! > > "Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations > which we can perform without thinking about them. Alfred North Whitehead > > Mia Kalish, M.A. > PhD Student, Computer Science > Tularosa, New Mexico USA 88352 > -- Andr? Cramblit: andre.p.cramblit.86 at alum.dartmouth.org is the Operations Director Northern California Indian Development Council NCIDC (http://www.ncidc.org) is a non-profit that meets the development needs of American Indians To subscribe to a news letter of interest to Natives send an email to: IndigenousNewsNetwork-subscribe at topica.com or go to: http://www.topica.com/lists/IndigenousNewsNetwork/subscribe/?location=listinfo -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/applefile Size: 451 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: STRATEGIES FOR TEACHING SCIENCE Type: application/octet-stream Size: 90112 bytes Desc: not available URL: From anguksuar at YAHOO.COM Thu Mar 4 00:43:16 2004 From: anguksuar at YAHOO.COM (Richard LaFortune) Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2004 16:43:16 -0800 Subject: AZ AG: public schools not exempt from Prop. 203 In-Reply-To: <4045159B.8020306@luna.cc.nm.us> Message-ID: Interestingly, Andrew Dalby notes in his book, Language In Danger (Columbia University Press, 2003)that, "It took a sustained campaign of civil disobedience before the British Government, in the 1960s, grudgingly accepted its responsiblity to deal with Welsh-speaking citizens in Welsh." p 118 paragraph 2 Richard LaFortune Minneapolis --- Matthew Ward wrote: > This is sickening and outrageous.. I'm amazed that > there haven't been > more responses to this article. What century are we > living in, anyway? > Sounds like it's time for major acts of civil > disobedience. I'm sorry > to sound extreme, but anybody who voted for an > English-only law in > Arizona, of all places, needs to move. And, the > idea that the law > applies to schools on reservations... This really, > really needs to be > publicized. If anyone can point me to an > organization fighting this, I > would be very grateful. > > Liko Puha wrote: > > >AZ AG: public schools not exempt from Prop. 203 > > > >By Bill Donovan - Navajo Times > > > >WINDOW ROCK - A couple of years ago, educators went > on the offensive > >when Arizona voters went to the polls to decide > whether English would be > >the only language that classes would be taught in. > > > >At that time, a compromise was reached that public > school educators > >thought would allow them an exemption so they could > provide instruction > >in Native American languages in the early grades. > > > >Boy, were they wrong. > > > >Education officials for the state of Arizona are > now saying that based > >on an opinion by the state's attorney general, > public schools on the > >reservation have to comply with the English Only > law (Proposition 203). > >Only Bureau of Indian Affairs schools are exempt. > > > >"This is a major step backwards," said Deborah > Jackson-Dennison, > >superintendent of the Window Rock Unified School > District. > > > >Jackson-Dennison has got President Joe Shirley Jr. > involved in her > >efforts to get the state to change its policy and > exempt public schools > >on reservations that have a large Native American > student population. > > > >Shirley and other tribal officials were in Phoenix > Tuesday meeting with > >state education officials to get the matter > clarified. > > > >What's at risk, Jackson-Dennison said, were Navajo > language immersion > >programs like the one at Window Rock where students > in the primary > >grades get instruction in their native language. As > they get into higher > >grades, they receive more and more instruction in > English. > > > >By doing this, she said, it now appears that school > districts will be > >putting in jeopardy some of their state funding. > > > >She said that on many state funding requests, the > Arizona Department of > >Education has placed a new item asking districts if > they are complying > >with the English Only law. > > > >"The form gives us only two options - yes or no," > said Jackson-Dennison. > >"There is not a third option labeled 'exempt.'" > > > >By filling out the "no" blank, public schools on > reservations within the > >state are taking a definite risk of getting their > application denied. If > >they mark "yes," programs like Window Rock's Navajo > Immersion Program > >will be eliminated. > > > >State school officials have made it very clear that > classes - all > >classes - will be taught only in English. > > > >Margaret Garcia-Dugan, associate superintendent for > the Arizona > >Department of Education, said that while BIA > schools are exempt from > >complying with Proposition 203, public schools are > not. > > > >In a written statement, she said that "if a public > school has a large > >Native American student population, it must still > adhere to the > >provisions set forth in Proposition 203 regardless > of whether or not > >that school is on a reservation. > > > >"Proposition 203 does allow teaching other > languages besides English as > >an elective (such as Navajo Language and Cultural > Instruction)," she > >said. "All other courses such as history, math, > English, and physical > >education are to be in (English Only) unless the > student receives a > >waiver." > > > >This, said Jackson-Dennison, doesn't make a lot of > sense since federal > >statutes contain provisions that protect and > encourage the development > >of native languages such as those offered within > the Window Rock school > >district. > > > >"The No Child Left Behind Act also encourages the > teaching of native > >languages," she said. > > > >Now, the state is coming in and saying that the > school district could > >lose some of its state funding by following the > federal laws and this > >isn't right, she said. > > > > > > > > > >Rosalyn LaPier > >Piegan Institute > >www.pieganinstitute.org > > > > > > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Search - Find what you~Rre looking for faster http://search.yahoo.com From mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US Thu Mar 4 15:54:17 2004 From: mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US (Matthew Ward) Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2004 08:54:17 -0700 Subject: AZ AG: public schools not exempt from Prop. 203 Message-ID: It's ironic: to a certain degree, our national government has recognized the issue. But, states are using the initiative process to allow urban newcomers to supress the languages of people who were there thousands of years before English even arrived. I really believe that this needs to be publicized as much as possible, for a dual purpose: to try to embarrass the state of Arizona into acting in a just way, and to help discredit the entire English-only movement. One of the central planks of the English-only movement is the idea that English is the only language that can be considered "American." That ideology is sick and wrong. I've forwarded a copy of the article below to NARF, and written a letter to the Arizona Republic. Here's a link to their Letters to the Editor dept: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/help/contact.html#editor. I plan to try to do as I can to publicize this issue. I do believe that if the American public knew about this issue, they would recognize the unfairness. Any ideas for doing this would be much appreciated. Matthew Ward Richard LaFortune wrote: >Interestingly, Andrew Dalby notes in his book, >Language In Danger (Columbia University Press, >2003)that, >"It took a sustained campaign of civil disobedience >before the British Government, in the 1960s, >grudgingly accepted its responsiblity to deal with >Welsh-speaking citizens in Welsh." >p 118 paragraph 2 > >Richard LaFortune >Minneapolis > >--- Matthew Ward wrote: > > >>This is sickening and outrageous.. I'm amazed that >>there haven't been >>more responses to this article. What century are we >>living in, anyway? >> Sounds like it's time for major acts of civil >>disobedience. I'm sorry >>to sound extreme, but anybody who voted for an >>English-only law in >>Arizona, of all places, needs to move. And, the >>idea that the law >>applies to schools on reservations... This really, >>really needs to be >>publicized. If anyone can point me to an >>organization fighting this, I >>would be very grateful. >> >>Liko Puha wrote: >> >> >> >>>AZ AG: public schools not exempt from Prop. 203 >>> >>>By Bill Donovan - Navajo Times >>> >>>WINDOW ROCK - A couple of years ago, educators went >>> >>> >>on the offensive >> >> >>>when Arizona voters went to the polls to decide >>> >>> >>whether English would be >> >> >>>the only language that classes would be taught in. >>> >>>At that time, a compromise was reached that public >>> >>> >>school educators >> >> >>>thought would allow them an exemption so they could >>> >>> >>provide instruction >> >> >>>in Native American languages in the early grades. >>> >>>Boy, were they wrong. >>> >>>Education officials for the state of Arizona are >>> >>> >>now saying that based >> >> >>>on an opinion by the state's attorney general, >>> >>> >>public schools on the >> >> >>>reservation have to comply with the English Only >>> >>> >>law (Proposition 203). >> >> >>>Only Bureau of Indian Affairs schools are exempt. >>> >>>"This is a major step backwards," said Deborah >>> >>> >>Jackson-Dennison, >> >> >>>superintendent of the Window Rock Unified School >>> >>> >>District. >> >> >>>Jackson-Dennison has got President Joe Shirley Jr. >>> >>> >>involved in her >> >> >>>efforts to get the state to change its policy and >>> >>> >>exempt public schools >> >> >>>on reservations that have a large Native American >>> >>> >>student population. >> >> >>>Shirley and other tribal officials were in Phoenix >>> >>> >>Tuesday meeting with >> >> >>>state education officials to get the matter >>> >>> >>clarified. >> >> >>>What's at risk, Jackson-Dennison said, were Navajo >>> >>> >>language immersion >> >> >>>programs like the one at Window Rock where students >>> >>> >>in the primary >> >> >>>grades get instruction in their native language. As >>> >>> >>they get into higher >> >> >>>grades, they receive more and more instruction in >>> >>> >>English. >> >> >>>By doing this, she said, it now appears that school >>> >>> >>districts will be >> >> >>>putting in jeopardy some of their state funding. >>> >>>She said that on many state funding requests, the >>> >>> >>Arizona Department of >> >> >>>Education has placed a new item asking districts if >>> >>> >>they are complying >> >> >>>with the English Only law. >>> >>>"The form gives us only two options - yes or no," >>> >>> >>said Jackson-Dennison. >> >> >>>"There is not a third option labeled 'exempt.'" >>> >>>By filling out the "no" blank, public schools on >>> >>> >>reservations within the >> >> >>>state are taking a definite risk of getting their >>> >>> >>application denied. If >> >> >>>they mark "yes," programs like Window Rock's Navajo >>> >>> >>Immersion Program >> >> >>>will be eliminated. >>> >>>State school officials have made it very clear that >>> >>> >>classes - all >> >> >>>classes - will be taught only in English. >>> >>>Margaret Garcia-Dugan, associate superintendent for >>> >>> >>the Arizona >> >> >>>Department of Education, said that while BIA >>> >>> >>schools are exempt from >> >> >>>complying with Proposition 203, public schools are >>> >>> >>not. >> >> >>>In a written statement, she said that "if a public >>> >>> >>school has a large >> >> >>>Native American student population, it must still >>> >>> >>adhere to the >> >> >>>provisions set forth in Proposition 203 regardless >>> >>> >>of whether or not >> >> >>>that school is on a reservation. >>> >>>"Proposition 203 does allow teaching other >>> >>> >>languages besides English as >> >> >>>an elective (such as Navajo Language and Cultural >>> >>> >>Instruction)," she >> >> >>>said. "All other courses such as history, math, >>> >>> >>English, and physical >> >> >>>education are to be in (English Only) unless the >>> >>> >>student receives a >> >> >>>waiver." >>> >>>This, said Jackson-Dennison, doesn't make a lot of >>> >>> >>sense since federal >> >> >>>statutes contain provisions that protect and >>> >>> >>encourage the development >> >> >>>of native languages such as those offered within >>> >>> >>the Window Rock school >> >> >>>district. >>> >>>"The No Child Left Behind Act also encourages the >>> >>> >>teaching of native >> >> >>>languages," she said. >>> >>>Now, the state is coming in and saying that the >>> >>> >>school district could >> >> >>>lose some of its state funding by following the >>> >>> >>federal laws and this >> >> >>>isn't right, she said. >>> >>> >>> >>> >>>Rosalyn LaPier >>>Piegan Institute >>>www.pieganinstitute.org >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> > > >__________________________________ >Do you Yahoo!? >Yahoo! Search - Find what you're looking for faster >http://search.yahoo.com > > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Thu Mar 4 16:17:12 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2004 09:17:12 -0700 Subject: Ottawa commits money for language protection (fwd) Message-ID: Ottawa commits money for language protection http://north.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=nor_languages20040304 WebPosted Mar 4 2004 09:19 AM CST YUKON - Ottawa is renewing funding for grassroots programming to keep Aboriginal languages alive in the territory. Yukon Member of Parliament Larry Bagnell presented a cheque for $2.2 million to the Yukon government Wednesday. Janet Moodie, Yukon's deputy minister overseeing Aboriginal affairs, says the government is committed to protecting Aboriginal languages. "This is the fourth such agreement that the Yukon government has had with the federal government around the protection, revitalization and development of Yukon Aboriginal languages," she says. "An important principle of this particular program, one that has been referred to as the Yukon model, is that Yukon Aboriginal people are the stewards of their languages." Moodie says First Nations and native groups can apply for funding to support and strengthen their languages and in the past, activities have included language classes and culture camps. Moodie says it's not clear whether these efforts are making a difference. The Yukon government is just finishing a new study on fluency rates. From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Thu Mar 4 16:28:01 2004 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2004 08:28:01 -0800 Subject: Book Coming Out Message-ID: Forthcoming book of interest: Beginning Creek: Mvskoke Emponvkv by Linda Alexander, Bertha Tilkens, Pamela Joan Innes List Price: $29.95 Paperback: 256 pages Publisher: Univ of Oklahoma Pr (Trd); Book and CD edition (May 2004) ISBN: 0806135832 Book Description: Beginning Creek provides a basic introduction to the language and culture of the Mvskoke-speaking peoples, Muskogee (Creek) and Seminole Indians. Written by linguistic anthropologist Pamela Innes and native speakers Linda Alexander and Bertha Tilkens, the text is accessible to general readers and students and is accompanied by two compact discs. The volume begins with an introduction to Creek history and language, and then each chapter introduces readers to a new grammatical feature, vocabulary set, and series of conversational sentences. Translation exercises from English to Mvskoke and Mvskoke to English reinforce new words and concepts. The chapters conclude with brief essays by Linda Alexander and Bertha Tilkens on Creek culture and history and suggestions for further reading. The two audio CDs present examples of ceremonial speech, songs, and storytelling and include pronunciations of Mvskoke language keyed to exercises and vocabulary lists in the book. The combination of recorded and written material gives students a chance to learn and practice Mvskoke as an oral and written language. Although Mvskoke speakers include the Muskogee (Creek) and Seminole Nations of Oklahoma, the Poarch Band of Creek Indians in Alabama, and some Florida Seminoles, the number of native speakers of Mvskoke has declined. Because the authors believe that language and culture are inextricably linked, they have combined their years of experience speaking and teaching Mvskoke to design an introductory textbook to help Creek speakers preserve their traditional language and way of life. -- Andr? Cramblit: andre.p.cramblit.86 at alum.dartmouth.org is the Operations Director Northern California Indian Development Council NCIDC (http://www.ncidc.org) is a non-profit that meets the development needs of American Indians To subscribe to a news letter of interest to Natives send an email to: IndigenousNewsNetwork-subscribe at topica.com or go to: http://www.topica.com/lists/IndigenousNewsNetwork/subscribe/?location=listinfo From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Thu Mar 4 16:38:10 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2004 09:38:10 -0700 Subject: =?iso-8859-1?b?Tel0aXM=?= Nation Continues Efforts to Revive its Unique Language (fwd) Message-ID: M?tis Nation Continues Efforts to Revive its Unique Language - Michif http://www.cnw.ca/fr/releases/archive/March2004/03/c6721.html RICHMOND, BC, March 3 /CNW/ - "The M?tis Nation is committed to supporting and strengthening the Michif language to ensure it remains in its rightful place at the centre of our culture," said Harley Desjarlais, President of the M?tis Provincial Council of British Columbia. BC is the M?tis National Council Governing Member that is hosting the 3rd Michif Language Conference. Bruce Dumont, is a member of the M?tis National Council's Michif Working Group and one of the conference organizers. "There is an appetite for the revival of Michif across the M?tis Homeland. Our people want to know about the language and learn the language," said Mr. Dumont. "I believe our biggest challenge is the instruction/teaching of the language." This year's conference will focus on learning and immersion. There will be discussions on language development, curriculum proposals, and education components. The conference will also include discussion on the future direction of the revival and development of the Michif Language. Cl?ment Chartier, President of the M?tis National Council extended his best wishes to those who will attend the upcoming conference and the people who promote the language across the M?tis Homeland. "I'm thankful for all those M?tis citizens who are committed to the Michif language, it is through their efforts that we are keeping our language alive. The Michif language is a part of our distinct cultural heritage and everyone who works in preserving and passing on the language deserves our utmost support." 3rd Annual Michif Language Conference March 5-7, 2004 Hilton Vancouver Airport Richmond, BC "Aen kwa ney taa maak nutr lawng Michif - Keeping our talk Michif" For further information: Miles Morrisseau, Director of Communications, M?tis National Council, 613-232-3216, (cell) 613-612-5753; Katelin Peltier, Communications Officer, M?tis National Council, 613-232-3216, (cell) 613-859-7130 From dzo at BISHARAT.NET Thu Mar 4 16:56:40 2004 From: dzo at BISHARAT.NET (Don Osborn) Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2004 17:56:40 +0100 Subject: AZ AG: public schools not exempt from Prop. 203 Message-ID: It may be worthwhile to make reference to the Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights: http://www.linguistic-declaration.org/index-gb.htm (see, esp. in this context, section II on education). It is not a binding inernational document as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but is gaining interest since its creation in 1996, and hopefully promoting discussion. Don Osborn Bisharat.net ----- Original Message ----- From: Matthew Ward To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU Sent: Thursday, March 04, 2004 4:54 PM Subject: Re: AZ AG: public schools not exempt from Prop. 203 It's ironic: to a certain degree, our national government has recognized the issue. But, states are using the initiative process to allow urban newcomers to supress the languages of people who were there thousands of years before English even arrived. I really believe that this needs to be publicized as much as possible, for a dual purpose: to try to embarrass the state of Arizona into acting in a just way, and to help discredit the entire English-only movement. One of the central planks of the English-only movement is the idea that English is the only language that can be considered "American." That ideology is sick and wrong. I've forwarded a copy of the article below to NARF, and written a letter to the Arizona Republic. Here's a link to their Letters to the Editor dept: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/help/contact.html#editor. I plan to try to do as I can to publicize this issue. I do believe that if the American public knew about this issue, they would recognize the unfairness. Any ideas for doing this would be much appreciated. Matthew Ward Richard LaFortune wrote: Interestingly, Andrew Dalby notes in his book, Language In Danger (Columbia University Press, 2003)that, "It took a sustained campaign of civil disobedience before the British Government, in the 1960s, grudgingly accepted its responsiblity to deal with Welsh-speaking citizens in Welsh." p 118 paragraph 2 Richard LaFortune Minneapolis --- Matthew Ward wrote: This is sickening and outrageous.. I'm amazed that there haven't been more responses to this article. What century are we living in, anyway? Sounds like it's time for major acts of civil disobedience. I'm sorry to sound extreme, but anybody who voted for an English-only law in Arizona, of all places, needs to move. And, the idea that the law applies to schools on reservations... This really, really needs to be publicized. If anyone can point me to an organization fighting this, I would be very grateful. Liko Puha wrote: AZ AG: public schools not exempt from Prop. 203 By Bill Donovan - Navajo Times WINDOW ROCK - A couple of years ago, educators went on the offensive when Arizona voters went to the polls to decide whether English would be the only language that classes would be taught in. At that time, a compromise was reached that public school educators thought would allow them an exemption so they could provide instruction in Native American languages in the early grades. Boy, were they wrong. Education officials for the state of Arizona are now saying that based on an opinion by the state's attorney general, public schools on the reservation have to comply with the English Only law (Proposition 203). Only Bureau of Indian Affairs schools are exempt. "This is a major step backwards," said Deborah Jackson-Dennison, superintendent of the Window Rock Unified School District. Jackson-Dennison has got President Joe Shirley Jr. involved in her efforts to get the state to change its policy and exempt public schools on reservations that have a large Native American student population. Shirley and other tribal officials were in Phoenix Tuesday meeting with state education officials to get the matter clarified. What's at risk, Jackson-Dennison said, were Navajo language immersion programs like the one at Window Rock where students in the primary grades get instruction in their native language. As they get into higher grades, they receive more and more instruction in English. By doing this, she said, it now appears that school districts will be putting in jeopardy some of their state funding. She said that on many state funding requests, the Arizona Department of Education has placed a new item asking districts if they are complying with the English Only law. "The form gives us only two options - yes or no," said Jackson-Dennison. "There is not a third option labeled 'exempt.'" By filling out the "no" blank, public schools on reservations within the state are taking a definite risk of getting their application denied. If they mark "yes," programs like Window Rock's Navajo Immersion Program will be eliminated. State school officials have made it very clear that classes - all classes - will be taught only in English. Margaret Garcia-Dugan, associate superintendent for the Arizona Department of Education, said that while BIA schools are exempt from complying with Proposition 203, public schools are not. In a written statement, she said that "if a public school has a large Native American student population, it must still adhere to the provisions set forth in Proposition 203 regardless of whether or not that school is on a reservation. "Proposition 203 does allow teaching other languages besides English as an elective (such as Navajo Language and Cultural Instruction)," she said. "All other courses such as history, math, English, and physical education are to be in (English Only) unless the student receives a waiver." This, said Jackson-Dennison, doesn't make a lot of sense since federal statutes contain provisions that protect and encourage the development of native languages such as those offered within the Window Rock school district. "The No Child Left Behind Act also encourages the teaching of native languages," she said. Now, the state is coming in and saying that the school district could lose some of its state funding by following the federal laws and this isn't right, she said. Rosalyn LaPier Piegan Institute www.pieganinstitute.org __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Search - Find what you're looking for faster http://search.yahoo.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Rrlapier at AOL.COM Thu Mar 4 17:19:28 2004 From: Rrlapier at AOL.COM (Rrlapier at AOL.COM) Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2004 12:19:28 EST Subject: English only Message-ID: Another question, I believe there are now 23 or 26 states who have passed "english only" legislation? How many are states with significant Native populations? I know that Montana is an "english only" state and we have 7 reservations and 12 tribes. Rosalyn LaPier Piegan Institute www.pieganinstitute.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Thu Mar 4 18:09:41 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2004 11:09:41 -0700 Subject: Audacity Message-ID: t?'c 'alaxp (good day!) ILAT, Audacity just released 1.2.0! Audacity is an open source and completely free audio editor. http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ At the 2003 American Indian Language Development Institute (AILDI) here at the Univ of Arizona, we tested and used Audacity in our course "Computer Applications for Indigenous Communities." We recieved a very postive response from all our students, both elders and college age students alike, on its simplicity and ease of use. The elder students really liked its graphic interface with its "big" buttons. The student's main use of Audacity was simply to capture live speech in digital format and transfer it into a simple multimedia environment like PowerPoint. We used standard headset microphones, though now, you can buy headset microphones with "noise reduction", a very very useful feature that blocks out ambient background noise when recording a native speaker. When recording in Audacity, you are able to use an unlimited number of audio tracks. One of our Hupa students created a traditional song composition with mutiple tracks using only her voice. Audacity supports a wide variety of audio formats (including WAV, MP3, and Ogg Vorbis). In 2003, we created only WAV files in our course due in part to the difficulty in downloading the MP3 plug-in, however, with the latest version it is now much easier to do. You will notice that you download Audacity and the MP3 plug-in separately. After downloading, I did a simple test to create an MP3 file and it went smooth without a hitch. Of course, the advantage of using the MP3 format for your sound file format is the reduction in file size and ease of use in multimedia environments. Btw, Audacity's "help" files are outstanding! I encourage language people to go buy a headset (w/noise reduction; although you really don't have to...really), download Audacity and the MP3 plug-in, and try it out. Send me an MP3 greeting in your language! q?'c (later), phil cash cash (cayuse/nez perce) UofA, ILAT From mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US Thu Mar 4 17:42:31 2004 From: mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US (Matthew Ward) Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2004 10:42:31 -0700 Subject: English only Message-ID: That's a good question... as I understand it, most of the "English Only" laws are mostly symbolic, having little or no legal force. That doesn't mean that there aren't plenty of reasons to oppose them, however. The law in question, however, was supported by millionaire Ron Unz, who is concentrating on anti-bilingual education. I have been concerned for years that his initiatives would endanger immersion programs, and this article confirms my fears. As someone noted earlier, a similar law (I don't know whether it was Unz-backed or not) is tied up in the courts in Alaska, because Natives feared that it would prevent them from using their languages in the public sphere. So far, the only state to defeat one of these Unz-backed initiatives has been Colorado (round of applause). If there is a silver lining here, it is that this makes the initiatives look very bad: it isn't "helping" immigrant kids to learn English, it's prevent Native Americans from taking the steps necessary to preserve their languages. That's wrong, and yes, barbaric. I believe that the majority of Americans can recognize this. Rrlapier at AOL.COM wrote: > Another question, I believe there are now 23 or 26 states who have > passed "english only" legislation? How many are states with > significant Native populations? > > I know that Montana is an "english only" state and we have 7 > reservations and 12 tribes. > > > Rosalyn LaPier > Piegan Institute > www.pieganinstitute.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From anguksuar at YAHOO.COM Thu Mar 4 19:21:51 2004 From: anguksuar at YAHOO.COM (Richard LaFortune) Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2004 11:21:51 -0800 Subject: DOJ -Language Minority Voting Rights In-Reply-To: <125.2b95ce76.2d78bf20@aol.com> Message-ID: here's a website (below) that deals with another aspect of the whole legality question, where states are attempting to supercede the sovereignty of plenipotentiaries (us Natives). It's probably legally actionable under not only international law, but in view of various gaps and chinks that were cobbled into NALA and in the body of existing law. I can't recall at the moment how OLA (Official Languages Act of Canada)speaks to the issue of 'states rights' (wow does that ever sound pre-MartinLutherKing), but NALA plainly was not given teeth in this regard. On 4 occassions in the original enabling NALA guidance, Congress merely 'encourages' states to recognize and take advantage of their 'right' to acknowledge and support Native languages. Nowhere in the document are there directives for individual states for actual compliance with Congress' findings and resolutions, or with tribal governments or populations. This should actually be addressed by ammendment, since this constitutes baldly threadbare policy making, in retrospect (I don't utter this as criticism intended for the authors of this otherwise admirable legislation). But policy process is constructed for tweaking and nuancing- and perhaps that's the most that was able to be codified at the time in 1990. Wouldn't surprise me in some ways, since the 5 or Acts of Congress (ICWA, NAGPRA, NAACA, NAFRA, etc) were primarily timed to cushion the world's attention on the US, at the time of the quincentennial (stated as opinion only, I need not mention). I believe that states with official english-only are actually defying several strata of federal law (which is why I put the voting rights link below). Courts, for example are also legally required in any precinct from national to local levels to provide translators for due process in the language of any or all concerned parties. I think there are some test cases waiting to happen there as well. I think we should mount these cases, and the defendents should be First Speakers who present arguments in the Languages. The whole construct in the US for advancing language programming dollars is essentially based on Crawford's model of Language as a Resource, rather than Language as a Right. Lawmakers are not appreciably paying any attention to the 'our-language-rights' aspect of the dialogue, and while the Resource aspect is the essential thrust of most policy level adjustments being advanced across the country, I think it is important to triangulate on the rights aspect as well. Part of this whole discussion in the US I still believe has not only the minutiae of policy-level stuff, but is ripe for convocation with the denominational bodies that administered the english only boarding schools for the feds in the first place. They have responsibility for some symmetrical reparations, if not fiscally, then morally. I grew up in an open adoption with a very influential clergy family, so I know the guts of the church in this hemisphere fairly well. I also grew up speaking my language for the first few years, so I have some strong ideas for how this dialogue (which is entirely seperate from the Rights & Resources dialogues) should be shaped by our communities. After all, we are now moving in a tektonic shift from theoretical linguistics in the Academy to applied linguistics in our communities. We're leading a paradigm shift in the Field. International linguistics acquired its legs through Native American cultures, and after the whole Generative Language discussion focused resources and attention away from our communities, now we are leading the way back. We live with the world's only remaining superpower, by common acclaim. Therefore, if we don't marshall the resources to fix this mess that we didn't make, how will any continent, culture or community do it with theoretically less resources? If we don't stem the hemmorhaging (yes I need spellcheck) there won't be any languages left to study, except in the historical/theoretical framework. So, I think there are 6 states where there aren't federally recognized tribes. That leaves a minimum of 44 states where we ought to see laws on the books that accord our languages their proper status. That's probably a set of coordinated legal actions right there until a class action can be achieved. If the world is losing its intellectual diversity through an unfortunate combination of coordinated neglect, intentional greed and helpless stupidity (a Barbara Tuchman treatment of the presentation of the Trojan Horse); and if the likely result is collectively stupider human beings, then I vote to assert our Ancestral Domain and 40,000 years or so of successful survival we have under our belts as aboriginals. And if the likeliest vehicles to achieve smarter humans that won't destroy the earth and everything therein, looks like a few hundred of our prized durable languages I say lets have an afternoon in the arena at Sparta and show some conservative talking heads the meaning of vocal chords, until we see not the whites of their eyes, but their tails between their legs. Those languages are medicines themselves. Peace Richard LaFortune Minneapolis http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/voting/sec_203/activ_203.htm __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Search - Find what you~Rre looking for faster http://search.yahoo.com From dzo at BISHARAT.NET Fri Mar 5 12:29:01 2004 From: dzo at BISHARAT.NET (dzo at BISHARAT.NET) Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2004 06:29:01 -0600 Subject: "Defining a new oral tradition: American Indian radio in the Dakotas" Message-ID: Seen in the SANTEC Weekly Newsletter* (March #1, 2004). DZO ---------------------------------------- Defining a new oral tradition: American Indian radio in the Dakotas Bruce Smith & M. L. Cornette University of South Dakota As the camp newscaster and bulletin board wrapped into one, the eyepaha of a traditional Lakota Sioux community was the person who circulated through the camp sharing information about the day's plans. This oral tradition continues today through the operation of community radio stations owned and operated by American Indians. Michael Krauss, director of the Alaska Native Language Program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, once likened western media to cultural nerve gas, destroying the cultural identity and language of indigenous communities. For generations, powerful AM stations from distant communities were the radio voice that reached the rural areas where many Natives lived. They transmitted English language programming together with western culture and values into Indian homes; little was related to Native culture or Native concerns. The first Native-owned radio stations began appearing in 1971. Today, there are more than two dozen Native American stations on the air across the United States, and one or two new stations are launched each year. In the Dakotas alone, there are six community radio stations representing Indian reservations. KINI, KILI, and KLND-FM all speak to the Lakota Sioux while KSWS-FM serves a Dakota Sioux reservation. KMHA-FM represents the three affiliated tribes of the Mandan, Arikara, and Hidatsa nations and KEYA-FM serves a Chippewa reservation. On the air since 1983, KILI-FM is a typical Indian radio station in the Dakotas. It broadcasts to the Lakota people on the Pine Ridge Reservation, a large territory (50 by 100 miles) in central South Dakota. "The Voice of the Lakota Nation" is the slogan that motivates KILI's small paid staff of six and a dozen on-air volunteers. The station programs ambitious coverage - often live - of major events on the reservation, including tribal council meetings, powwows, government hearings, and sporting events. KILI considers itself an important partner in the preservation of language and offers much of its programming in the Lakota language. Sometimes two cultural contexts are presented together, as depicted by the announcer of the "Morning Wakalyapi (coffee) Show", for example, who uses Lakota more than half the time, English the rest of the time, but offers an entirely Native American programming blend of music and information. "To be master of one's media is to be master of one's fate." The history of the Plains makes KILI's location a symbolically significant site for the affirmation of local culture. It is only a few minutes north of Wounded Knee, site of the 1890 atrocity by the US cavalry against a band of 350 men, women, and children of the Minneconjon Sioux. More than half the Indians were massacred. The Plains Indians never again offered serious armed resistance to the colonizers until the siege in 1973 by the American Indian Movement (AIM). AIM was founded in 1968 in Minneapolis to protect traditional Indian culture, hire legal counsel, and assist Indian communities with issues relating to treaty and aboriginal subsistence (hunting and fishing) rights. AIM's seizure of Wounded Knee, South Dakota in 1973, raised awareness of the power of radio and television among Indians. The group's leaders became convinced that Indians needed their own media voices. Canadian researcher Marianne Stenbaek addressed this goal of indigenous broadcasting when she wrote, back in 1980, "To be master of one's media is to be master of one's fate." Leonard Bruguier, Director of the Institute of American Indian Studies at the University of South Dakota, says the value of Indian radio is that it ties back into the big family. It not only informs people, it helps to maintain and validate Indian language and culture. Bruguier says Indians have a strong oral tradition, and American Indian radio has become the new "voice of the people." All six stations in the Dakotas serve the role of eyepaha, binding listening communities together with their stories of the day's events. While appropriating modern technology, the indigenous people of the Dakotas are adapting community radio consistent with the oral traditions of the people it serves. Who's who? The states of North and South Dakota are part of the vast prairie that occupies the north-central part of the United States. They are home to many Native Indian nations who occupy reservations or tribal territories that are largely self-governing. The largest indigenous population is made up of Lakota, Nakota, and Dakota Sioux Indians. They represent most of the indigenous population in South Dakota. North Dakota has a more diverse population of Indians, including Mandan, Arickara, Hidatsa, and Chippewa, as well as Lakota Sioux. ---------------------------------------- * The SANTEC Weekly Newsletter is an e-mail service aimed primarily at people interested in using information and communication technologies to improve the quality of education in the developing world. If a colleague has forwarded this message to you and you wish to receive it directly, please send an e-mail to fyi, Call for Abstracts: FEL VIII - Linguistic Rights The Foundation for Endangered Languages: Eighth Conference in cooperation with INSTITUT D'ESTUDIS CATALANS (UNESCO CHAIR) Barcelona, 1-3 October 2004 ON THE MARGINS OF NATIONS: ENDANGERED LANGUAGES AND LINGUISTIC RIGHTS http://www.ogmios.org/conference04/call.htm From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sat Mar 6 17:39:52 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sat, 6 Mar 2004 10:39:52 -0700 Subject: Voices lost in translation (fwd) Message-ID: Mar. 6, 2004. 01:00?AM http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1078528209154&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154 Voices lost in translation Linguistics scholar explores how, in this age of globalization, dying languages still shape our world Relationship between words OLIVIA WARD FEATURE WRITER The couple next to you in the cafe are speaking a strange language: you feel resentment at being shut out, suspicion about what they're discussing, envy that you don't have the skills to understand the conversation. What you're experiencing is the age-old tension between majority and minority language speakers, hostility that has often escalated to bloodshed and led to the death of languages as well as people. "Language is power," says Robert Nichols. "It can serve as a bridge for communication, or a barrier to keep others out. It isn't just a cultural issue, but a political one." Nichols, 24, is a post-graduate student at University of Toronto, and winner of one of Canada's most prestigious academic awards, the Trudeau Foundation's scholarship for outstanding doctoral candidates in social sciences and the humanities. He is focusing on language diversity and its meaning in an age of globalization where English dominates, and most of the world's 6,000 languages are expected to die out by the end of the next century. "Some liberal mainstream theorists tend to see language in terms of cultural claims," Nichols says. "Others see minority languages as a hindrance to social mobility. What I'm looking at is a different aspect ? the fact that if language is little known, it's also little understood by the central authority. That makes it a valuable political tool." Born in the small Alberta community of Pigeon Lake, Nichols grew up within earshot of a minority language that is now all but extinct. "Sarcee is now spoken by only about a dozen native people," he says. ``Young people who want to reclaim pride in being aboriginal are now learning Cree. It's strange, because traditionally the Cree and Sarcee were enemies. But Cree has become a middle ground for many aboriginal people whose own languages have disappeared." However, while many linguistics experts see minority languages as chronically disadvantaged, Nichols takes a different view. "They're a way of reinforcing the identity of the people who speak those languages," he says. "It gives them a space away from the ruling power, a place to develop their own identity." Colonial powers understood that very well, and feared that retaining native languages could foster resistence to their authority. So, Nichols says, most tried to eradicate the languages of countries they invaded. "When the Spanish came to the Americas they read a set of rules to the people there, telling them their obligations to Spain, such as paying taxes. Of course the rules were in Spanish and the people didn't understand. So they didn't follow the rules, and that became the pretext for an attack by the Spanish." Even the names of people in conquered villages were changed to Spanish names in order to erase all previous language identity. Those who resisted were punished. Similar "language colonialism" occurred in the Baltics, Central Asia and the Caucasus, when Russia took over the region in imperial and Soviet times. And in North America and Australia, aboriginal people were subjected to devastating campaigns to force them into the English-speaking majority. In the past century, many minorities have fought for their language and failed. But there have been resounding successes. "I took my master's degree in Wales, in Aberystwyth," says Nichols. "There you could hear Welsh spoken on the street. When that happens, it reinforces a sense of identity. " The preservation of language has as much to do with the determination to promote it, and the resources available, as it does the number of people who can still speak it, Nichols points out. Language survival may also depend on geography. "A community of 500 that's isolated might be able to maintain its language much more easily than one of 50,000 that's dispersed," he says. Aggressive promotion of language, sometimes coupled with political rebellion, has ensured the survival of some traditional tongues. Basque is an official language in Spain's Basque province after a long campaign by militant separatists. Hebrew, Israel's official language, was revitalized in the 19th century, and later rescued from obscurity by Jews who fought for the new state after World War II. It is now spoken by people around the world. Central Asian languages such as Kazakh, Uzbek and Tajik have been restored as official languages after the demise of the Soviet Union. Ukraine has renamed its cities to remove Russian titles, as well as replacing Russian with Ukrainian as the first language. In the Baltic States, Russian-speakers are now required to learn Latvian, Lithuanian or Estonian. Promoting languages that have fallen into decline is easiest when the state is fully behind them. But it's most problematical when the people who speak them have little political power. That's when the legacy of colonialism surfaces most visibly, Nichols says. "You can see examples in Canada," he says. "The argument against preserving aboriginal languages is that if you educate small children in a minority language they won't be full members of the larger society. It's ironic in a colonial society, because if you subscribe to that, then colonialism becomes a self-justifying thing." Today, one of the central dilemmas for native speakers is mobility. "A whole younger generation on my reserve have no fluency in Cree," says Floyd Favel, a Saskatchewan playwright and theatre director who integrates his native Cree in his work to critical acclaim. "They're into English. It's only in the more isolated parts of the province that people practice the language and lifestyle." As young people gravitate to cities for jobs and studies, he says, they lose interest more and more. Eventually their own language becomes obsolete. "Cree is in a very threatened situation. Until we realize the danger fully, things won't get much better. There is a counter-movement, to preserve it as a living language, but right now it's just raindrops in the ocean." Canada is only one country in which languages are vanishing. Since the early 1990s, alarm has spread in the scientific community about the international demise of minority languages. Large-scale documentation projects have sprung up in Europe and North America to record and analyze dying tongues. But debate rages between those who believe that little-spoken languages are only of academic interest and those who insist they should be actively promoted. Should governments help to keep minority languages alive? "I think Canada should recognize in a more robust way the rights of indigenous peoples," says Nichols. "But overall, language belongs to people, and the state shouldn't be the giver or withholder of language rights. Perhaps what we should be asking is `what's the justification for not promoting aboriginal language?'" And, he says, "there shouldn't be a zero-sum game between social mobility and preserving the language. In the case of Hebrew, for instance, nobody suggested that people shouldn't learn it because they'd forget their European languages. The same is true of other peoples.'' Nichols, who speaks French, Spanish and German, admits that he doesn't speak any aboriginal languages. But he says, "I've been interested in linguistics and politics since I was very young. I had some contact with the aboriginal people living near where I grew up, and so I became interested in aboriginal politics." Nichols has already had experienced dramatically different aspects of diversity. Taking an undergraduate degree at a small Alberta liberal arts college, Augustana University, he worked as a research and development consultant to the Metis Nation of Alberta. After winning the University of Wales' International Politics Excellence Scholarship in the U.K., he entered a parliamentary internship program in Ottawa, and later organized the first internship study tour of Iqaluit, the Nunavut capital. Last year, a stay in Mexico, working as a teacher and living mostly in the embattled southern Vera Cruz state, heightened his interest in aboriginal language and politics. "I got a concrete experience of what it's like to be in a community where only a few hundred people can speak your language, and just down the road, nobody understands you," he said. For the next five years Nichols will work on his doctoral degree in political science, tackling the difficult and often bitterly-contested issues of language and power, as experienced by those whose mother tongues are under threat. His work is funded by the Trudeau scholarship, which provides $35,000 a year for four years of study, and an additional $15,000 a year for travel and expenses. At the present time, linguistic specialists say 52 per cent of the world's population speak only 20 languages, and 3,000 of the rarest languages are spoken by less than 1 per cent. For many, time is running out. "Within 150 years, experts predict that only 10 per cent of the languages spoken today will remain," Nichols says. "That's a massive shift in the meaning of what it is to be human." From miakalish at REDPONY.US Sun Mar 7 17:21:19 2004 From: miakalish at REDPONY.US (Mia - Main Red Pony) Date: Sun, 7 Mar 2004 10:21:19 -0700 Subject: Indn Words for Science Message-ID: Hi, Andre, This is a wonderful document for the Exploratoria that we will be building if we get the big NSF grant we applied for. I wasn't asking for the words for use in teaching materials, though. I wanted them for a generalized approach that says, It's time to stop looking at Indns as simple, superstitious creatures, because white people screwed up to begin with by biasing their learning about the people here because of J.W. Powell. I am taking a class in petroglyphs, and the ideas that the people writing come up with are really, truly, offensive (at least to me, but being a Cognitive Psychologist, I am probably more sensitive to it than most people). On the one hand, we have David Lewis-Williams with his theory that much of what has been created on rocks is "shamanistic in nature", a theory he started to try to "understand" the rock paintings of the San bushmen, and on the other Ron Eckland, who has aptly and admirably demonstrated that African patterns are based on fractal geometry. As you might well imagine, David Lewis-Williams had only to make his theories up in his head, and search through the literature finding people who had written things that agreed with his ideas. Eckland, on the other hand, had actually to derive the equations, and run them through the computer to demonstrate that the equations appropriately represented the structures. I think I have mentioned this before: I use technology to develop effective teaching materials, but unlike most people, I target my goals at adults. The things I have developed so far work well for children, but more significantly, they work well for adults, who people think can't learn languages. Now I am expanding a little, to take the simultaneous, multi-perceptual presentation form and apply it to more difficult learning, like computer algorithms, for example. This is a course most people fail; I think I can develop materials that teach enough, painlessly, enjoyably, so most everyone does well. I say "most", because you can't guarantee that everyone will do the class work. This was kind of an aside: my goal here is really simple. It is to be able to say, Powell was a vicious idiot, and the rest of us are living with the results of that perniciousness. Kind of harsh, huh? There was a lake named after him when they dammed the Colorado. Harrington, unarguably one of the best linguists and ethnographers Ever, left us a clue in a 1907 publication that Powell was forcing all analysis of Native languages in the English structure and component framework. He could do that, because he was the gatekeeper at the Smithsonian. So thanks, Andre. I was going to say, I guess there are no words for scientific and mathematical concepts left in your language, either. However, I have one more perspective to share. The "tools" that a non-destructive, hunter-gatherer society uses (and looks for) are different from the tools a sedentary, ecologically destructive agricultural society uses (and looks for) and both of these are extremely much different from the tools of an industrial society. These different "ways of surviving" also contain different sets of questions asked and answered, cultural goals and expectations, and vocabularies in general. Hence my question: Did any Indn words survive the Powell Purge? Hope you are having a nice day. It is beautiful here in NM; a wonderful winter storm went through leaving us much needed rain and snow. I know you don't have that problem up there in exquisitely beautiful northern California. best, mia ----- Original Message ----- From: "Andre Cramblit" To: Sent: Wednesday, March 03, 2004 5:04 PM Subject: Re: Indn Words for Science FYI (attached) Mia - Main Red Pony wrote: > Hello. > > In the middle of these devastating assaults on Native languages, laws > that say classes must be taught in English, No [Rich] child left > behind. . . and so on, I have what I think is an important question to > ask, especially for people working on revitalization. > > Do your languages have words for science? > > I have been looking through my dictionaries (Young and Morgan's > Colloquial Navajo, Perry's Western Apache Dictionary, Bray's version > of the Western Apache-English Dictionary, Toluwa and Hupa]. I have a > small set of really basic words: add, subtract, multiply, divide, > circle, square, triangle, measure, count, repeat, rhythm, angle, line, > cloud, mountain, rain. > > Most of the languages have recorded words for circle, mountain, and > rain. Many have words for cloud, although Toluwa, in the Pacific > Northwest, and with words for fog, don't have one listed for "cloud". > > So, my really important question: Do Your Languages have these words? > Some? > > You don't have to send me what they are, unless you would enjoy > engaging with them. But I would like to know if they exist. > > I am convinced that Powell created a limited, and somewhat pernicious, > view of the people who lived here originally with his prescriptive > Introduction to the Study of Indian Languages: Words, phrases and > sentences to be collected. > > I am also convinced that without this narrow and exclusive view, some, > of not all, of the language issues that we have today, particularly > with regard to languages which may be used in schools for teaching, > would not exist. > > The question arose because I am looking at geometric patterns at Three > Rivers Petroglyphs. The patterns show up in pottery designs in > 1100-1300 ad. I wondered if people had conceptualized these forms > linguistically. > > Thanks in advance for your help. > > Mia Kalish > > PS: Thanks for that information on grants, Andre. Wouldn't this be > just a Perfect Project! > > "Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations > which we can perform without thinking about them. Alfred North Whitehead > > Mia Kalish, M.A. > PhD Student, Computer Science > Tularosa, New Mexico USA 88352 > -- Andr? Cramblit: andre.p.cramblit.86 at alum.dartmouth.org is the Operations Director Northern California Indian Development Council NCIDC (http://www.ncidc.org) is a non-profit that meets the development needs of American Indians To subscribe to a news letter of interest to Natives send an email to: IndigenousNewsNetwork-subscribe at topica.com or go to: http://www.topica.com/lists/IndigenousNewsNetwork/subscribe/?location=listin fo From anniegrace at SBCGLOBAL.NET Sun Mar 7 17:35:15 2004 From: anniegrace at SBCGLOBAL.NET (annie ross) Date: Sun, 7 Mar 2004 09:35:15 -0800 Subject: Indn Words for Science In-Reply-To: <02f301c40468$9b65dab0$6400a8c0@computer> Message-ID: hello i too am interested in words, not as a linguist, but an a scholar of oral histories, and as an artist and teacher interested in native philosophy and place. i wonder, would the mainstream concept of 'science' be compartmentalized outside of the panoply of information in native logic? (would 'science' be a separate category/subject word?) or...perhaps, would there be a suffix or prefix or modifier to a word that would mean something like 'understanding' in an indigenous language , that would translate to what is meant by the western word "science" ? what if the word mainstream culture uses, "shaman'" mean, in part, "scientist'? aren't our medine men and women, in part, true scientists? and what of other indigenous occupations - those that demand study, observation, analysis, knowledge of factual information - are not those 'science', using an indigenous scientific method of personal experience? annie ross Mia - Main Red Pony wrote: Hi, Andre, This is a wonderful document for the Exploratoria that we will be building if we get the big NSF grant we applied for. I wasn't asking for the words for use in teaching materials, though. I wanted them for a generalized approach that says, It's time to stop looking at Indns as simple, superstitious creatures, because white people screwed up to begin with by biasing their learning about the people here because of J.W. Powell. I am taking a class in petroglyphs, and the ideas that the people writing come up with are really, truly, offensive (at least to me, but being a Cognitive Psychologist, I am probably more sensitive to it than most people). On the one hand, we have David Lewis-Williams with his theory that much of what has been created on rocks is "shamanistic in nature", a theory he started to try to "understand" the rock paintings of the San bushmen, and on the other Ron Eckland, who has aptly and admirably demonstrated that African patterns are based on fractal geometry. As you might well imagine, David Lewis-Williams had only to make his theories up in his head, and search through the literature finding people who had written things that agreed with his ideas. Eckland, on the other hand, had actually to derive the equations, and run them through the computer to demonstrate that the equations appropriately represented the structures. I think I have mentioned this before: I use technology to develop effective teaching materials, but unlike most people, I target my goals at adults. The things I have developed so far work well for children, but more significantly, they work well for adults, who people think can't learn languages. Now I am expanding a little, to take the simultaneous, multi-perceptual presentation form and apply it to more difficult learning, like computer algorithms, for example. This is a course most people fail; I think I can develop materials that teach enough, painlessly, enjoyably, so most everyone does well. I say "most", because you can't guarantee that everyone will do the class work. This was kind of an aside: my goal here is really simple. It is to be able to say, Powell was a vicious idiot, and the rest of us are living with the results of that perniciousness. Kind of harsh, huh? There was a lake named after him when they dammed the Colorado. Harrington, unarguably one of the best linguists and ethnographers Ever, left us a clue in a 1907 publication that Powell was forcing all analysis of Native languages in the English structure and component framework. He could do that, because he was the gatekeeper at the Smithsonian. So thanks, Andre. I was going to say, I guess there are no words for scientific and mathematical concepts left in your language, either. However, I have one more perspective to share. The "tools" that a non-destructive, hunter-gatherer society uses (and looks for) are different from the tools a sedentary, ecologically destructive agricultural society uses (and looks for) and both of these are extremely much different from the tools of an industrial society. These different "ways of surviving" also contain different sets of questions asked and answered, cultural goals and expectations, and vocabularies in general. Hence my question: Did any Indn words survive the Powell Purge? Hope you are having a nice day. It is beautiful here in NM; a wonderful winter storm went through leaving us much needed rain and snow. I know you don't have that problem up there in exquisitely beautiful northern California. best, mia ----- Original Message ----- From: "Andre Cramblit" To: Sent: Wednesday, March 03, 2004 5:04 PM Subject: Re: Indn Words for Science FYI (attached) Mia - Main Red Pony wrote: > Hello. > > In the middle of these devastating assaults on Native languages, laws > that say classes must be taught in English, No [Rich] child left > behind. . . and so on, I have what I think is an important question to > ask, especially for people working on revitalization. > > Do your languages have words for science? > > I have been looking through my dictionaries (Young and Morgan's > Colloquial Navajo, Perry's Western Apache Dictionary, Bray's version > of the Western Apache-English Dictionary, Toluwa and Hupa]. I have a > small set of really basic words: add, subtract, multiply, divide, > circle, square, triangle, measure, count, repeat, rhythm, angle, line, > cloud, mountain, rain. > > Most of the languages have recorded words for circle, mountain, and > rain. Many have words for cloud, although Toluwa, in the Pacific > Northwest, and with words for fog, don't have one listed for "cloud". > > So, my really important question: Do Your Languages have these words? > Some? > > You don't have to send me what they are, unless you would enjoy > engaging with them. But I would like to know if they exist. > > I am convinced that Powell created a limited, and somewhat pernicious, > view of the people who lived here originally with his prescriptive > Introduction to the Study of Indian Languages: Words, phrases and > sentences to be collected. > > I am also convinced that without this narrow and exclusive view, some, > of not all, of the language issues that we have today, particularly > with regard to languages which may be used in schools for teaching, > would not exist. > > The question arose because I am looking at geometric patterns at Three > Rivers Petroglyphs. The patterns show up in pottery designs in > 1100-1300 ad. I wondered if people had conceptualized these forms > linguistically. > > Thanks in advance for your help. > > Mia Kalish > > PS: Thanks for that information on grants, Andre. Wouldn't this be > just a Perfect Project! > > "Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations > which we can perform without thinking about them. Alfred North Whitehead > > Mia Kalish, M.A. > PhD Student, Computer Science > Tularosa, New Mexico USA 88352 > -- Andr? Cramblit: andre.p.cramblit.86 at alum.dartmouth.org is the Operations Director Northern California Indian Development Council NCIDC (http://www.ncidc.org) is a non-profit that meets the development needs of American Indians To subscribe to a news letter of interest to Natives send an email to: IndigenousNewsNetwork-subscribe at topica.com or go to: http://www.topica.com/lists/IndigenousNewsNetwork/subscribe/?location=listin fo -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET Sun Mar 7 17:59:52 2004 From: pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET (phil cash cash) Date: Sun, 7 Mar 2004 10:59:52 -0700 Subject: Indn Words for Science In-Reply-To: <20040307173515.94253.qmail@web80211.mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: Hi Annie, i would highly recommend reading: A. Oscar Kawagley. 1995. A Yupiaq Worldview: A Pathway to Ecology and Spirit. Waveland Press, Inc., Illinois. [note: a Yupiaq science philosopher] Gregory Cajete. 2000. Native Science: Natural Laws of Interdependence. Clear Light Publishers. [note: a Tewa science philosopher] i think both would claim that science is an integrated concept in indigenous philosophies and i think both would claim that indigenous science is "grounded" in the real world, akin to something like grounded theory elsewhere. both writers are very nice people. phil cash cash (cayuse/nez perce) UofA, ILAT On Mar 7, 2004, at 10:35 AM, annie ross wrote: > hello > ? > i too am interested in words, not as a linguist, but an a scholar of > oral histories, and as an artist and teacher interested in native > philosophy and place. > ? > i wonder, would the mainstream concept of 'science' be > compartmentalized outside of the panoply of information in native > logic?? (would?'science' ?be a separate category/subject word?)? > or...perhaps, would there be a suffix or prefix or modifier to a word > that would mean something like 'understanding' in an indigenous > language , ?that would translate to what is meant by the western word > "science" ?? > what if the word?mainstream culture?uses, "shaman'" mean, in part, > "scientist'?? aren't our medine men and women, in part,?true > scientists? and what of other indigenous occupations - those?that > demand study, observation, analysis, knowledge of factual information > - are not those 'science', using an indigenous scientific method of > personal experience? > ? > annie ross > > Mia - Main Red Pony wrote: > Hi, Andre, > > This is a wonderful document for the Exploratoria that we will be > building > if we get the big NSF grant we applied for. > > I wasn't asking for the words for use in teaching materials, though. I > wanted them for a generalized approach that says, It's time to stop > looking > at Indns as simple, superstitious creatures, because white people > screwed up > to begin with by biasing their learning about the people here because > of > J.W. Powell. > > I am taking a class in petroglyphs, and the ideas that the people > writing > come up with are really, truly, offensive (at least to me, but being a > Cognitive Psychologist, I am probably more sensitive to it than most > people). On the one hand, we have David Lewis-Williams with his theory > that > much of what has been created on rocks is "shamanistic in nature", a > theory > he started to try to "understand " the rock paintings of the San > bushmen, and > on the other Ron Eckland, who has aptly and admirably demonstrated that > African patterns are based on fractal geometry. As you might well > imagine, > David Lewis-Williams had only to make his theories up in his head, and > search through the literature finding people who had written things > that > agreed with his ideas. Eckland, on the other hand, had actually to > derive > the equations, and run them through the computer to demonstrate that > the > equations appropriately represented the structures. > > I think I have mentioned this before: I use technology to develop > effective > teaching materials, but unlike most people, I target my goals at > adults. The > things I have developed so far work well for children, but more > significantly, they work well for adults, who people think can't learn > languages. Now I am expanding a little, to take the simultaneous, > multi-perceptual presentation form and apply it to more difficu lt > learning, > like computer algorithms, for example. This is a course most people > fail; I > think I can develop materials that teach enough, painlessly, > enjoyably, so > most everyone does well. I say "most", because you can't guarantee that > everyone will do the class work. > > This was kind of an aside: my goal here is really simple. It is to be > able > to say, Powell was a vicious idiot, and the rest of us are living with > the > results of that perniciousness. > > Kind of harsh, huh? There was a lake named after him when they dammed > the > Colorado. Harrington, unarguably one of the best linguists and > ethnographers > Ever, left us a clue in a 1907 publication that Powell was forcing all > analysis of Native languages in the English structure and component > framework. He could do that, because he was the gatekeeper at the > Smithsonian. > > So thanks, Andre. I was going to say, I guess there are no words for > scientific and mathematical concepts left in y our language, either. > However, > I have one more perspective to share. The "tools" that a > non-destructive, > hunter-gatherer society uses (and looks for) are different from the > tools a > sedentary, ecologically destructive agricultural society uses (and > looks > for) and both of these are extremely much different from the tools of > an > industrial society. These different "ways of surviving" also contain > different sets of questions asked and answered, cultural goals and > expectations, and vocabularies in general. > > Hence my question: Did any Indn words survive the Powell Purge? > > Hope you are having a nice day. It is beautiful here in NM; a wonderful > winter storm went through leaving us much needed rain and snow. I know > you > don't have that problem up there in exquisitely beautiful northern > California. > > best, > mia > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Andre Cramblit" > To: > Sent: Wednesday, March 03, 2004 5:04 PM > Subject: Re: Indn Words for Science > > > FYI (attached) > > Mia - Main Red Pony wrote: > > > Hello. > > > > In the middle of these devastating assaults on Native languages, laws > > that say classes must be taught in English, No [Rich] child left > > behind. . . and so on, I have what I think is an important question > to > > ask, especially for people working on revitalization. > > > > Do your languages have words for science? > > > > I have been looking through my dictionaries (Young and Morgan's > > Colloquial Navajo, Perry's Western Apache Dictionary, Bray's version > > of the Western Apache-English Dictionary, Toluwa and Hupa]. I have a > > small set of really basic words: add, subtract, multiply, divide, > > circle, square, triangle, measure, count, repeat, rhythm, angle, > line, > > cloud, mountain, rain. > > > > Most of the languages have recorded words for circle, mountain , and > > rain. Many have words for cloud, although Toluwa, in the Pacific > > Northwest, and with words for fog, don't have one listed for "cloud". > > > > So, my really important question: Do Your Languages have these words? > > Some? > > > > You don't have to send me what they are, unless you would enjoy > > engaging with them. But I would like to know if they exist. > > > > I am convinced that Powell created a limited, and somewhat > pernicious, > > view of the people who lived here originally with his prescriptive > > Introduction to the Study of Indian Languages: Words, phrases and > > sentences to be collected. > > > > I am also convinced that without this narrow and exclusive view, > some, > > of not all, of the language issues that we have today, particularly > > with regard to languages which may be used in schools for teaching, > > would not exist. > > > > The question arose because I am loo king at geometric patterns at > Three > > Rivers Petroglyphs. The patterns show up in pottery designs in > > 1100-1300 ad. I wondered if people had conceptualized these forms > > linguistically. > > > > Thanks in advance for your help. > > > > Mia Kalish > > > > PS: Thanks for that information on grants, Andre. Wouldn't this be > > just a Perfect Project! > > > > "Civilization advances by extending the number of important > operations > > which we can perform without thinking about them. Alfred North > Whitehead > > > > Mia Kalish, M.A. > > PhD Student, Computer Science > > Tularosa, New Mexico USA 88352 > > > > > -- > > > Andr? Cramblit: andre.p.cramblit.86 at alum.dartmouth.org is the > Operations > Director Northern California Indian Development Council NCIDC > (http://www.ncidc.org) is a non-profit that meets the development needs > of American Indians > > To subscribe to a news letter of interest to Na tives send an email to: > IndigenousNewsNetwork-subscribe at topica.com or go to: > http://www.topica.com/lists/IndigenousNewsNetwork/subscribe/? > location=listin > fo From miakalish at REDPONY.US Sun Mar 7 19:23:17 2004 From: miakalish at REDPONY.US (Mia - Main Red Pony) Date: Sun, 7 Mar 2004 12:23:17 -0700 Subject: Indn Words for Science Message-ID: Hi, Annie. Nice to hear from you. I have a theory, based on an observation by J. Peter Denny, in "Cultural Ecology of Mathematics: Ojibway and Inuit Hunters", in Native American Mathematics, Michael P. Closs (Ed). He says, "The dependence of the hunter on wild plants and animals leads to two crucial features in his pattern of living. First of all, he only alters the environment to a small degree and must for the most part adapt to its natural conditions. In contrast to this, agricultural and industrial societiers alter the environment to increasing degrees and strive hard to make the environment fit their needs. The second featurs arises as a consequence of the first. Since the technology needed for a small degree of alteration of the environment is itself restricted, any adult knows the whole repertoire. Consequently, there need be no specialization of occupation . . anyone can kill an animal, butcher it, and cook it; anyone can cut wood and bark from trees, shape them into a canoe, and paddle it." If we think of this in terms of questions asked and answered, we get a perspective that creates an equality of Societies, at least analytically, rather than the hierarchical structure most people either try to develop or ethnocentrically assume. In the hunter-gatherer groups, primary questions Must be: How can I know/learn about the world around me? How can I get what I need, without destroying what others' need, because these "others" are what sustain me, and if I destroy them, I too will be destroyed. In agricultural societies, the primary questions become: How can I manage my resources to feed me and my family? and, What are all these interesting, sometimes pleasant, sometimes unpleasant, things that occur when all us humans live together in this close space? In industrial societies, the questions become: What is it that "I" want? and, How can I totally reconfigure everything around me to conform to the answer to Question 1. People can come up with other questions, but just looking at these comparative pairs gives you an idea of how the semantics of the language have to be. Relative to your specific questions, which seem to be to be an effort to relate an understanding of indigenous understands to one of our two Societal types (either agricultural or industrial), I don't think it is appropriate to try to relate in that manner. Since we don't understand the domain of indigenous people In And Of ItSelf. . . we are comparing apples and motorcars when we try to "explain" indigenous understanding in terms of "some other" understanding. A parallel would be: Here is your vocabulary: mitochondria, mitosis, amino acid, cell wall, well body, osmosis, diffusion, electrolyte. Please explain a robotically controlled assembly line using only these terms, plus the typical incidentals in English, where "incidentals" are considered prepositions, indefinite articles, and serializing adverbs such as "when", "then", "next". No additional concept terms may be introduced. "Science" is rather specific, regardless of culture. It is a way of knowing and learning by observing, measuring, predicting, and reproducing. I think that having to understand how Not to modify something is just as disciplined as having to understand how TO modify it. The critical portions of this process are the prediction and reproduction. For example, to make the statement, I think Darryl hates me, made up out of whole cloth, is not predictive, and certainly not reproducible. On the other hand, Feeding my plants makes them grow healthy and big, based on experience and observation, is very "scientific" in the procedural definition of science. I will end with a cultural joke, intended to provoke thought as much as humor. . . There's this little Jewish guy named Moishe. He is very religious, reads the Torah, follows the hundreds of rules for living, cleaning, preparing food, keeps the dietary restrictions. Every night, he prays, Oh G_d, please let me win the lottery. My children are going to college, my synagogue needs money to hire a Cantor, . . . . Every night he prays thus, and every night, G_d listens. One night, after praying thus for so many years, Moishe says to G_od, "Yahweh, Have I not been a good man? Have I not followed your rules? Have I not loved you to all my limits?" And G_d, tired of listening to the prayers that come without a method for actualization, says to Moishe: "Moishe, Moishe! Help me out here! Buy a ticket!" Mia ----- Original Message ----- From: annie ross To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU Sent: Sunday, March 07, 2004 10:35 AM Subject: Re: Indn Words for Science hello i too am interested in words, not as a linguist, but an a scholar of oral histories, and as an artist and teacher interested in native philosophy and place. i wonder, would the mainstream concept of 'science' be compartmentalized outside of the panoply of information in native logic? (would 'science' be a separate category/subject word?) or...perhaps, would there be a suffix or prefix or modifier to a word that would mean something like 'understanding' in an indigenous language , that would translate to what is meant by the western word "science" ? what if the word mainstream culture uses, "shaman'" mean, in part, "scientist'? aren't our medine men and women, in part, true scientists? and what of other indigenous occupations - those that demand study, observation, analysis, knowledge of factual information - are not those 'science', using an indigenous scientific method of personal experience? annie ross Mia - Main Red Pony wrote: Hi, Andre, This is a wonderful document for the Exploratoria that we will be building if we get the big NSF grant we applied for. I wasn't asking for the words for use in teaching materials, though. I wanted them for a generalized approach that says, It's time to stop looking at Indns as simple, superstitious creatures, because white people screwed up to begin with by biasing their learning about the people here because of J.W. Powell. I am taking a class in petroglyphs, and the ideas that the people writing come up with are really, truly, offensive (at least to me, but being a Cognitive Psychologist, I am probably more sensitive to it than most people). On the one hand, we have David Lewis-Williams with his theory that much of what has been created on rocks is "shamanistic in nature", a theory he started to try to "understand " the rock paintings of the San bushmen, and on the other Ron Eckland, who has aptly and admirably demonstrated that African patterns are based on fractal geometry. As you might well imagine, David Lewis-Williams had only to make his theories up in his head, and search through the literature finding people who had written things that agreed with his ideas. Eckland, on the other hand, had actually to derive the equations, and run them through the computer to demonstrate that the equations appropriately represented the structures. I think I have mentioned this before: I use technology to develop effective teaching materials, but unlike most people, I target my goals at adults. The things I have developed so far work well for children, but more significantly, they work well for adults, who people think can't learn languages. Now I am expanding a little, to take the simultaneous, multi-perceptual presentation form and apply it to more difficu lt learning, like computer algorithms, for example. This is a course most people fail; I think I can develop materials that teach enough, painlessly, enjoyably, so most everyone does well. I say "most", because you can't guarantee that everyone will do the class work. This was kind of an aside: my goal here is really simple. It is to be able to say, Powell was a vicious idiot, and the rest of us are living with the results of that perniciousness. Kind of harsh, huh? There was a lake named after him when they dammed the Colorado. Harrington, unarguably one of the best linguists and ethnographers Ever, left us a clue in a 1907 publication that Powell was forcing all analysis of Native languages in the English structure and component framework. He could do that, because he was the gatekeeper at the Smithsonian. So thanks, Andre. I was going to say, I guess there are no words for scientific and mathematical concepts left in y our language, either. However, I have one more perspective to share. The "tools" that a non-destructive, hunter-gatherer society uses (and looks for) are different from the tools a sedentary, ecologically destructive agricultural society uses (and looks for) and both of these are extremely much different from the tools of an industrial society. These different "ways of surviving" also contain different sets of questions asked and answered, cultural goals and expectations, and vocabularies in general. Hence my question: Did any Indn words survive the Powell Purge? Hope you are having a nice day. It is beautiful here in NM; a wonderful winter storm went through leaving us much needed rain and snow. I know you don't have that problem up there in exquisitely beautiful northern California. best, mia ----- Original Message ----- From: "Andre Cramblit" To: Sent: Wednesday, March 03, 2004 5:04 PM Subject: Re: Indn Words for Science FYI (attached) Mia - Main Red Pony wrote: > Hello. > > In the middle of these devastating assaults on Native languages, laws > that say classes must be taught in English, No [Rich] child left > behind. . . and so on, I have what I think is an important question to > ask, especially for people working on revitalization. > > Do your languages have words for science? > > I have been looking through my dictionaries (Young and Morgan's > Colloquial Navajo, Perry's Western Apache Dictionary, Bray's version > of the Western Apache-English Dictionary, Toluwa and Hupa]. I have a > small set of really basic words: add, subtract, multiply, divide, > circle, square, triangle, measure, count, repeat, rhythm, angle, line, > cloud, mountain, rain. > > Most of the languages have recorded words for circle, mountain , and > rain. Many have words for cloud, although Toluwa, in the Pacific > Northwest, and with words for fog, don't have one listed for "cloud". > > So, my really important question: Do Your Languages have these words? > Some? > > You don't have to send me what they are, unless you would enjoy > engaging with them. But I would like to know if they exist. > > I am convinced that Powell created a limited, and somewhat pernicious, > view of the people who lived here originally with his prescriptive > Introduction to the Study of Indian Languages: Words, phrases and > sentences to be collected. > > I am also convinced that without this narrow and exclusive view, some, > of not all, of the language issues that we have today, particularly > with regard to languages which may be used in schools for teaching, > would not exist. > > The question arose because I am loo king at geometric patterns at Three > Rivers Petroglyphs. The patterns show up in pottery designs in > 1100-1300 ad. I wondered if people had conceptualized these forms > linguistically. > > Thanks in advance for your help. > > Mia Kalish > > PS: Thanks for that information on grants, Andre. Wouldn't this be > just a Perfect Project! > > "Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations > which we can perform without thinking about them. Alfred North Whitehead > > Mia Kalish, M.A. > PhD Student, Computer Science > Tularosa, New Mexico USA 88352 > -- Andr? Cramblit: andre.p.cramblit.86 at alum.dartmouth.org is the Operations Director Northern California Indian Development Council NCIDC (http://www.ncidc.org) is a non-profit that meets the development needs of American Indians To subscribe to a news letter of interest to Na tives send an email to: IndigenousNewsNetwork-subscribe at topica.com or go to: http://www.topica.com/lists/IndigenousNewsNetwork/subscribe/?location=listin fo -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET Mon Mar 8 16:37:21 2004 From: pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET (phil cash cash) Date: Mon, 8 Mar 2004 09:37:21 -0700 Subject: Ancient language, modern voices Message-ID: Ancient language, modern voices Local students find indigenous Mexican dialect a key to their heritage By Gil Griffin UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/features/20040307-9999- mz1c7dialect.html March 7, 2004 indigenous roots. Howard Lipin / Union-Tribune How do you say, 'Mama'?" The teacher smiled as he posed the question to about a dozen men, women and children sitting with him in a circle on the floor. After a pregnant pause, an answer came. "Nantli," answered one of the students in the circle. "How about 'Papa'?" the teacher asked. "Tahtli," replied another. The informal quizzing continued as the group of native Spanish and English speakers who had gathered on a recent weeknight at the Sherman Heights Community Center heard, then recited, the words. These words ? unfamiliar, yet central to the students' heritage ? form the basis of the ancient and complex language spoken by their ancestors ? Nahuatl. Less than 2 percent of the Mexican population ? about 1.5 million people ? speaks Nahuatl (pronounced NAH-waht). The language and its various dialects are also spoken by pockets of indigenous people in Central America. But, scholars say, it is far from being a dying language. At these classes ? held in Sherman Heights and San Ysidro ? the members of Danza Mexi'cayotl ("The Dance of the Mexican people") are drawn to the language to help preserve it, while enriching their understanding of their heritage and discovering their ancestors' worldview. "Learning Nahuatl gives me tools to interpret the world around me in a different way," said Veronica Enrique, a 45-year-old National City homemaker who described herself as a child of the Chicano movement of the late-1960s and early 1970s. Each week she attends the community center classes, bringing her sons, Graciano, 17 and Adrian, 5. "It's still very much part of the life and culture of Mexican Indian communities, even though it's not common here. The indigenous Mexican worldview is that things are centered on nature, family and community. Nahuatl words show that their sense of time is cyclical rather than linear. That adds to the complexity of being a Chicana in the 21st century." Today, more Mexican poets and playwrights are writing in Nahuatl. In the Mexican states of Morelos, Hidalgo and Puebla, it's common to see street signs in Nahuatl. Here in North County, many migrant workers, of Yaqui, Zacateca and Mixteco ancestry, speak Nahuatl as their first language. Teacher Mario Aguilar started Nahuatl classes more than 20 years ago, as part of his Aztec dance group. The classes also have attracted many Mexican and Mexican-American college students, who are part of this growing movement to embrace elements of their indigenous lineage. "The European aspect of Mexican culture (in Mexico) had been pushed, but the indigenous part had been crushed and almost obliterated," said Aguilar, "even though it's been present on this continent for 60,000 years." That condition bothers Bettzi Jimenez-Barrios, a 23-year-old SDSU student and Tijuana native, another Danza Mexi'cayotl member learning Nahuatl. "In Mexico, there's a lot of racism toward the indigenous people and there are a lot of people there who don't care about their Indian heritage," she said. "I went to school in Mexico before coming here and the schools never encouraged me to do research about my own culture. The Mexican government wants us to learn American or European ways. I don't want to get caught up in that. I want to learn Nahuatl to get to know who I am." One day, Jimenez-Barrios said, she'd like to travel around Mexico and get to know the indigenous people and be able to speak to them in their own language. Aguilar, who is 49, took up Aztec dance when he was 19 and eventually earned the title of danza capitan ("dance captain") from tribal elders in Mexico. He has been studying and speaking Nahuatl ? the language the ancient Aztec dancers spoke ? for 22 years. Aguilar said his parents ? of Otomi and Tarasco Indian heritage, and participants in the Chicano rights and consciousness movement ? pushed him to learn about his roots. Aguilar, now an assistant director of an early academic outreach program at the University of California San Diego, did so by taking Chicano studies and anthropology courses at SDSU. Today's Chicano college students learning Nahuatl, he said, have a different mentality than when he was their age. "Back then, there was a revolutionary fervor and feeling like we could make a difference in the world," Aguilar said. "Today, young Chicanos studying their roots are more pragmatic about life and history as opposed to the idealism we had in our youth. It's nice to see people getting interested in Nahuatl again." This summer, Aguilar said, he may pursue teaching Nahuatl in Mexico at the University of Zacatecas. In the fall, he said, he hopes to teach the language at an academic setting in San Diego. But in colleges and universities across the United States, the teaching of Nahuatl is gaining momentum in some unexpected places. One of North America's foremost Nahuatl scholars, John F. Schwaller, teaches the language at a branch of the University of Minnesota in the small town of Morris, near the South Dakota border. He previously taught Nahuatl at Indiana University and the University of Montana. "It's a factor of the growing Mexican-American population in this country and in its universities," said Schwaller, who has no Mexican heritage, but has degrees in Latin American studies and spent years traveling throughout Mexico. Other colleges and universities, Schwaller said, such as Yale, Tulane and Vanderbilt, are offering formal Nahuatl classes or study groups. Jimenez-Barrios and other college students say they find learning Nahuatl extremely challenging. "Learning English is easier," said Jimenez-Barrios, who studiously takes notes during the Nahuatl instruction. "Here, you hear how people speak English. I have some friends at home who speak some Nahuatl, but there aren't many other speakers. But I wanted to join a group where I could learn it. I'd love to become fluent." Other Nahuatl learners, like Elias McGann, say studying the language gives him a greater sense of self-awareness. "You realize who you are and where you come from," said McGann, a 21-year-old trail keeper at the San Diego Zoo and visual artist who lives in Serra Mesa. He has been a member of Danza Mexi'cayotl since he was 14. "My family is from the Tarasco tribe in Michoacan and my family members speak Nahuatl. My uncle first got me into it. It's a very hard language. The grammar and grammar rules are complicated." Yet, many words in Nahuatl are similar to Mexican Spanish. To make it easier, Aguilar regularly gives the members of the group handouts reflecting how many modern-day words spoken in Mexico have Nahuatl origins. Recently, Aguilar gave his students copies of the lyrics of the Mexican national anthem in Nahuatl. "One of the beautiful things about classic Nahuatl is that people spoke in allegories and couplets," Aguilar said. "The Nahuatl word for 'poetry' is 'in xochitl incuicatl.' That means, 'the flower, the song.' That's the kind of worldview they had. They looked at things in a spiritual way, so that even the most mundane object or experience became sacred to them." Using the Nahuatl word ollin ? which loosely means "movement" ? as an example, Aguilar compared learning Nahuatl to peeling onions. "Every time you peel a layer off of one word, there's another one to peel," Aguilar said. "Ollin is the center of the onion, but it relates to the heart moving, the earth moving and the stars moving. In Native American tradition, nothing is ever literal, unlike the European model, which puts words in black-and-white terms." Augustine Rodriguez, a 38-year-old U.S. Navy retiree, attends the classes with his wife, Angie, daughters Jessica, 13, and Amalia, 6, and infant son, Augustine. The family drives to Sherman Heights for class, all the way from Perris, in Riverside County. "It's a sacrifice, but it's worth it," he said, while packing up his and his family's dancing gear and gearing up for the 80-plus-mile drive home. "The language is important. It's influenced a lot of everyday words. We don't want the tradition to die. It's forgotten in a lot of ways here, but for it to still be around gives us hope that it won't." With the kind of dedication to Nahuatl shown by Rodriguez and Enrique, the National City woman who regularly brings her two sons to the classes, the future of the language seems secure. "I have my children learn it because it's part of who they are," Enrique said. "It's a responsibility and a privilege to provide that for them. It's important to keep Nahuatl alive in our next generation." Language comparisons NAHUATL cuauhtli no'palli tonalli atl tzopilotl ozomatli tepetl hueyapan hueyxolotl xochitl SPANISH aguila nopal sol agua zopilote chango monta?a oc?ano guajolote flor ENGLISH eagle prickly pear cactus sun water buzzard monkey mountain ocean turkey flower Courtesy of the Mex -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 9615 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: starbullet.gif Type: image/gif Size: 98 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- cayotl Indio Cultural Center -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 75 bytes Desc: not available URL: From mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US Mon Mar 8 18:13:55 2004 From: mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US (Matthew Ward) Date: Mon, 8 Mar 2004 11:13:55 -0700 Subject: Indn Words for Science Message-ID: I have read descriptions of various indigenous languages which are spoken by people who have little contact with the outside world. No matter if these languages are spoken in Asia, Africa, Australia, or the Americas, those studying them often comment on the wealth of vocabulary dealing with what we call "biology." People who live close to the earth need to be able to describe it in a way which urban people often don't. So, that's where I think you would find many Indian words for science--in the realm of biology. Mia - Main Red Pony wrote: > Hi, Annie. > > Nice to hear from you. > > I have a theory, based on an observation by J. Peter Denny, in > "Cultural Ecology of Mathematics: Ojibway and Inuit Hunters", in > Native American Mathematics, Michael P. Closs (Ed). He says, "The > dependence of the hunter on wild plants and animals leads to two > crucial features in his pattern of living. First of all, he only > alters the environment to a small degree and must for the most part > adapt to its natural conditions. In contrast to this, agricultural and > industrial societiers alter the environment to increasing degrees and > strive hard to make the environment fit their needs. The second > featurs arises as a consequence of the first. Since the technology > needed for a small degree of alteration of the environment is itself > restricted, any adult knows the whole repertoire. Consequently, there > need be no specialization of occupation . . anyone can kill an animal, > butcher it, and cook it; anyone can cut wood and bark from trees, > shape them into a canoe, and paddle it." > > If we think of this in terms of questions asked and answered, we get a > perspective that creates an equality of Societies, at least > analytically, rather than the hierarchical structure most > people either try to develop or ethnocentrically assume. In the > hunter-gatherer groups, primary questions Must be: How can I > know/learn about the world around me? How can I get what I need, > without destroying what others' need, because these "others" are what > sustain me, and if I destroy them, I too will be destroyed. > > In agricultural societies, the primary questions become: How can I > manage my resources to feed me and my family? and, What are all these > interesting, sometimes pleasant, sometimes unpleasant, things that > occur when all us humans live together in this close space? > > In industrial societies, the questions become: What is it that "I" > want? and, How can I totally reconfigure everything around me to > conform to the answer to Question 1. > > People can come up with other questions, but just looking at these > comparative pairs gives you an idea of how the semantics of the > language have to be. > > Relative to your specific questions, which seem to be to be an effort > to relate an understanding of indigenous understands to one of our two > Societal types (either agricultural or industrial), I don't think it > is appropriate to try to relate in that manner. Since we don't > understand the domain of indigenous people In And Of ItSelf. . . we > are comparing apples and motorcars when we try to "explain" indigenous > understanding in terms of "some other" understanding. > > A parallel would be: Here is your vocabulary: mitochondria, mitosis, > amino acid, cell wall, well body, osmosis, diffusion, electrolyte. > Please explain a robotically controlled assembly line using only these > terms, plus the typical incidentals in English, where "incidentals" > are considered prepositions, indefinite articles, and serializing > adverbs such as "when", "then", "next". No additional concept terms > may be introduced. > > "Science" is rather specific, regardless of culture. It is a way of > knowing and learning by observing, measuring, predicting, and > reproducing. I think that having to understand how Not to modify > something is just as disciplined as having to understand how TO modify > it. The critical portions of this process are the prediction and > reproduction. For example, to make the statement, I think Darryl hates > me, made up out of whole cloth, is not predictive, and certainly not > reproducible. On the other hand, Feeding my plants makes them grow > healthy and big, based on experience and observation, is very > "scientific" in the procedural definition of science. > > I will end with a cultural joke, intended to provoke thought as much > as humor. . . > > There's this little Jewish guy named Moishe. He is very religious, > reads the Torah, follows the hundreds of rules for living, cleaning, > preparing food, keeps the dietary restrictions. > > Every night, he prays, Oh G_d, please let me win the lottery. My > children are going to college, my synagogue needs money to hire a > Cantor, . . . . Every night he prays thus, and every night, G_d listens. > > One night, after praying thus for so many years, Moishe says to G_od, > "Yahweh, Have I not been a good man? Have I not followed your rules? > Have I not loved you to all my limits?" > > And G_d, tired of listening to the prayers that come without a method > for actualization, says to Moishe: "Moishe, Moishe! Help me out here! > Buy a ticket!" > > Mia > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: annie ross > To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU > Sent: Sunday, March 07, 2004 10:35 AM > Subject: Re: Indn Words for Science > > hello > > i too am interested in words, not as a linguist, but an a scholar > of oral histories, and as an artist and teacher interested in > native philosophy and place. > > i wonder, would the mainstream concept of 'science' be > compartmentalized outside of the panoply of information in native > logic? (would 'science' be a separate category/subject word?) > or...perhaps, would there be a suffix or prefix or modifier to a > word that would mean something like 'understanding' in an > indigenous language , that would translate to what is meant by > the western word "science" ? > what if the word mainstream culture uses, "shaman'" mean, in part, > "scientist'? aren't our medine men and women, in part, true > scientists? and what of other indigenous occupations - those that > demand study, observation, analysis, knowledge of factual > information - are not those 'science', using an indigenous > scientific method of personal experience? > > annie ross > > Mia - Main Red Pony wrote: > > Hi, Andre, > > This is a wonderful document for the Exploratoria that we will > be building > if we get the big NSF grant we applied for. > > I wasn't asking for the words for use in teaching materials, > though. I > wanted them for a generalized approach that says, It's time to > stop looking > at Indns as simple, superstitious creatures, because white > people screwed up > to begin with by biasing their learning about the people here > because of > J.W. Powell. > > I am taking a class in petroglyphs, and the ideas that the > people writing > come up with are really, truly, offensive (at least to me, but > being a > Cognitive Psychologist, I am probably more sensitive to it > than most > people). On the one hand, we have David Lewis-Williams with > his theory that > much of what has been created on rocks is "shamanistic in > nature", a theory > he started to try to "understand " the rock paintings of the > San bushmen, and > on the other Ron Eckland, who has aptly and admirably > demonstrated that > African patterns are based on fractal geometry. As you might > well imagine, > David Lewis-Williams had only to make his theories up in his > head, and > search through the literature finding people who had written > things that > agreed with his ideas. Eckland, on the other hand, had > actually to derive > the equations, and run them through the computer to > demonstrate that the > equations appropriately represented the structures. > > I think I have mentioned this before: I use technology to > develop effective > teaching materials, but unlike most people, I target my goals > at adults. The > things I have developed so far work well for children, but more > significantly, they work well for adults, who people think > can't learn > languages. Now I am expanding a little, to take the simultaneous, > multi-perceptual presentation form and apply it to more > difficu lt learning, > like computer algorithms, for example. This is a course most > people fail; I > think I can develop materials that teach enough, painlessly, > enjoyably, so > most everyone does well. I say "most", because you can't > guarantee that > everyone will do the class work. > > This was kind of an aside: my goal here is really simple. It > is to be able > to say, Powell was a vicious idiot, and the rest of us are > living with the > results of that perniciousness. > > Kind of harsh, huh? There was a lake named after him when they > dammed the > Colorado. Harrington, unarguably one of the best linguists and > ethnographers > Ever, left us a clue in a 1907 publication that Powell was > forcing all > analysis of Native languages in the English structure and > component > framework. He could do that, because he was the gatekeeper at the > Smithsonian. > > So thanks, Andre. I was going to say, I guess there are no > words for > scientific and mathematical concepts left in y our language, > either. However, > I have one more perspective to share. The "tools" that a > non-destructive, > hunter-gatherer society uses (and looks for) are different > from the tools a > sedentary, ecologically destructive agricultural society uses > (and looks > for) and both of these are extremely much different from the > tools of an > industrial society. These different "ways of surviving" also > contain > different sets of questions asked and answered, cultural goals and > expectations, and vocabularies in general. > > Hence my question: Did any Indn words survive the Powell Purge? > > Hope you are having a nice day. It is beautiful here in NM; a > wonderful > winter storm went through leaving us much needed rain and > snow. I know you > don't have that problem up there in exquisitely beautiful northern > California. > > best, > mia > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Andre Cramblit" > To: > Sent: Wednesday, March 03, 2004 5:04 PM > Subject: Re: Indn Words for Science > > > FYI (attached) > > Mia - Main Red Pony wrote: > > > Hello. > > > > In the middle of these devastating assaults on Native > languages, laws > > that say classes must be taught in English, No [Rich] child left > > behind. . . and so on, I have what I think is an important > question to > > ask, especially for people working on revitalization. > > > > Do your languages have words for science? > > > > I have been looking through my dictionaries (Young and Morgan's > > Colloquial Navajo, Perry's Western Apache Dictionary, Bray's > version > > of the Western Apache-English Dictionary, Toluwa and Hupa]. > I have a > > small set of really basic words: add, subtract, multiply, > divide, > > circle, square, triangle, measure, count, repeat, rhythm, > angle, line, > > cloud, mountain, rain. > > > > Most of the languages have recorded words for circle, > mountain , and > > rain. Many have words for cloud, although Toluwa, in the Pacific > > Northwest, and with words for fog, don't have one listed for > "cloud". > > > > So, my really important question: Do Your Languages have > these words? > > Some? > > > > You don't have to send me what they are, unless you would enjoy > > engaging with them. But I would like to know if they exist. > > > > I am convinced that Powell created a limited, and somewhat > pernicious, > > view of the people who lived here originally with his > prescriptive > > Introduction to the Study of Indian Languages: Words, > phrases and > > sentences to be collected. > > > > I am also convinced that without this narrow and exclusive > view, some, > > of not all, of the language issues that we have today, > particularly > > with regard to languages which may be used in schools for > teaching, > > would not exist. > > > > The question arose because I am loo king at geometric > patterns at Three > > Rivers Petroglyphs. The patterns show up in pottery designs in > > 1100-1300 ad. I wondered if people had conceptualized these > forms > > linguistically. > > > > Thanks in advance for your help. > > > > Mia Kalish > > > > PS: Thanks for that information on grants, Andre. Wouldn't > this be > > just a Perfect Project! > > > > "Civilization advances by extending the number of important > operations > > which we can perform without thinking about them. Alfred > North Whitehead > > > > Mia Kalish, M.A. > > PhD Student, Computer Science > > Tularosa, New Mexico USA 88352 > > > > > -- > > > Andr? Cramblit: andre.p.cramblit.86 at alum.dartmouth.org is the > Operations > Director Northern California Indian Development Council NCIDC > (http://www.ncidc.org) is a non-profit that meets the > development needs > of American Indians > > To subscribe to a news letter of interest to Na tives send an > email to: > IndigenousNewsNetwork-subscribe at topica.com or go to: > http://www.topica.com/lists/IndigenousNewsNetwork/subscribe/?location=listin > fo > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mona at ALLIESMEDIAART.COM Mon Mar 8 19:32:47 2004 From: mona at ALLIESMEDIAART.COM (MM Smith) Date: Mon, 8 Mar 2004 13:32:47 -0600 Subject: Native Languages and 'science' Message-ID: I humbly precede this by saying that I am curious, not an expert, and can only glimpse the ideas. Too, I know nothing of the wasicun linguist who's site I sampled and pasted here, but am hoping the ideas will add to the discussion. The question seems to need to move quickly beyond what words exist in a given language for a given western scientific or mathematical concept, but rather how do Native languages relate to indigenous ways of describing the 'cosmos.' http://www.enformy.com/dma-ql03.htm In reference to a conference between some Native people and some scientists in 1992? > Historic as far as Native Americans are concerned > > (Sa'ke'j:)* It was an amazing experience to get that kind of respect, > for most Native Americans, to be sitting at the table with the > greatest scientist on some kind of cognitive equality, and come to > certain agreements that our language may better describe the subatomic > world... than their language. but they don't know any other language, > and they are very curious about why we would have pre-knowledge of > something hat their methods and rules are just arriving at. > Noun/verb-dominated Languages > > And what did Whorf mean by verb-dominated language? {Benjamin Whorf] > Whereas every sentence in English must properly have a subject, a noun > or noun phrase, and a verb, many if not most Native American languages > can have sentences with no nouns at all. 'Rehpi,' a full sentence in > Hopi referring to a celestial event, means 'flashed,' where we have to > say 'the lightning flashed.' But this goes much further: sa'ke'j says > that when he's speaking mi'kmaq back on the reserve, he can go all day > long without ever uttering a single noun. this statement is > mind-boggling to most English speakers. So much of our facts and > knowledge are wrapped up in nouns, so what would all that knowledge > look like in a language that doesn't value nouns in the same way? This > includes all concepts, all the way to 'god'. > > (Sa'ke'j:) We don't have one god. You need a noun language to have one > god. We have forces. All forces are equal and you are just the > amplifier of the forces. The way you conduct your life and the dignity > you give to other things gives you access to other forces. > > Even trees are verbs instead of nouns: The Mi'kmaq named their trees > for the sound the wind makes when it blows through the trees during > the autumn about an hour after sunset, when the wind usually comes > from a certain direction. So one might be like a 'shu-shu' something, > and another more like a 'tinka-tinka' something. > > Although physics in the western world has been essentially the quest > for the smallest noun (which used to be a-tom, 'that which cannot be > further divided'), as they went inside the atom things weren't acting > like nouns anymore. The physicists were intrigued with the > possibilities inherent in a language that didn't depend on nouns but > could move right to verbs when the circumstances were appropriate. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 3120 bytes Desc: not available URL: From miakalish at REDPONY.US Tue Mar 9 02:23:42 2004 From: miakalish at REDPONY.US (Mia - Main Red Pony) Date: Mon, 8 Mar 2004 19:23:42 -0700 Subject: Native Languages and 'science' Message-ID: good ness gracious, this was Moonhawk and Sakej Henderson. Moonhawk was a dear, dear friend who passed away 2 years ago. I met Sakej only through his words. . . but Moonhawk held Sakej in highest regard. Thank you for this email; when I communicate with others, I am reminded about how much a "Western" concept people seem to think science is. In fact, the people who lived here before the colonists had calendars, ways of measuring, building, healing, understanding, learning, and to my great pleasure, stealing horses. I think of these things as "science". I guess most people don't. But I liked your email, and the charming reminder, through the Universe, from my beloved friend, who I truly miss. sincerely, Mia ----- Original Message ----- From: MM Smith To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU Sent: Monday, March 08, 2004 12:32 PM Subject: Native Languages and 'science' I humbly precede this by saying that I am curious, not an expert, and can only glimpse the ideas. Too, I know nothing of the wasicun linguist who's site I sampled and pasted here, but am hoping the ideas will add to the discussion. The question seems to need to move quickly beyond what words exist in a given language for a given western scientific or mathematical concept, but rather how do Native languages relate to indigenous ways of describing the 'cosmos.' http://www.enformy.com/dma-ql03.htm In reference to a conference between some Native people and some scientists in 1992? Historic as far as Native Americans are concerned (Sa'ke'j:)* It was an amazing experience to get that kind of respect, for most Native Americans, to be sitting at the table with the greatest scientist on some kind of cognitive equality, and come to certain agreements that our language may better describe the subatomic world... than their language. but they don't know any other language, and they are very curious about why we would have pre-knowledge of something hat their methods and rules are just arriving at. Noun/verb-dominated Languages And what did Whorf mean by verb-dominated language? {Benjamin Whorf] Whereas every sentence in English must properly have a subject, a noun or noun phrase, and a verb, many if not most Native American languages can have sentences with no nouns at all. 'Rehpi,' a full sentence in Hopi referring to a celestial event, means 'flashed,' where we have to say 'the lightning flashed.' But this goes much further: sa'ke'j says that when he's speaking mi'kmaq back on the reserve, he can go all day long without ever uttering a single noun. this statement is mind-boggling to most English speakers. So much of our facts and knowledge are wrapped up in nouns, so what would all that knowledge look like in a language that doesn't value nouns in the same way? This includes all concepts, all the way to 'god'. (Sa'ke'j:) We don't have one god. You need a noun language to have one god. We have forces. All forces are equal and you are just the amplifier of the forces. The way you conduct your life and the dignity you give to other things gives you access to other forces. Even trees are verbs instead of nouns: The Mi'kmaq named their trees for the sound the wind makes when it blows through the trees during the autumn about an hour after sunset, when the wind usually comes from a certain direction. So one might be like a 'shu-shu' something, and another more like a 'tinka-tinka' something. Although physics in the western world has been essentially the quest for the smallest noun (which used to be a-tom, 'that which cannot be further divided'), as they went inside the atom things weren't acting like nouns anymore. The physicists were intrigued with the possibilities inherent in a language that didn't depend on nouns but could move right to verbs when the circumstances were appropriate. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dzo at BISHARAT.NET Tue Mar 9 08:24:22 2004 From: dzo at BISHARAT.NET (Don Osborn) Date: Tue, 9 Mar 2004 09:24:22 +0100 Subject: Native Languages and 'science' Message-ID: Very interesting thread. Here are three quick thoughts... 1) In some languages the term used for "science" is "knowledge." At the same time there may be more than one word for knowledge (to know) as well as related terms. I hope it doesn't sound too pedantic to suggest to step back and take in the larger semantic field. In Bambara, for one W. African example, the verb ka don (with the o being an open o, written as a reversed c) = to know, and donniya means knowledge in many senses including science broadly speaking. In this language some prefixes can make different kinds of knowledge (someone suggested that this is the process in some languages). 2) The "scientific method" may or may not be a unique contribution of the West (even with the pitfalls of misapplication of reductionist logic), but research is something people have done in one way or another for ages. Someone suggested a connection with shamans. One might also make a connection with farmers. The genesis of agriculture must have been quite interesting, involving need, observation, trial and error, communication, passing on, and an often forgotten dimension, fun. In short, science under whatever name. And this continued and continues in many ways. 3) While packing more books (for moving), I took a look at a passage from a book by Malidoma Patrice Som? (The Healing Wisdom of Africa, Tarcher/Putnam 1998) in which he compared his mentor to a "gifted indigenous scientist, the kind that Westerners might call a shaman." Though not an academic title, this work may have interesting comparative perspectives on indigenous belief systems. Among other things he also describes some aspects of his experience in colonial (mission) boarding schools and return to his Dagara culture - that and language are discussed in the introduction. Don Osborn ----- Original Message ----- From: Mia - Main Red Pony To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU Sent: Tuesday, March 09, 2004 3:23 AM Subject: Re: Native Languages and 'science' good ness gracious, this was Moonhawk and Sakej Henderson. Moonhawk was a dear, dear friend who passed away 2 years ago. I met Sakej only through his words. . . but Moonhawk held Sakej in highest regard. Thank you for this email; when I communicate with others, I am reminded about how much a "Western" concept people seem to think science is. In fact, the people who lived here before the colonists had calendars, ways of measuring, building, healing, understanding, learning, and to my great pleasure, stealing horses. I think of these things as "science". I guess most people don't. But I liked your email, and the charming reminder, through the Universe, from my beloved friend, who I truly miss. sincerely, Mia ----- Original Message ----- From: MM Smith To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU Sent: Monday, March 08, 2004 12:32 PM Subject: Native Languages and 'science' I humbly precede this by saying that I am curious, not an expert, and can only glimpse the ideas. Too, I know nothing of the wasicun linguist who's site I sampled and pasted here, but am hoping the ideas will add to the discussion. The question seems to need to move quickly beyond what words exist in a given language for a given western scientific or mathematical concept, but rather how do Native languages relate to indigenous ways of describing the 'cosmos.' http://www.enformy.com/dma-ql03.htm In reference to a conference between some Native people and some scientists in 1992? Historic as far as Native Americans are concerned (Sa'ke'j:)* It was an amazing experience to get that kind of respect, for most Native Americans, to be sitting at the table with the greatest scientist on some kind of cognitive equality, and come to certain agreements that our language may better describe the subatomic world... than their language. but they don't know any other language, and they are very curious about why we would have pre-knowledge of something hat their methods and rules are just arriving at. Noun/verb-dominated Languages And what did Whorf mean by verb-dominated language? {Benjamin Whorf] Whereas every sentence in English must properly have a subject, a noun or noun phrase, and a verb, many if not most Native American languages can have sentences with no nouns at all. 'Rehpi,' a full sentence in Hopi referring to a celestial event, means 'flashed,' where we have to say 'the lightning flashed.' But this goes much further: sa'ke'j says that when he's speaking mi'kmaq back on the reserve, he can go all day long without ever uttering a single noun. this statement is mind-boggling to most English speakers. So much of our facts and knowledge are wrapped up in nouns, so what would all that knowledge look like in a language that doesn't value nouns in the same way? This includes all concepts, all the way to 'god'. (Sa'ke'j:) We don't have one god. You need a noun language to have one god. We have forces. All forces are equal and you are just the amplifier of the forces. The way you conduct your life and the dignity you give to other things gives you access to other forces. Even trees are verbs instead of nouns: The Mi'kmaq named their trees for the sound the wind makes when it blows through the trees during the autumn about an hour after sunset, when the wind usually comes from a certain direction. So one might be like a 'shu-shu' something, and another more like a 'tinka-tinka' something. Although physics in the western world has been essentially the quest for the smallest noun (which used to be a-tom, 'that which cannot be further divided'), as they went inside the atom things weren't acting like nouns anymore. The physicists were intrigued with the possibilities inherent in a language that didn't depend on nouns but could move right to verbs when the circumstances were appropriate. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Tue Mar 9 13:58:20 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Tue, 9 Mar 2004 06:58:20 -0700 Subject: Montanan meets Maori queen, works to save native tongue (fwd) Message-ID: Montanan meets Maori queen, works to save native tongue http://www.greatfallstribune.com/news/stories/20040309/localnews/41147.html Three Montanans working to revive Native American language on their reservations traveled to New Zealand last month to see firsthand how the Maori are saving their native tongue. "All of our indigenous struggles are so similar," said Lynette Chandler, project coordinator for the Speaking White Clay Program at Fort Belknap Community College. The W.K. Kellogg Foundation invited Chandler on the trip along with Darrell Robes Kipp, of the Nizipuhwahsin language immersion school on the Blackfeet Reservation, and Janine Pease, of Rocky Mountain College in Billings. They joined roughly 18 other educators from across the continental United States and Hawaii. Chandler spent time with Maori language teachers as well as students ranging from six-month-old babies to college scholars. A highlight was meeting Maori Queen Dame Te Ata, who has held the throne since 1966. But Chandler said her biggest inspirations were in the classroom. At one school, students studied the Maori's traditional double-hulled ocean vessel, called a "waka," in their native language, learning about construction methods, history and how the boats were used. As soon as she got home, Chandler enlisted tribal elder Elmer Main to help her translate the different parts of the bison into Gros Ventre or "White Clay" language. Students will study how the bison, a central part of life for Plains Indians, is used, from painting hides to telling stories to utilitarian uses such as clothing or horns made into spoons. In one New Zealand classroom Chandler visited, third-graders started off the school year learning an ancient Maori proverb about respect. "It shows that we have the answers within our own society and community and education system and we need to go back to that in order to move forward in this society," said Chandler, who has 12 children in her White Clay Language Immersion School. Only a handful of people speak White Clay fluently. Restoring it "is going to be so long and so arduous," said Chandler, who met an elderly woman in New Zealand who was a founder of the Maori language movement 30 years ago. "I think I'll live to see the fruits of our labor." -- K.O. From Rrlapier at AOL.COM Tue Mar 9 16:28:50 2004 From: Rrlapier at AOL.COM (Rrlapier at AOL.COM) Date: Tue, 9 Mar 2004 11:28:50 EST Subject: AISES Conference April 22-24 Message-ID: SCIENCE AND INDIGENOUS CULTURE: Uniting Traditional Ethics with Modern Science April 22 - 24, 2004 The University of Montana Region One AISES Conference Hosted by The University of Montana and Salish Kootenai College AISES Chapters All High School & College Students Invited American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) Region 1: Alaska, Canada, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington & Wyoming Check it out at: www.umt.edu/aises The annual Kyi-yo Powwow is April 23-25, 2004 at the University of Montana. Rosalyn LaPier Piegan Institute www.pieganinstitute.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dzo at BISHARAT.NET Wed Mar 10 03:09:50 2004 From: dzo at BISHARAT.NET (Don Osborn) Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 04:09:50 +0100 Subject: Fw: [GKD] Invitation to Virtual Conference on Indigenous ICT Use Message-ID: FYI... ----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael Gurstein" To: Sent: Tuesday, March 09, 2004 6:37 PM Subject: [GKD] Invitation to Virtual Conference on Indigenous ICT Use > Kuh-ke-nah International Indigenous SMART Communities Gathering > > 17-18 March, 2004 > > In the Oji-Cree language of Northern Ontario in Canada, Kuh-ke-nah means > everyone...together. For Oji-Cree people it describes a traditional > network of families living and surviving in the vast wilderness that we > now know as the Canadian Shield. Today, Kuh-ke-nah also describes > Canadas SMART First Nations. > > The SMART First Nations Demonstration project is a three year initiative > led by the Keewaytinook Okimakanak (Northern Chiefs) Council in > partnership with the government of Canada that blends community > leadership with technological innovation. Together with everyone the > Kuh-ke-nah First Nations are defining a new network of community > development, opportunity and wellness. > > During the past ten years, the Deer Lake, Fort Severn, Keewaywin, North > Spirit Lake and Poplar Hill First Nations have applied information and > communications technologies (ICTs) to build new skills and transfer > knowledge, reduce longstanding forms of cultural isolation and physical > remoteness and enhance community well-being. > > Since 2000, these communities have adopted a SMART approach to ICT > development. Each year theyve identified and implemented new education, > health and cultural services. And everyday the people living in the > SMART First Nations are showing others how everyone really can be > brought together through the use of ICTs. > > The Kuh-ke-nah International Indigenous Gathering is the culminating > event of the SMART First Nations Project. The Gathering will provide a > virtual space for bringing together Indigenous people from around the > world to show how they have used information and communications > technologies. Participants will demonstrate on-line how they are > influencing positive change in their communities by addressing community > needs, achieving community development goals, improving community > services, supporting cultural expression and building new capacities. > > The Kuh-ke-nah Network will host a virtual two day conference where > lessons learned, good practices and the SMART project outcomes will be > shared. On-line delegates and guests will exchange views and workshop > new approaches and alliances. Kuh-ke-nah Chiefs and community ICT > champions will show how advanced e-learning, telemedicine and community > development applications have been both influenced and supported by > Indigenous values and needs. > > This conference will appeal to Indigenous ICT workers and policy-makers > alike. Community representatives as well as government, academic and > industry representatives will make the Kuh-ke-nah SMART International > Gathering a diverse and rich experience -- a new world of communities in > development. Register now at: > > > http://smart.knet.ca/international > > > > ------------ > ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, a Non-Profit Organization*** > To post a message, send it to: > To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: > . In the 1st line of the message type: > subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd > Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: > From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Mar 10 15:01:20 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 08:01:20 -0700 Subject: Lost in translation (fwd) Message-ID: Lost in translation By Leigh Dayton 11mar04 http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,8928176%5E28737,00.html IT'S a modern parable. While the box office take from Mel Gibson's controversial film The Passion of the Christ skyrockets into the multi-millions, the number of people speaking the language of Jesus is dwindling into insignificance. Aramaic, the 2500-year-old tongue of the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Egyptians and Palestinians, is used as one of the languages in Gibson's film, yet today it is spoken in only three Syrian villages. Its probable fate as a spoken language? Extinction, say concerned linguists. It's all part of a language crisis heralding the emergence of a new linguistic world order, according to scholar David Graddol of Britain's aptly named The English Company. "We will experience some decades of rapid and perhaps disorienting change," he predicts ominously. In other words, Aramaic is not the only language facing an uncertain future. Surprisingly, as Graddol says, English is sliding down the "league table" of dominant languages. Why? To borrow from Treasurer Peter Costello, "demography is destiny". The number of people born into English-speaking communities is falling when compared with those born to parents whose native language is Cantonese, Mandarin, Arabic and Hindi or Urdu, which many linguists class as a single language. While English will power on as the language of science and politics, Graddol spots a business trend which may unsettle monolingual English speakers. "Employers in parts of Asia are already looking beyond English," he argues. "In the next decade, the new must-learn language is likely to be Mandarin." Graddol is not the only expert flagging enormous changes in what they call the world's language system, one that has evolved over centuries. David Harrison, a linguist at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, estimates that as we speak -- literally -- we do so in between 6000 and 7000 languages worldwide, but not for long. "Linguistic diversity is undergoing a precipitous and unprecedented decline," he said at the recent American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Seattle. "This state of affairs has given rise to the dire, but not entirely preposterous prediction, that fully one half of extant human languages might well vanish in the course of this century." Graddol, a linguist, went further last month in the journal Science. "We may now be losing a language every day," he wrote, adding that 90 per cent of all languages will perish this century. While Aramaic is the language of concern now, authorities such as Harrison and Graddol claim it is unlikely to be the next language to fade into nothingness. They predict that dubious honour will go to even more obscure tongues such as Middle Chulym, a language Harrison "discovered" last year in remote central Siberia. Out of a community of 426 people, he says only 35 speak it fluently. When those elders die, so too will Middle Chulym. Clearly, indigenous languages worldwide are at greatest risk of serious decline or extinction. After all, speakers experience the combined impact of declining populations, technological advances and often overwhelming economic and cultural pressure to join the global community. Case in point: Australia's Aboriginal languages. The statistics are rubbery, yet they suggest that roughly 250 indigenous languages were spoken in 1788. Today, possibly one-third of those first-contact languages are gone. Of those remaining, only about 20 have any hope of surviving. "It's undeniable that we're losing speakers," notes Faith Baisden, projects manager with the Federation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Languages, a national body advising the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission. Although she's studying it, Baisden doesn't yet speak her own ancestral tongue, Yugambeh. There are only a handful of people who do, she claims. Still, it's not all gloom and doom for so-called minority languages. Speakers of such languages and advocates such as Baisden are fighting back with some success. Hebrew was brought back from near extinction. In the US, Mohawk has undergone a revival, and ever more New Zealand kindergarteners are learning Maori. In Australia, Baisden claims that growing numbers of Aboriginal communities are working with elders, applied linguists and groups such as FATSIL and ATSIC to shore up endangered languages. They're developing dictionaries, web-based resources and other learning materials, as well as pushing for native language instruction. It's all part of an international trend to bolster ancient rural and indigenous languages, or at least to document them before they vanish. For native speakers, this is a matter of urgency. Language epitomises group identity and carries important cultural meanings, ones they hope to pass on to the next generation. Moreover, Harrison points out that collectively the world's languages embody the diverse possibilities of human speech. They embody underlying mental structures that both shape and are shaped by the way different peoples speak of their world, for instance number systems, grammatical structures and ways of classifying kinship or natural events. "Each language that vanishes without being documented leaves an enormous gap in our understanding of some of the many complex structures the human mind is capable of producing," Harrison says. University of Sydney linguistics specialist Jane Simpson, who is working to save threatened languages, agrees. "What does it matter if you lose a particular frog species or if you lose Michelangelo's David," she says. "Think of languages as works of human creativity." Simpson has teamed up with colleagues at the University of Melbourne and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies in Canberra. Along with four doctoral students, the group is following pre-school children in three Aboriginal communities in the Kimberley and Northern Territory. Over the four-year project the team hopes to learn how the youngsters manage the different languages they hear, from their native language to varieties of English. They want to know how the children shift between languages with such ease and hope to find out if the linguistic flip-flops affect language learning and use. "There are implications for how kids learn at school and what kind of teaching strategies to use," she says. But Simpson and company are particularly interested in the dynamics of hybrid languages known as creoles. Such languages develop spontaneously when -- usually -- children listen to a pidgin language cobbled together as a lingua franca by adults who speak different languages. "The Lajamanu and Kalkaringi kids are either acquiring a weird variety of a local creole, called Kriol, or they are developing a new mixed language based on Kriol," says Simpson, who explains that children everywhere are master language builders. Indeed, youngsters are on the job around the globe, especially in cities where languages mingle and change rapidly. The question is, are they creating enough new languages to counter the startling rate of language extinction? Yes, no, maybe, replies Yale University linguist Laurence Horn. Speaking at the AAAS meeting, he suggested the answer may well be a matter of definitions. "What counts as a language, a mere dialect or jargon?" he asked in rhetorical mode. According to Horn, non-linguist factors affect the answer. Power, money, literary tradition, the nature of a writing system and even whether or not a community needs a new language are all involved in separating true languages from linguistic wannabes such as Esperanto, which lingers in the conversational backwaters. Although Esperanto was devised deliberately by Ludwig Zamenhof, Eubonics is a version of English popularised by young African Americans. Is it non-standard English, a dialect, a language, or a street vernacular? Some linguists agree with the Oakland, California's 1997 school board decree that Eubonics is "a genetically-based language", while others disagree vehemently. And what about Scots, spoken in the film Trainspotting, the Slinglish of Singapore, the Japlish of Japan or any of the other Englishes of the world? Debates rage as to whether they're shiny new languages or jumped-up dialects destined for the linguistic scrap heap. At the broadest level, the definitional debates may be irrelevant if one of Graddol's predictions comes true. He argues that although a handful of languages will dominate, people will continue speaking other tongues at home. The bilingual - even multilingual - world of tomorrow may well resemble the one in which Jesus walked. After all, like his contemporaries, he probably spoke Greek, Aramaic and maybe even a touch of Latin. From dzo at BISHARAT.NET Wed Mar 10 20:30:08 2004 From: dzo at BISHARAT.NET (Don Osborn) Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 21:30:08 +0100 Subject: Fw: Request for Latin American indigenous groups US Message-ID: FYI... ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ryan Monroe" To: ; Sent: Wednesday, March 10, 2004 5:31 PM Subject: FW: Request for Latin American indigenous groups US ----Original Message Follows---- From: "Justin Estoque" To: CC: "Terry SNOWBALL" ,"Jacquetta Swift" Subject: Request for organizations and festivals for Latin Americanindigenous groups US Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 11:02:16 -0500 Ryan, I'm glad to get ahold of you briefly this morning. As I mentioned, in conjunction with the opening of the National Museum of the American Indian on the National Mall, we are inviting Native communities and non-Native supporters from throughout the Western Hemisphere to join in a Native Nations Procession on the National Mall starting at the Smithsonian Castle. The Procession will form a highly symbolic journey eastward to the site of the Opening Ceremony, adjacent to the museum at the foot of the U.S. Capitol building. Thousands of people, many in Native dress and regalia, will walk in unison to the stage of the Grand Opening ceremony. The procession, to take place Tuesday, September 21, 2004, 8 a.m.-noon. will provide an enduring symbol for the dawning of a new era-the opening of the National Museum of the American Indian. At the present moment, we have contacts for many North American groups, but would like to increase our contacts for indigenous Latin American groups in the US. Because your line of work brings you in contact with many of these groups and their community centers or festivals, are there any specific organizations that you might recommend for us to contact? Or are there any specific festivals coming up in the next 6 months? We are trying to be as inclusive as possible; that is, we would like to distribute information or pay personal visits to such organizations in the DC, Philadelphia, Baltimore, or NYC areas even if they are not 100% indigenous. We already have a Spanish language registration site (see http://www.nmai.si.edu/ ), but we are also interested in getting the word out to Portuguese- and French-speaking groups. The project managers for the procession are Jackie Swift and Terry Snowball of our museum. Any leads you can provide us would be greatly appreciated! Thanks for your help, Ryan. Justin _________________________________________________________________ Find things fast with the new MSN Toolbar ~V includes FREE pop-up blocking! http://clk.atdmt.com/AVE/go/onm00200414ave/direct/01/ From mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US Wed Mar 10 20:52:05 2004 From: mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US (Matthew Ward) Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 13:52:05 -0700 Subject: Lost in translation (fwd) Message-ID: This article echoes something that I've been saying for years: focusing too strongly on the global status of English tends to obscure what is really going on with minority languages all over the world: they are not threatened by global language(s) per se, but by dominant national languages. Of course, speakers of indigenous languages in countries like the US, Britain, Austalia and New Zealand justifiably feel that the threat is coming mostly from English, but speakers of Aramaic would feel that their language is under threat from Arabic, Tibetans feel that their language is under threat from Mandarin Chinese, Basque and Quechua speakers feel that their language is under threat from Spanish, and speakers of Breton find their language under pressure from French. Hundreds of languages spoken in the Indian subcontinent are being primarily threatened by Hindi-Urdu, many tribal languages in the Amazon are being threatened by Portuguese or Spanish, and all over the large Malay-speaking realm of Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, the primarily threat is coming from varieties of Malay. I think that everybody on this planet has a good reason to feel wary of the English language, but it is not the reason for the fact that the vast majority of languages in the world are threatened. PS: Having lived in Japan, I can vouch that there there is no thing as a variety of English called "Japlish." Numerous English loanwords in Japanese, yes, slogans written in broken English (or broken French, Italian, Hindi, or Chinese!), yes, inperfect and Japanese-language-influenced English spoken by Japanese who study English as a foreign language, yes, but a new "English" spoken in Japan? No. "Japlish" is a myth fostered by ignorant Western journalists who mistake T-shirt slogans for a linguistic variety. It's like saying that the USA has developed a distinctive variety of Chinese, as manifested by various nonsensical, poorly written, obscene, and sometimes upside-down Chinese slogans tattooed on an ever-growing number of young Americans' bodies! phil cash cash wrote: >Lost in translation > >By Leigh Dayton >11mar04 >http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,8928176%5E28737,00.html > >IT'S a modern parable. While the box office take from Mel Gibson's >controversial film The Passion of the Christ skyrockets into the >multi-millions, the number of people speaking the language of Jesus is >dwindling into insignificance. > >Aramaic, the 2500-year-old tongue of the Assyrians, Babylonians, >Persians, Egyptians and Palestinians, is used as one of the languages >in Gibson's film, yet today it is spoken in only three Syrian villages. >Its probable fate as a spoken language? Extinction, say concerned >linguists. > >It's all part of a language crisis heralding the emergence of a new >linguistic world order, according to scholar David Graddol of Britain's >aptly named The English Company. > >"We will experience some decades of rapid and perhaps disorienting >change," he predicts ominously. In other words, Aramaic is not the only >language facing an uncertain future. > >Surprisingly, as Graddol says, English is sliding down the "league >table" of dominant languages. > >Why? To borrow from Treasurer Peter Costello, "demography is destiny". >The number of people born into English-speaking communities is falling >when compared with those born to parents whose native language is >Cantonese, Mandarin, Arabic and Hindi or Urdu, which many linguists >class as a single language. > >While English will power on as the language of science and politics, >Graddol spots a business trend which may unsettle monolingual English >speakers. "Employers in parts of Asia are already looking beyond >English," he argues. "In the next decade, the new must-learn language >is likely to be Mandarin." > >Graddol is not the only expert flagging enormous changes in what they >call the world's language system, one that has evolved over centuries. >David Harrison, a linguist at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, >estimates that as we speak -- literally -- we do so in between 6000 and >7000 languages worldwide, but not for long. > >"Linguistic diversity is undergoing a precipitous and unprecedented >decline," he said at the recent American Association for the >Advancement of Science meeting in Seattle. > >"This state of affairs has given rise to the dire, but not entirely >preposterous prediction, that fully one half of extant human languages >might well vanish in the course of this century." > >Graddol, a linguist, went further last month in the journal Science. > >"We may now be losing a language every day," he wrote, adding that 90 >per cent of all languages will perish this century. > >While Aramaic is the language of concern now, authorities such as >Harrison and Graddol claim it is unlikely to be the next language to >fade into nothingness. They predict that dubious honour will go to even >more obscure tongues such as Middle Chulym, a language Harrison >"discovered" last year in remote central Siberia. Out of a community of >426 people, he says only 35 speak it fluently. When those elders die, >so too will Middle Chulym. > >Clearly, indigenous languages worldwide are at greatest risk of serious >decline or extinction. After all, speakers experience the combined >impact of declining populations, technological advances and often >overwhelming economic and cultural pressure to join the global >community. Case in point: Australia's Aboriginal languages. > >The statistics are rubbery, yet they suggest that roughly 250 indigenous >languages were spoken in 1788. Today, possibly one-third of those >first-contact languages are gone. Of those remaining, only about 20 >have any hope of surviving. > >"It's undeniable that we're losing speakers," notes Faith Baisden, >projects manager with the Federation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait >Islander Languages, a national body advising the Aboriginal and Torres >Strait Islander Commission. Although she's studying it, Baisden doesn't >yet speak her own ancestral tongue, Yugambeh. There are only a handful >of people who do, she claims. > >Still, it's not all gloom and doom for so-called minority languages. >Speakers of such languages and advocates such as Baisden are fighting >back with some success. Hebrew was brought back from near extinction. >In the US, Mohawk has undergone a revival, and ever more New Zealand >kindergarteners are learning Maori. > >In Australia, Baisden claims that growing numbers of Aboriginal >communities are working with elders, applied linguists and groups such >as FATSIL and ATSIC to shore up endangered languages. > >They're developing dictionaries, web-based resources and other learning >materials, as well as pushing for native language instruction. > >It's all part of an international trend to bolster ancient rural and >indigenous languages, or at least to document them before they vanish. >For native speakers, this is a matter of urgency. Language epitomises >group identity and carries important cultural meanings, ones they hope >to pass on to the next generation. > >Moreover, Harrison points out that collectively the world's languages >embody the diverse possibilities of human speech. They embody >underlying mental structures that both shape and are shaped by the way >different peoples speak of their world, for instance number systems, >grammatical structures and ways of classifying kinship or natural >events. > >"Each language that vanishes without being documented leaves an enormous >gap in our understanding of some of the many complex structures the >human mind is capable of producing," Harrison says. > >University of Sydney linguistics specialist Jane Simpson, who is working >to save threatened languages, agrees. > >"What does it matter if you lose a particular frog species or if you >lose Michelangelo's David," she says. > >"Think of languages as works of human creativity." > >Simpson has teamed up with colleagues at the University of Melbourne and >the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander >Studies in Canberra. Along with four doctoral students, the group is >following pre-school children in three Aboriginal communities in the >Kimberley and Northern Territory. > >Over the four-year project the team hopes to learn how the youngsters >manage the different languages they hear, from their native language to >varieties of English. They want to know how the children shift between >languages with such ease and hope to find out if the linguistic >flip-flops affect language learning and use. > >"There are implications for how kids learn at school and what kind of >teaching strategies to use," she says. > >But Simpson and company are particularly interested in the dynamics of >hybrid languages known as creoles. Such languages develop spontaneously >when -- usually -- children listen to a pidgin language cobbled >together as a lingua franca by adults who speak different languages. > >"The Lajamanu and Kalkaringi kids are either acquiring a weird variety >of a local creole, called Kriol, or they are developing a new mixed >language based on Kriol," says Simpson, who explains that children >everywhere are master language builders. Indeed, youngsters are on the >job around the globe, especially in cities where languages mingle and >change rapidly. The question is, are they creating enough new languages >to counter the startling rate of language extinction? > >Yes, no, maybe, replies Yale University linguist Laurence Horn. Speaking >at the AAAS meeting, he suggested the answer may well be a matter of >definitions. "What counts as a language, a mere dialect or jargon?" he >asked in rhetorical mode. > >According to Horn, non-linguist factors affect the answer. Power, money, >literary tradition, the nature of a writing system and even whether or >not a community needs a new language are all involved in separating >true languages from linguistic wannabes such as Esperanto, which >lingers in the conversational backwaters. > >Although Esperanto was devised deliberately by Ludwig Zamenhof, Eubonics >is a version of English popularised by young African Americans. Is it >non-standard English, a dialect, a language, or a street vernacular? >Some linguists agree with the Oakland, California's 1997 school board >decree that Eubonics is "a genetically-based language", while others >disagree vehemently. > >And what about Scots, spoken in the film Trainspotting, the Slinglish of >Singapore, the Japlish of Japan or any of the other Englishes of the >world? Debates rage as to whether they're shiny new languages or >jumped-up dialects destined for the linguistic scrap heap. > >At the broadest level, the definitional debates may be irrelevant if one >of Graddol's predictions comes true. He argues that although a handful >of languages will dominate, people will continue speaking other tongues >at home. > >The bilingual - even multilingual - world of tomorrow may well resemble >the one in which Jesus walked. After all, like his contemporaries, he >probably spoke Greek, Aramaic and maybe even a touch of Latin. > > > From coyotez at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU Wed Mar 10 22:57:26 2004 From: coyotez at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU (David Lewis) Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 14:57:26 -0800 Subject: Chinuk Lu'lu 2004 Registration In-Reply-To: <404E0F08.2080901@adisoft-inc.com> Message-ID: Jim Holton wrote: > I've put up a web page for registration. Please feel free to start > using it. The page doesn't contain a lot of information right now, but > I'll be updating it over the next few weeks, so check back often. The > URL is: > > http://www.adisoft-inc.com/lulu > > Hope to see you at the lu'lu in May. > > Klahawyem, Jim > From dzo at BISHARAT.NET Thu Mar 11 12:44:05 2004 From: dzo at BISHARAT.NET (Don Osborn) Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2004 13:44:05 +0100 Subject: Fw: [GKD] Invitation to Virtual Conference on Indigenous ICT Use Message-ID: Here's more. Not sure how much indigenous languages are used - perhaps the websites would indicate. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Luis Barnola" To: Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2004 2:31 AM Subject: Re: [GKD] Invitation to Virtual Conference on Indigenous ICT Use > On 09/03/2004, Michael Gurstein wrote / a ecrit: > > > The SMART First Nations Demonstration project is a three year initiative > > led by the Keewaytinook Okimakanak (Northern Chiefs) Council in > > partnership with the government of Canada that blends community > > leadership with technological innovation. > > > Hi Michael: > > I would like to add to your description that an excellent case study > about K-Net, a program of Keewaytinook Okimakanak tribal council, is > available online. Sponsored by ICA/IDRC and prepared by Ricardo Ramirez, > Helen Aitkin, Rebekah Jamieson and Don Richardson, a full set of > different case studies (about the rapid development of K-Net's technical > infrastructure and services, and its impacts on local health, education, > and local economic development) is available online at: > > http://www.icamericas.net/Cases_Reports/K-Net/K-Net-Spanish.pdf > (Spanish) > http://www.icamericas.net/Cases_Reports/K-Net/KNET-Final%20light%20ENG.pdf > (English) > > A wonderful website with video footage and artful versions of these > documents, is available here (Flash interface): > http://smart.knet.ca/kuhkenah_flash.html > > A one-page summary follows below: > > -------------------------------------------------- > > Harnessing ICTs: A Canadian first nations experience. K-Net Program. > > Ricardo Ramirez, Helen Aitkin, Rebekah Jamieson, Don Richardson > Guelph, Canada > November 2003 > > > This case study collection concerns the work of K-Net, a program of > Keewaytinook Okimakanak (KO) tribal council. K-Net is providing > information and communication technologies (ICTs) to First Nations > communities in remote regions of northwestern Ontario, Canada. The > network supports the development of online applications that combine > video, voice and data services requiring broadband and high-speed > connectivity solutions. This case study collection includes an > Introduction and four specialized case studies covering Network > Development, Education, Health and Economic Development. > > The KO communities are part of Nishnawbe-Aski Nation (NAN), located in > northern Ontario, across an area roughly the size of France. NAN > includes a total population of approximately 25,000 people. The majority > of this population is aboriginal and lives in remote communities with > 300-900 inhabitants. For many communities, the only year-round access > into or out of their area is by small airplane. > > What K-Net has achieved in less than a decade in terms of network and > technical infrastructure development is impressive: several communities > have gone from having one phone for 400 people four years ago, to > accessing broadband services from individual homes today. There are few > rural communities in Canada -- and particularly few remote ones -- that > have experienced such a dramatic transformation in such a short period > of time. > > The five case studies capture the rapid development of K-Net's technical > infrastructure and services, and its impact on local health, education, > and economic development. While the technologies offer new opportunities > immediately, the full extent of their impact in these sectors will take > some years to become known. The case studies were prepared using > first-hand accounts from people in the KO communities, online resources, > and a Sustainable Livelihoods conceptual framework. Please see > for the full multi-media version of this study, > complete with video footage. > > This series is entitled Harnessing ICTs. Information and communication > technologies are powerful, new vehicles that can be controlled and > directed by indigenous communities to help them arrive at their own > goals. K-Net's case studies offer stories of how people embrace change > with modern tools while balancing the traditions and ways taught by > their elders. > > This series is directed at both Canadian and international audiences, > and in particular, readers from indigenous communities in Latin America > and the Caribbean who may wish to replicate this effort. The K-Net > experience offers "lessons that can travel"; most importantly, that > community needs and demands drive technology and network infrastructure > development. Any other group around the world wishing to create a > similar network will have to respond to its own unique geographic, > political, financial and social situation. > > ---------- > > I hope you enjoy it, > Luis Barnola > > > -------------------------------------------------------- > Luis Barnola > Senior Program Specialist > Institute for Connectivity in the Americas - ICA > www.icamericas.net > 250 Albert Street, PO Box 8500, Ottawa ON, K1G 3H9 (Canada) > PHONE (613) 236 6163 #2047 FAX (613) 567 7749 > > > > ------------ > ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, a Non-Profit Organization*** > To post a message, send it to: > To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: > . In the 1st line of the message type: > subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd > Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: > > From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Thu Mar 11 15:13:01 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2004 08:13:01 -0700 Subject: Technology builds tribal relationship (fwd) Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable User-Agent: Internet Messaging Program (IMP) 4.0-cvs Technology builds tribal relationship Posted: March 10, 2004 - 9:27am EST by: Christine Graef / Correspondent / Indian Country Today WAUKESHA, Wis. - Scattered across the continent, living in neighborhoods in rural and urban areas, the Mohican people now connect through a group called Mohican-7, a Wisconsin-based interactive Web site that allows dialogue and language to flow among the tribes. "Most of the Mohican people do not live on the reservation, but are scattered across the country," said Wenona Gardner of the Stockbridge-Munsee band of Mohicans, founder of the group. "There are many Mohican people living in areas especially outside of Wisconsin who want to be connected to their tribe to learn its language, culture, arts, but never had a means to connect with other Mohicans on a regular basis." Gardner, a writer and artist, said that technology can allow the average tribal member to build more positive relationships with their own tribal members that previously were inaccessible due to location. A group such as this allows people to pool their knowledge together on how to help each other accomplish personal and group goals of shared Mohican interests. In just a few months they already have a group of over 700 messages and growing membership of almost 90 members. Members talk about such things as language and genealogy. "I believe the Mohican people=C2=92s greatest resource is its own people," she said. "Our nation needed to be talking to each other more on a person-to-person basis." Mohican-7 was established on the Internet in September 2003 to bring all Mohicans together regardless of where they live. One member was serving in the military during the Iraq war while still receiving messages via Mohican-7, from home. The Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians descended from Mohicans and Munsee Delawares who migrated from New York, Pennsylvania and New England to Wisconsin in the 1820s and 1830s. Mohican, originally pronounced Muh-he-con-ne-ok means "People of The Waters That Are Never Still." They occupied the Upper Hudson River Valley in New York state until the years between 1783 and 1786 when European settlement removed them from their homeland. "I hate the words =C2=91The Last of the Mohicans=C2=92 and the myth it has perpetuated that the Mohican tribe is dead and has been for a long time," said Gardner. "It is not very life affirming to grow up in a world that repeatedly tells you are suppose to be dead. I thought that a new idea needed to be introduced that projects life of the Mohican people not just today but in the future. What a thought, the Mohican tribe growing and thriving seven generations from now, like in the year 2300." Gardner=C2=92s interest in language began when she was in her teens and wanted to write a poem using her tribe=C2=92s language. "Language is alive. It=C2=92s organic. It is born from the spirit and minds of the people. It is spoken from their breath," said Gardner. "In my eyes the words are like golden threads weaving us all together. Having the opportunity to use the words of my ancestors are like golden heirlooms." Her interest led her to work on Schmick=C2=92s Mahican Dictionary, edited by Carl Masthay in 1991. Looking for ways to use language in her day-to-day life, she formed the group and brought Masthay on board. Gardner is also turning Schmick=C2=92s dictionary into electronic database to use in teaching Mohican-7 members from the American Philosophical Society. "I created a language experiment called Keeper of the Word," she said. "Each member picks a single word to learn and dedicate to teaching others for their entire life. People can use their word in creative ways such as part of the signature of their email, on their profile or part of a poem." This activity engages people in taking an interest in the language one word at a time and encourages sharing it with others at the same time. Language is meant to be used for community involvement, Gardner said. Communication is daily and ongoing. This group is interactive in a way that lets people upload pictures of their families, files including music, the language database, polls, and the message archives. Questions, geneology requests, debates and birthday cards are shared by members ranging from children to elders. There is a designated chat time each week. Subjects include the Mo he con nuk Confederacy, Woodland Indians, Algonquin, Stockbridge-Munsee band of Mohicans, Hudson River Valley Housatonic, Wisconsin New York tribes, Mohican language, Mohican government, Mohican Constitution and Mohican arts. "Using online groups to provide tribal members the opportunity to get to know each other, share events, knowledge, wisdom, articles, and personal insights is not just good for the individual tribal members but the tribe as a whole," said Gardner. "I believe creating this group helps the Mohican nation, and using the Internet in this way can help other Native nations work better towards achieving common goals through increasing communication." What is nice about the Internet is that you can use it for free to create and can include tribal members who may not make it to the reservation often enough to talk about matters on a regular basis, Gardner said. Gardner visited different Native language classes to observe how other Native nations were teaching their Native languages. She said that having the opportunity to interact with others is important in learning a second language. "Factor in that of the 1,500 enrolled tribal members, 1,100 members live off reservation, something unique needs to be done to connect these people to each other," Gardner said. "The web I find is a good way to connect on this language topic. There are a lot of articles on what Native people are doing to resurrect their languages. I study them and send the most intriguing ones to the group." One of the consistent compliments she said she receives about this group is that it=C2=92s much needed. "I agree," she said. "We need to see our tribe as more than just a reservation and include all of its members who live off reservation." For more information, contact http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mohican-7. This article can be found at http://IndianCountry.com/?1078928912 From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Thu Mar 11 15:55:05 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2004 08:55:05 -0700 Subject: Fw: [GKD] Invitation to Virtual Conference on Indigenous ICT Use In-Reply-To: <004f01c40766$a2ff1060$c6e4fbc1@gktg001> Message-ID: thanks Don, the flash intro... > > http://smart.knet.ca/kuhkenah_flash.html was nice. phil > ----- Message from dzo at BISHARAT.NET --------- > Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2004 13:44:05 +0100 > From: Don Osborn > Reply-To: Indigenous Languages and Technology > Subject: Fw: [GKD] Invitation to Virtual Conference on Indigenous ICT Use > To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU > > Here's more. Not sure how much indigenous languages are used - > perhaps the > websites would indicate. > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Luis Barnola" > To: > Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2004 2:31 AM > Subject: Re: [GKD] Invitation to Virtual Conference on Indigenous ICT > Use > > > > On 09/03/2004, Michael Gurstein wrote / a ecrit: > > > > > The SMART First Nations Demonstration project is a three year > initiative > > > led by the Keewaytinook Okimakanak (Northern Chiefs) Council in > > > partnership with the government of Canada that blends community > > > leadership with technological innovation. > > > > > > Hi Michael: > > > > I would like to add to your description that an excellent case > study > > about K-Net, a program of Keewaytinook Okimakanak tribal council, > is > > available online. Sponsored by ICA/IDRC and prepared by Ricardo > Ramirez, > > Helen Aitkin, Rebekah Jamieson and Don Richardson, a full set of > > different case studies (about the rapid development of K-Net's > technical > > infrastructure and services, and its impacts on local health, > education, > > and local economic development) is available online at: > > > > http://www.icamericas.net/Cases_Reports/K-Net/K-Net-Spanish.pdf > > (Spanish) > > > http://www.icamericas.net/Cases_Reports/K-Net/KNET-Final%20light%20ENG.pdf > > (English) > > > > A wonderful website with video footage and artful versions of these > > documents, is available here (Flash interface): > > http://smart.knet.ca/kuhkenah_flash.html > > > > A one-page summary follows below: > > > > -------------------------------------------------- > > > > Harnessing ICTs: A Canadian first nations experience. K-Net > Program. > > > > Ricardo Ramirez, Helen Aitkin, Rebekah Jamieson, Don Richardson > > Guelph, Canada > > November 2003 > > > > > > This case study collection concerns the work of K-Net, a program of > > Keewaytinook Okimakanak (KO) tribal council. K-Net is providing > > information and communication technologies (ICTs) to First Nations > > communities in remote regions of northwestern Ontario, Canada. The > > network supports the development of online applications that > combine > > video, voice and data services requiring broadband and high-speed > > connectivity solutions. This case study collection includes an > > Introduction and four specialized case studies covering Network > > Development, Education, Health and Economic Development. > > > > The KO communities are part of Nishnawbe-Aski Nation (NAN), located > in > > northern Ontario, across an area roughly the size of France. NAN > > includes a total population of approximately 25,000 people. The > majority > > of this population is aboriginal and lives in remote communities > with > > 300-900 inhabitants. For many communities, the only year-round > access > > into or out of their area is by small airplane. > > > > What K-Net has achieved in less than a decade in terms of network > and > > technical infrastructure development is impressive: several > communities > > have gone from having one phone for 400 people four years ago, to > > accessing broadband services from individual homes today. There are > few > > rural communities in Canada -- and particularly few remote ones -- > that > > have experienced such a dramatic transformation in such a short > period > > of time. > > > > The five case studies capture the rapid development of K-Net's > technical > > infrastructure and services, and its impact on local health, > education, > > and economic development. While the technologies offer new > opportunities > > immediately, the full extent of their impact in these sectors will > take > > some years to become known. The case studies were prepared using > > first-hand accounts from people in the KO communities, online > resources, > > and a Sustainable Livelihoods conceptual framework. Please see > > for the full multi-media version of this > study, > > complete with video footage. > > > > This series is entitled Harnessing ICTs. Information and > communication > > technologies are powerful, new vehicles that can be controlled and > > directed by indigenous communities to help them arrive at their own > > goals. K-Net's case studies offer stories of how people embrace > change > > with modern tools while balancing the traditions and ways taught by > > their elders. > > > > This series is directed at both Canadian and international > audiences, > > and in particular, readers from indigenous communities in Latin > America > > and the Caribbean who may wish to replicate this effort. The K-Net > > experience offers "lessons that can travel"; most importantly, that > > community needs and demands drive technology and network > infrastructure > > development. Any other group around the world wishing to create a > > similar network will have to respond to its own unique geographic, > > political, financial and social situation. > > > > ---------- > > > > I hope you enjoy it, > > Luis Barnola > > > > > > -------------------------------------------------------- > > Luis Barnola > > Senior Program Specialist > > Institute for Connectivity in the Americas - ICA > > www.icamericas.net > > 250 Albert Street, PO Box 8500, Ottawa ON, K1G 3H9 (Canada) > > PHONE (613) 236 6163 #2047 FAX (613) 567 7749 > > > > > > > > ------------ > > ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, a Non-Profit Organization*** > > To post a message, send it to: > > To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: > > . In the 1st line of the message type: > > subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd > > Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: > > > > > > > ----- End message from dzo at BISHARAT.NET ----- From pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET Thu Mar 11 16:25:58 2004 From: pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET (phil cash cash) Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2004 09:25:58 -0700 Subject: Interior Athabascan Tribal College Language Program Coordinator Instructor Position (fwd) Message-ID: > Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 13:43:14 -0700 > Subject: Interior Athabascan Tribal College Language Program > Coordinator Instructor Position Open > From: George Lessard > > Begin forwarded message: > Subject: IATC Language Program Coordinator Instructor Position Open > > Job Title: IATC Language Program Coordinator Instructor > > Job Summary: Job incumbent will be responsible for the design, > development, coordination, and delivery of language programs at the > Interior Athabascan Tribal College. Job incumbent will act as Liaison > between the Interior Athabascan Tribal College and the Alaska Native > Language Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. In order to > facilitate this role, IATC will seek ANLC Affiliate Faculty status for > the incumbent. > > Qualifications: Masters in Linguistics, Education or related field of > study required. Education to include study or experience in an Alaska > Native Language and language teaching. Fluency in an Athabascan > language preferred. Experience in post-secondary language instruction > and curriculum development preferred. > Ability to teach lower-division undergraduate courses in language > teaching methodology and curriculum development. Strong oral, > written, interpersonal, and analytical skills. Must maintain strict > confidentiality. Ability to work professionally with individuals in a > diverse cultural. Familiarity of TCC tribes in the TCC service area > preferred. > > Closes: 3/15/04 > > TCC application required. Applications available on-line at: > http://www.tananachiefs.org/jobs/index.html > > Any inquiries regarding this position should be directed to: > > Holly Weaver > HR Recruiter > Tanana Chiefs Conference > 122 First Avenue, Suite 600 > Fairbanks, AK 99701 > Phone: 907-452-8251 Extension 3155 > E mail: holly.weaver at tananachiefs.org From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Fri Mar 12 16:59:14 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Fri, 12 Mar 2004 09:59:14 -0700 Subject: Technology serving as bridge between cultures (fwd) Message-ID: Technology serving as bridge between cultures http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2004/03/11/news/local/news08.txt By Andrea J. Cook, Journal Staff Writer RAPID CITY - Global-satellite photos and global- positioning systems are modern parallels to an American Indian scout seeking information for his tribe, according to James Rattling Leaf. Rattling Leaf, land and natural- resource developer for Sicangu Policy Institute at Sinte Gleska University in Mission, spoke Wednesday to students in Central High School's Lakolkiciyapi Room. Last summer, Sinte Gleska received a $5 million NASA grant to develop resource management systems and education tools. One product of the grant is a program called RezFinder, which Rattling Leaf demonstrated for the students. Using a satellite's topographic photo of Rosebud Indian Reservation, RezFinder displayed a parallel map of the same area. With the click of a computer button, Rattling Leaf expanded the satellite image to show a bird's eye view of a Rosebud community. "We can add sound," he said, giving the computer another command. Music from a Lakota drum group filled the classroom, and with another command, a Lakota speaker was heard. RezFinder is helping bridge generations on the reservation and preserve cultural awareness, Rattling Leaf said. The program has maps that show historical tribal boundaries. "We link language and songs to protect and preserve the language," he said. Rattling Leaf said it's important to get kids involved in what global information systems, or GIS, can do for them, and especially for American Indians. >From satellite imagery to a hand-held global-positioning system and demographic information, GIS encompasses a multitude of information-gathering technologies. "GIS is relevant because it's about the land, and that's what defines us as a people," Rattling Leaf told the students. In the past, a tribe depended on scouts to gather reliable information that guided the people's decisions, he said. "They wanted the best information available," he said. Today, GIS can serve a similar purpose and provide information the tribe can use for economic development and management on the reservation, he said. "We use GIS demographic information to track our high rollers at the casino," he said. GIS is also used to manage the tribe's buffalo herd. "We're pushing GIS because it's land related," Rattling Leaf said. GIS is also interdisciplinary and involves other sciences, culture and business. Central geography teacher Valerie Johns said that Rattling Leaf's presentation was important because he illustrated the correlation between math and science. Using satellite photos, Rattling Leaf showed the students thermographic images of ocean currents, the heat generated by cultivated and noncultivated land, and storms forming on land and in the sea. Rattling Leaf emphasized that a fire burning in Africa affects climate in other parts of the world. Michelle Frye, the Rapid City School District's community partnership facilitator, coordinated Rattling Leaf's visit to the freshman classroom. "You're the ones who can make a difference," she told the students who heard Rattling Leaf's presentation. "Technology is creating huge boosts to information," Frye said. "And you're going to have to learn to use that information." Rattling Leaf said, "We're trying to build this culture for merging science and technology with our traditions." The goal is also to develop a new generation of leaders capable of making the connection between the technology and the land, he said. Contact Andrea Cook at 394-8423 or andrea.cook at rapidcityjournal.com Copyright ? 2004 The Rapid City Journal Rapid City, SD From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sat Mar 13 20:40:39 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2004 13:40:39 -0700 Subject: Nurture Learning From the Past (fwd) (Re: Indn Words for Science) Message-ID: Nurture Learning From the Past http://allafrica.com/stories/200403120248.html Business Day (Johannesburg) COLUMN March 12, 2004 Posted to the web March 12, 2004 By Philip Nel Johannesburg THE concept of indigenous knowledge systems is a relatively new one in the South African academic and scientific discourse, and is still regarded by some as a throwback to earlier debates over relevance and Africanisation of our education system. However, it is far more than that. Indigenous knowledge systems are about a reappropriation of the knowledge, practices, values, ways of knowing and sharing, in terms of which communities have survived for centuries. It is about accommodating and recognising displaced and misused indigenous knowledge. Indigenous knowledge systems span not only scientific knowledge about plants and medicines (as practised by traditional healers), agriculture, mathematics and geometry, but the rationality of cultural practices and rites that brought about social cohesion (for instance, lobola), the creativity and artistry of dance and music, as well as the technology of fashioning hand-made tools, clothing and beadwork. Recently, several prominent South African and overseas intellectuals made an impassioned plea for indigenous knowledge systems to be accorded their rightful place in the vast array of scientific and scholarly traditions. What they were saying in essence was that the knowledge, practices, values and modes of thinking of communities which had been suppressed, marginalised and exploited by the legacy of colonialism can, and should, contribute to the creation of new knowledge and new modes of thinking. As pointed out by participants at the international colloquium on indigenous knowledge systems at the University of the Free State earlier this month, western science has regarded indigenous knowledge as primitive not contributing to the knowledge of humankind. In reaction, scholars of indigenous knowledge systems argue that the need to reconstruct indigenous epistemologies is about claiming lost epistemology. The central challenge is to revisit the typical academic way of doing things. Has it delivered the outcomes we all hoped for? The pursuit of indigenous knowledge would say: let us sit down together and from the entry point make indigenous knowledge systems part of the methodological reshaping of the scientific agenda, recognise existing systems of knowledge and advance them through the projects we devise and the ethical codes we ascribe to. At times the debate about what constitutes indigenous knowledge systems their role in society and relationship to exogenous (western) knowledge systems and modes of thinking can become quite heated and polarised. Participants at the international colloquium raised a number of critical issues which need to be addressed. First, who and what are the practitioners and advocates of indigenous knowledge systems? As it was put by one participant: "Are we born-again social anthropologists, sociologists, historians or ethnographers?" In reality, current indigenous knowledge systems scholars include all these disciplines and more, precisely because a central feature of these systems is their multidisciplinary nature. This is also a reflection of the interconnectedness of human experience a key principle of indigenous knowledge systems, which also make human experience and the betterment of such experience their focus. This contrasts with the western scientific tradition, in which science has become divorced from its human roots, and tries to make the human link in only an effort to justify some of its outcomes. Second, the question was asked whether current indigenous knowledge systems scholars are projecting the dominant (western) modes of thinking and epistemologies on to particular projects and research and calling them indigenous knowledge systems. In other words, what is the basic difference between an indigenous knowledge systems research methodology, mode of thinking and knowledge generation, and dominant (western) ones? Third, what is the role of indigenous knowledge systems in current initiatives to transform and restructure the higher education system? The University of the Free State is a case in point. The institution has adopted a vision of a robust university critically engaged with the community on the basis of academic excellence and social justice. Surely indigenous knowledge has a role to play as a strategy to engage the existing academic paradigms so as to better serve the community? Fourth, the question arose as to how to share and increase the benefits to the community that can accrue from indigenous knowledge systems and their application in the modern world. There are many different models, and each one will be appropriate for any given set of circumstances. But the fundamental point is that the unsustainable exploitation of indigenous knowledge systems must come to an end and their benefits be shared among their custodians. This is a critical question and will certainly allow indigenous knowledge systems to contribute very tangibly to the national developmental agenda. Linked to this is the need to develop a national policy framework on intellectual property rights which links with indigenous knowledge systems. But again the question was posed at the colloquium: how do indigenous knowledge systems become intellectual property, and what is gained and what is lost for the communities concerned when their indigenous knowledge becomes a pharmaceutical product? What happens to the values, culture, tradition, world view and rationality that encapsulates indigenous knowledge in that particular community? The hegemony of a globalised scientific system might be a threat to the very noble outcomes that it promises. This imposition may be avoided if community-based and locally based knowledge systems are part and parcel of the exploratory quest for a civil society and a humanity of caring and sharing. Tertiary institutions, as the custodians of academia in particular, will have to rethink the very heart of their practice if community engagement is a value to which they subscribe. Prof Nel is African Studies department head at Free State University. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sun Mar 14 16:32:17 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sun, 14 Mar 2004 09:32:17 -0700 Subject: Heart of language beats at home (fwd) Message-ID: Heart of language beats at home http://www.guampdn.com/news/stories/20040314/localnews/73664.html By Oyaol Ngirairikl Pacific Daily News; ongirairikl at guampdn.com Chamorro language teachers have spoken of the loss of the Chamorro language. Many have noted fewer members of the younger generations of Chamorros can speak the language. With the month of March being Chamorro Month, the emphasis on learning the language has been amplified. Chamorro language teachers said there are resources available to Chamorro people and others who want to learn the language. Teachers said the Chamorro language is an integral part of the culture and the identity of a Chamorro person. Peter Onedera, a Chamorro language teacher, playwright and author, has said the Chamorro language is the "soul of the culture." "If the language disappears, the culture will slowly disappear also," Onedera said. Ann Rivera, administrator of the Department of Education Office of Chamorro Studies, said the language holds the values of the culture. Rivera gave the word chenchule as an example. One of the more common meanings of chenchule is gift or present. "These days, when you think of chenchule, many people think of the envelope with money that you bring to the christening or wedding," Rivera said. "But those who speak the language of Chamorro know there is more to 'chenchule' than that," Rivera said. "The word 'chenchule' speaks to the value of family and community. It's the reciprocation of assistance to someone in the community who is in need." "The Chamorro people, we always understood that no matter where you are in life, you're going to need help one of these days. So you have the cultural value of 'chenchule' to remind you that no one can live independently of everyone else," Rivera said. Rosa Salas Palomo, who works at the Micronesian Language Institute at the University of Guam, said there are resources available to those who want to learn the language. "We just have to harness them so we can ensure we learn the language, and our children learn the language," Palomo said, quickly adding that the home is the best place to teach and learn a language. Palomo said she is familiar with some families who are immersing their children in the Chamorro language at home. "They speak only Chamorro at home," Palomo said. "It is a conscious effort on their part to teach their children the language and really that's the best way for children to learn." Onedera said grandparents and aunts and uncles also can be tapped in the learning process. "Find someone who knows the language who can teach you," Onedera said. But what about families who don't speak Chamorro? Rivera said students are required to take Chamorro language courses in public schools. Onedera said the university offers Chamorro language courses. The Guam Community College also offers courses, said GCC spokeswoman Cathy Gogue, adding accommodations can be made for groups of at least 10 people. "We have done it in the past where we've created a class for people who say are going to be doing a presentation and want to make sure they put together a well-written speech in Chamorro or have all the pronunciation right," Gogue said. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Mon Mar 15 15:49:30 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2004 08:49:30 -0700 Subject: The World Today - Moves to save dying languages (fwd) Message-ID: The World Today - Moves to save dying languages [This is the print version of story http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2004/s1066380.htm] This is a transcript from The World Today. The program is broadcast around Australia at 12:10pm on ABC Local Radio. The World Today - Monday, 15 March?, 2004? 12:44:24 Reporter: Nance Haxton HAMISH ROBERTSON: According to UNESCO, more than half of the world's 6,000 languages are in danger of dying out, ranging from native American languages in the United States to Scottish Gaelic, which is now spoken by only 60,000 or so mostly elderly people. Well, with growing concern about the rapid disappearance of so many languages around the world, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission is beginning a study of Aboriginal languages in Australia. When white settlers first arrived here, it's estimated that more than 250 distinct Aboriginal languages were spoken. Today, that number has dropped to 15. Nance Haxton reports from Adelaide. NANCE HAXTON: It's been dubbed the growth of Mclanguage, the increasing global prevalence of the four super languages, English, Spanish, Chinese and Arabic at the sacrifice of all others. In the past 100 years more than half of the world's languages have effectively disappeared. ATSIC Commissioner Rodney Dillon says they hope any more Aboriginal languages going the same way by identifying which languages are endangered, that is spoken by less than 20 people. RODNEY DILLON: Languages are in danger right across Australia, but it's not only about getting the language back, it's also about talking the language and having the kids talking the language, because if you get down to ten there's something wrong in that community. So we've got to see what's breaking that down. We've got to go, you know, not only do we have to measure but we have to figure out why it's been broke down further. NANCE HAXTON: It's almost like the health of that language is an indication of the health of that community? RODNEY DILLON: Yeah, that's what we're trying to measure. NANCE HAXTON: The Pitjantjara choir from the isolated desert country in northern South Australia still sings in traditional language, but Pitjantjara is one of the few dialects in Australia still spoken by its entire community. In Australia, one indigenous language is lost each year. If the trend is left unchecked, it is estimated by 2050 no indigenous languages will exist in any meaningful sense in Australia. Mr Dillon says when a language ceases to be spoken much more is lost than words. RODNEY DILLON: These languages is the oldest languages in the world. These are 50,000 and 60,000-year-old languages, you know. This is one of the most important projects that probably we'll be doing and it's important for Australia as well, you know, to be proud that they've held onto that or it's important that they don't lose it. NANCE HAXTON: Indigenous band Waak Waak Jungi is on its own crusade to keep traditional languages spoken in a modern context. Most of the band's songs are sung in the native tongue of the two song men from Arnhem Land, but they have also reconstructed songs from the extinct language of the Victorian Yarra Aboriginal people. Band member Jimmy Djamunba says speaking their language is vital to keeping their culture alive. JIMMY DJAMUNBA: Yes. Our making of life, give life, the language will be really alive, alright, because they have to translate singing, you know, singing and telling the story. Sometimes I talk with language, you know, this language, because back in Arnhem Land, I speak only in language, alright, I can teach young people with my language. NANCE HAXTON: ATSIC Commissioner Rodney Dillon says they hope once the study details how many distinct languages are still spoken, they can develop strategies for their preservation, such as better teaching programs in schools. RODNEY DILLON: The importance of our language is our way of life. It is who we are. It is how we identify who we are and I think when you lose your language you lose a lot. A lot of Aboriginal people have lost their language and are very unlucky not to have it and it's sad that we haven't got it because for one reason or another it's no longer there. But what we're trying to do is to make sure that the people that have got their language, that their language stays strong and we not only preserve the language but we keep the language going, more people talk the language and the kids talking the language. We've had a break down in that. HAMISH ROBERTSON: That was ATSIC Commissioner Rodney Dillon, ending that report by Nance Haxton in Adelaide. ? 2004 Australian Broadcasting Corporation From sdp at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Mon Mar 15 22:06:09 2004 From: sdp at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Sue Penfield) Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2004 15:06:09 -0700 Subject: Fw: Job: Salish Language CURA Project Coordinator Message-ID: ----- ----- Reply-To: ACL/CLA Subject: Poste-Job: Salish Language CURA Project Coordinator Salish Language CURA Project Coordinator: Job Description Start Date: Between 26 April, 2004 and 15 May, 2004 The Salish Language CURA is the result of an alliance between the Department of Linguistics of the University of Victoria, First Peoples' Cultural Foundation, First Peoples' Heritage Language and Culture Council, The Saanich Native Heritage Society, and the Hul'q'umi'num' Treaty Group. The CURA has two principal goals: 1. To do the research necessary to facilitate the revitalization of the two Salish languages spoken on southern Vancouver Island, SEN?O?EN and Hul'q'umi'num', including research on the languages that is directly relevant to language learning and teaching; research on the process of language revitalization; and research on the best methods for teaching and learning the two languages (for example, how best to use media such as computers, story-telling, etc.). 2. To facilitate the development of resources, materials and programs needed to take a large coordinated step toward the revitalization of SEN?O?EN and Hul'q'umi'num'. Objective: To support the research programs of the Salish Language CURA Project Responsibilities: o Administer and coordinate the activities supported by the CURA grant o Work closely with the Directors and Steering Committee of the CURA grant to ensure the smooth running of the project o Serve as a liaison with SSHRC, with CURA partners, with members of the Steering Committee, Elders Advisory Committee, and Peer Advisory Committee, and with individuals associated with the CURA grant Specific Duties: The exact nature of the Coordinator's duties will evolve and vary over the course of the Research Project. The coordinator will work under the direction of and meet regularly with the Director and Co-directors of the Research Project. Duties that are currently part of the job description include the following. o Administer the grant, including undertaking accounting, budget management, appointments of CURA employees, and associated secreterial work o Participate in administrative meetings and prepare reports on/minutes of these meetings o Explore and follow-up on fundraising activities associated with the CURA's various sub-projects; work with communities to coordinate funding applications o Participate in Human Resources activities: preparing job descriptions and coordinating hiring of project employees o Assist the Directors in developing funding and project proposals o Assist the Directors in preparing project reports o Coordinate any publicity associated with the CURA, including the setting-up and maintenance of a website o Other related activities, as required Minimum Requirements: Education: o Post secondary education: at least a Bachelor's degree (preferably with background in Linguistics or Language Education) or equivalent combination of education and experience o 2-3 years related experience Knowledge: o Knowledge of issues related to First Nations languages o Knowledge and work experience related to First Nations issues and concerns o Experience in and knowledge of a postsecondary academic institutional setting o Understanding of the culture of doing research o Demonstrated knowledge of budgeting and reporting requirements for funding agencies o Ability to handle documents electronically, including word-processing, using the internet and email o Ability to design and maintain a website o Knowledge of funding sources for language proposals Required Skills: o Excellent communication, written, interpersonal, and organizational skills o Computer literacy, including Microsoft Office software on a Macintosh computer, knowledge of bookkeeping software (e.g., Quickbooks) o Ability to handle confidential materials and deal with liaison activities with tact and discretion o Strong commitment to First Nations language preservation, culture, education and community o Ability to work to deadlines, determine priorities and schedule activities o Ability to work independently and to feel comfortable working alone o Public speaking skills and experience o Valid Driver's License The position is based at the University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, but some travel may occasionally be required. The position has a salary range of $40,000-45,000 per year. This is a limited term position. The period of tenure of the position can be no longer than approximately 5 years, and may be shorter. Please submit a resume and coverletter by fax (250-721-7423), email (salish at uvic.ca) or by mail before 4:00 pm April 1, 2004 Salish Language CURA Department of Linguistics University of Victoria PO Box 3045, Stn CSN Victoria, B.C V8W 3P4 Canada For more information, please contact Ewa Czaykowska-Higgins at (250)-721-7428, or by email eczh at uvic.ca ----- End forwarded message ----- From mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US Mon Mar 15 22:47:53 2004 From: mward at LUNA.CC.NM.US (Matthew Ward) Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2004 15:47:53 -0700 Subject: Heart of language beats at home (fwd) Message-ID: I once had a young Chamorro man as a roommate. He had grown up largely in the mainland US, so he understood Chamorro more than he spoke it, but I was impressed that when his girlfriend and some other college students from Guam came over, they spoke largely their own language to each other. They were very passionate about protecting their language; they spoke a lot about efforts in Guam to raise the status of their own language. They told me that in 1925, the US authorities gathered together all of the Chamorro dictionaries and burned them. The old standby, beating children who spoke their native language in schools, was also used. Since Guam is a US territory, we are really looking at yet another indigenous American language, facing the consequences of years of abuse. phil cash cash wrote: >Heart of language beats at home >http://www.guampdn.com/news/stories/20040314/localnews/73664.html > >By Oyaol Ngirairikl >Pacific Daily News; ongirairikl at guampdn.com > >Chamorro language teachers have spoken of the loss of the Chamorro >language. Many have noted fewer members of the younger generations of >Chamorros can speak the language. > >With the month of March being Chamorro Month, the emphasis on learning >the language has been amplified. > >Chamorro language teachers said there are resources available to >Chamorro people and others who want to learn the language. > >Teachers said the Chamorro language is an integral part of the culture >and the identity of a Chamorro person. > >Peter Onedera, a Chamorro language teacher, playwright and author, has >said the Chamorro language is the "soul of the culture." > >"If the language disappears, the culture will slowly disappear also," >Onedera said. > >Ann Rivera, administrator of the Department of Education Office of >Chamorro Studies, said the language holds the values of the culture. > >Rivera gave the word chenchule as an example. One of the more common >meanings of chenchule is gift or present. > >"These days, when you think of chenchule, many people think of the >envelope with money that you bring to the christening or wedding," >Rivera said. > >"But those who speak the language of Chamorro know there is more to >'chenchule' than that," Rivera said. > >"The word 'chenchule' speaks to the value of family and community. It's >the reciprocation of assistance to someone in the community who is in >need." > >"The Chamorro people, we always understood that no matter where you are >in life, you're going to need help one of these days. So you have the >cultural value of 'chenchule' to remind you that no one can live >independently of everyone else," Rivera said. > >Rosa Salas Palomo, who works at the Micronesian Language Institute at >the University of Guam, said there are resources available to those who >want to learn the language. > >"We just have to harness them so we can ensure we learn the language, >and our children learn the language," Palomo said, quickly adding that >the home is the best place to teach and learn a language. > >Palomo said she is familiar with some families who are immersing their >children in the Chamorro language at home. > >"They speak only Chamorro at home," Palomo said. "It is a conscious >effort on their part to teach their children the language and really >that's the best way for children to learn." > >Onedera said grandparents and aunts and uncles also can be tapped in the >learning process. > >"Find someone who knows the language who can teach you," Onedera said. > >But what about families who don't speak Chamorro? > >Rivera said students are required to take Chamorro language courses in >public schools. Onedera said the university offers Chamorro language >courses. > >The Guam Community College also offers courses, said GCC spokeswoman >Cathy Gogue, adding accommodations can be made for groups of at least >10 people. > >"We have done it in the past where we've created a class for people who >say are going to be doing a presentation and want to make sure they put >together a well-written speech in Chamorro or have all the >pronunciation right," Gogue said. > > > From CMcMillan at WVC.EDU Mon Mar 15 23:22:21 2004 From: CMcMillan at WVC.EDU (McMillan, Carol) Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2004 15:22:21 -0800 Subject: language and science Message-ID: The discussions of science and language inspired a four-in-the-morning "ah-ha" experience for me. I'm sending a copy of the draft of its result. As a non-Indian who works with the Colville Tribes' language program and who also teaches science, I have written this with other science teachers in mind as its audience. If you can take the time to read it (four pages,) I would greatly appreciate any and all feedback. If you like it, what do you think I should do with it? (If you don't like it, please don't answer the last question...) :-) Thanks, Carol McMillan DRAFT Besides Linearity: Lessons from Native American Languages for Rethinking Our Science Education Paradigm Carol McMillan, Ph.D. March 9, 2004 Wenatchee Valley College at Omak lies unobtrusively in the Okanogan Valley of Washington State. Nestled between two ranges of mountains, the Okanogan River marks a geologic boundary between colliding continental plates; a place of great drama if viewed on a grand time scale. From the perspective of us ephemeral humans who live here, the more visible collision is not geologic, but one of cultures. Rare in our U.S. history, some of the local Native American tribes remain at home, living where their ancestors have fished, hunted, dug roots, and picked huckleberries for many thousands of years. The culture is ancient, sophisticated, and rich in what?s often referred to as ?deep knowledge,? those things that can only be learned through countless generations of observation. I am one of the suyapis, those flighty, invasive newcomers whose ancestors, when driven from their native lands of Scotland and Ireland by the invading British, came to America and became the invaders of this land. As with most cultures, ours tends to be arrogant and ethnocentric, believing that we hold the truths with which we may enlighten others. Before our arrival, education flowed from the elders, both human and non-human. Correct behaviors were modeled rather than preached, silent observation of natural phenomenon led to deep understandings of the workings of nature, and psychological principles were taught through stories told in the darkness of winter. These were long-evolved paradigms for education; demonstrably successful over thousands of years. As a faculty member of the local community college, I am a purveyor of the new system. Merely a few hundred years old at best, this system has been demonstrably awesome in the manipulation of molecules, forcing them into intriguing categories and shapes. Like a bunch of aging children, we seem unable to resist the temptation to simply try something out and see what happens. We seem less concerned about ultimate results than we are infatuated by immediate novelties. While quite impressive materially, the driving force behind this culture does not seem to bode well for sustainability. Never-the-less, our forefathers (and, yes, also our foremothers) set about eliminating the existent educational systems of this continent, replacing them as completely as possible with one in which captive children are removed from their homes for between six and twenty-four hours each day, imprisoned in a square-cornered building filled with well-meaning adults who require them to think and behave in terms of linear, hierarchical subdivisions. While almost every parent complains about the local schools, we tend to believe whole-heartedly in their basic premises. Okanogan County can only be reached from outside by traveling over a hundred miles on two-lane roads. There was little violent combat between males when the white people arrived; most of the violence was carried out silently by the accompanying viruses, or was visited upon the heads of the children in the mission schools. This last was literal, not merely figurative. In the 1980?s, at our college?s first Pow-wow, a woman in her sixties spoke of attending the local boarding school. If she spoke her own language, the woman reported, the nun?s would strike a match and extinguish it on her tongue. Hearing these stories causes us suyapis to flinch in White guilt; we?d rather they were laid to rest. But if we move past the discomfort and past a bit of our innate ethnocentric worldviews, there awaits an awesome world of wisdom. Many Native Americans are understandably reluctant to share much of this wisdom, both because they were shamed for it and because of the painfully literal truth of the saying, ?Once burned, twice shy.? But for Indian children to succeed in the imposed school system without being totally subsumed into the white worldview, the cultural paradigms must be incorporated into our understanding of how learning takes place. Such a shift benefits not only Indian children, but would expand the worldviews of all learners passing through our institutions of education. Since all people learn in multiple ways, sincere teachers worldwide have been rediscovering methods that teach holistically. A generation ago, when linearity reined king, we were asked to outline all papers before beginning to write. An outline consisted of a linear, hierarchical ordering of our thoughts, deemed necessary before intelligible writing could begin. Although reared and nurtured in a highly logical, ?scientific? family, I have never mastered that art. My outlines were generated ex post facto, created after the papers were completed. More recently educators invented ?clustering,? balloons of linked concepts placed in no particular order. Neither lineal nor hierarchical, clustering allows an author to view all thoughts on a subject holistically before organizing them. Clustering shows an example of the possibilities awaiting us through non-linear thinking. A basic precept of anthropology teaches that cultures that build circular structures tend to view time as a spiral, to problem solve by council, and to think holistically. Cultures that build in squares and pyramids, on the other hand, tend to have hierarchies with coercive powers, to view time as linear, and to think sequentially: a goes to b, b goes to c. We also read that language and culture interweave, inextricably tied together, both reflecting and shaping a worldview. Since 1999 the Language Preservation Program of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation and Wenatchee Valley College have been working together to offer a course of study in which students can incorporate the learning of their native languages into a college degree program. Through extensive contact with elders, I have begun to glimpse the magnitude of a parallel universe in which I was not raised. Most of the languages taught in our schools are Indo-European, sharing an ancestry and structural similarly. We have textbooks and dictionaries with lists of words to memorize and incorporate into increasingly complex dialogs. Most of what challenges the reciprocal learners of these languages is the conjugation of verbs. For these we must learn to recognize various affixes, small units of meaning attached to the root words, indicating person and tense. Trying to consciously dissect a verb when hearing a language spoken leads to ones comprehension falling behind the words; the learner becomes lost. Only when these verbal affixes become ?second nature? to us can we begin to understand and to speak, automatically recognizing the meanings of the conjugations without trying to translate. Now try to imagine a language made up primarily of affixes. With fewer separate words standing on their own, the majority of meaning in a given sentence lies in a string of what linguists refer to as ?bound morphemes,? small units of meaning that cannot stand alone. Using English, one can say, ?Suddenly he decided to walk along the river, quickly moving upstream.? In the native languages of the Pacific Northwest, however, one encounters a single word constructed from multiple affixes: ?Person not oneself or the person being spoken to ? alone ? going ? in an upstream direction? along a small river - deciding suddenly to do this ? moving quickly ? in the past.? Haruo Aoki?s monumental dictionary of nimiputimptki, the Nez Perce language, is organized by word stems or roots.1 These can act either as nouns or verbs, depending on the affixes. To look up a Nez Perce word, one must be able to recognize which section holds the primary unit of meaning, a feat involving considerable knowledge of the language. The word "hiwacaptka?ykima" translates as ?He ran back and forth with his, through the length of the longhouse.?2 One can find it listed under the stem ?capati,? meaning ?to lie or move lengthwise,? with the subheading ?we,? meaning ?to run.? Also under capati one finds the command ??inahicilcaptx,? meaning ?Climb on a branch with it.? The reader must recognize ?capt? as the root section in each. One can see that our brains must approach the Nez Perce language differently than Indo-European languages. In English we can say, ?They collectively took down each one of the items he was carrying for him.? But in nimiputimtki the same meaning is conveyed with ?pewi?nekehneysene.? The latter cannot be deciphered in the linear manner one would use on the first. Listening to an Indo-European language one tracks the words sequentially, unconsciously knowing when to expect each part of speech. One?s brain can follow the flow of words, ticking off subjects, verbs, and modifying phrases as they are spoken. But, even unconsciously, a listener cannot use the same heuristic to decipher the second sentence. The brain must wait for all the affixes to present themselves, and then organize them into a meaningful whole. Martina Whelshula, a tribal educator who is seeking to become fluent in her heritage language, verbalized this shift beautifully. Her face lit with joy as she exclaimed, ?My language paints a picture in my head; I just watch it!?3 How the brain is utilized may differ somewhat depending on the language one speaks. The implications of this difference for science education may be quite large. Through language itself, Indo-European speakers practice sequential thought, while speakers of Native Languages process language more holistically. Logical, sequential brain functions may be consciously controlled; one can use ?critical thinking? inductively to reach conclusions. Holistic thinking, on the other hand, seems to be based on less conscious processes. One feeds the brain information and waits for the ?ah-ha? to be supplied to one?s conscious awareness, one must wait for the picture to be painted. Neuroscientists continue to make great strides in understanding learning and memory. Although the pre-frontal cortex appears to be the site of conscious, analytical thought, it is not the primary recipient of incoming sensory data. The thalamus and amygdala, tied more to our emotive processes, have first decision-making rights as to how data will be processed. Depending on our previous experience with a situation, these unconscious areas of our brains can choose to send impulses to our conscious minds for processing, can cause us to flee or avoid a situation, or can even shut down all neural channels to our frontal cortex, causing our minds to literally ?go blank.?4 Even if our frontal cortex receives the sensory data, it must rely on the unconscious processes of the hippocampus to retrieve bits of relevant stored memory from various sections of the brain and, after processing, to return the data for storage. By far the greatest amount of brain function in learning and memory are unconscious processes. Despite this fact, our educational systems continue to deify conscious, logical processes as the only valid method of learning. Controlled, sequential thought fits well with the linear paradigm of Anglo-American culture. Holistic thought, on the other hand, requires a great deal more trust and the release of conscious control. The unconscious mind must be trusted to be the bastion of learning and memory that it actually is. In the Anglo paradigm we tend to identify our ?selves? with areas of controlled consciousness. I would argue that Native Americans tend to have a broader definition of ?self,? encompassing more of the unconscious connections. This paper itself is based on a four-in-the-morning ?ah-ha? experience. Each winter for the past twenty years I have taught a course called ?Life Continuity? at Wenatchee Valley College. During those years I have refined and fine-tuned the class until I will admit to being quite pleased with my method of instruction; years after being in the class, students often contact me to say how it has stayed with them. These are the outcomes an instructor strives for. Yet this year, as I taught it again, my conscious mind registered a pattern that I?d been unconsciously observing throughout the history of the course. For the first half of the quarter I teach the processes of genetics. My goal is to have students become ?fluent? in the language of genes: what genes actually are, how they are created, how they work in the body, and how they are passed on. The second half of the quarter covers population genetics and evolution. Once students truly understand genes, we look at what happens to them in ecosystems, how the genes of various organisms affect each other. The two halves of the course are taught and assessed quite differently. I teach the genetic processes in a neat, organized, linear fashion: e.g., in ?transcription? there first comes a recognition of the allele on the DNA, then the chromosome ?puffs,? then RNA polymerase begins putting in matching nucleotides along the DNA bases . . . etcetera, etcetera, and so forth. Linear, sequential me and most of my linear, sequential-thinking students love it. I make it funny and fairly hands-on. But fairly quickly most of the Native American students in the class tend to begin losing the sparkle in their eyes. I must leap in with extra encouragement, convincing people they can understand it, re-explaining in my linear, sequential fashion. And somehow we muddle through to reach the second half of the quarter. Once we begin discussing ecosystems, how populations holistically interact, the Native students tend to blossom. Students who tended previously to be silent in class offer examples of complex adaptations and interactions. My morning ?ah-ha? that inspired this writing stemmed from a student who came to my office to do her ?check-off? for one of the genetic processes, her third attempt at explaining it to receive the requisite points for her grade. As she started drawing out the ?steps,? I attempted to intervene where I perceived she was leaving something out. To my way of thinking she was about to ?miss a step.? She pushed out her arm toward me, gesturing away my attempt to interrupt, saying, ?Just wait till I?ve got it all.? She then proceeded, in a non-linear fashion, to cover the paper with the appropriate drawings. Sitting back, obviously satisfied, when they were all drawn, she said, ?Now,? and proceeded to explain the process perfectly, pointing to each element and identifying its role, and thus receiving her points. She was using clustering, as opposed to outlining, to organize the material. The immediate response for both of us was relief and happiness. She tearfully hugged me and said, ?Now I can do the others.? My understanding of her process arrived at four the next morning, waking me up both literally and figuratively. While in my mind mRNA transcription and all the other processes I teach must go from a to b to c to d, in actuality they are circular and simultaneous in the body. Everything truly is happening at once. My dentist has a paper that he authored mounted on the wall of his office; it argues that time is merely a mental construct we use in order to explain motion.5 Time is not perceived as linear in all cultures. Sequencing is not the innate reality of all things. Linearity is a cultural concept. Ah-ha. I have taught these ideas for years in anthropology classes, but on that day I ?got it.? I approached my native students the next day, seeking their thoughts about my insight. The response was immediate and almost palpable, as if each person exhaled a breath she?d been holding for the entire quarter. Yes, the second half of the class is much easier. Yes, explain the processes of the first half in a more circular fashion; try to let all the elements be viewed. This way of thinking and teaching will take some adjustment. Linearity is useful as a mode of thinking and understanding; but it is not the only method, and possibly not even the most effective. It is an aspect of the culture into which I was born, and a fits glove-like with the language I speak. To serve all students we must venture into ways of thinking, knowing, and teaching that require conscious reliance on less conscious brain functions, quite a stretch for those of us who gain most comfort from a feeling of control. Although science purports to recognize the necessity of both inductive and deductive reasoning, and although many great scientists report that important ideas seem to arrive unbidden in their minds, our scientific educational systems mostly remain locked in linear methodologies. In an increasingly multicultural world where more recognition is being given to the power of diverse ways of gaining and processing information, perhaps it is time to venture out of the comfort zones. Many of us succeeded in the educational system because it was designed by and for our languages and our ways of thinking. By seeking and experimenting with holistic paradigms, inestimable benefit will be derived from the inclusion of diverse minds in the educational pool. 1Aoki, Haruo, Nez Perce Dictionary, 1994. University of California Press. Berkeley. 2 ibid. p. 7. 3Whelshula, Martina, personal communication. 4Passer, Michael W. and R.E. Smith, 2004. Psychology: the Science of Mind and Behavior, 2nd ed. McGraw Hill, New York. p. 89. 5Loudon, Merle, unpublished document. From miakalish at REDPONY.US Tue Mar 16 15:28:30 2004 From: miakalish at REDPONY.US (Mia - Main Red Pony) Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2004 08:28:30 -0700 Subject: language and science Message-ID: Dear Carol: I read your inspiration, or more accurately, skimmed, because I am already late for the "before meeting shower". . . but I was so touched by the small line: If you don't like it. . . I don't know quite where to publish this, which I assume is what you mean. Having just read it, my mind has not had time to percolate some of the ideas. (My dad was Irish; my mom Eastern European, btw). However, if you give me a little more time, and if you tell me whether you might be interested in exploring some of the ideas further. For example, there are 2 interesting books: Mysteries of the Hopewell, and Native American Science, both of which talk about the more abstract skills of the people who live here before. The mathematics, the symmetry, of the Hopewell mounds, is stunning, IMHO. The relation of mathematical abstraction to cultural needs is also very interesting. People seem to forget that the Western interpretation of mathematics and science is simply a set of languages that represent abstractions that derive from the needs and curiosites (and power struggles) of the Europeans. No more. No less. So let me know what you think. Based on the responses I have gotten from people, assembling a Major Concept of Native Science, and its Representation in Language may be worthy of a grant submission to the NSF. Tell me what you think. Regards, Mia ----- Original Message ----- From: "McMillan, Carol" To: Sent: Monday, March 15, 2004 4:22 PM Subject: language and science > > The discussions of science and language inspired a four-in-the-morning "ah-ha" experience for me. I'm sending a copy of the draft of its result. As a non-Indian who works with the Colville Tribes' language program and who also teaches science, I have written this with other science teachers in mind as its audience. If you can take the time to read it (four pages,) I would greatly appreciate any and all feedback. If you like it, what do you think I should do with it? (If you don't like it, please don't answer the last question...) :-) > Thanks, > Carol McMillan > > > > DRAFT > > Besides Linearity: Lessons from Native American Languages for > Rethinking Our Science Education Paradigm > > Carol McMillan, Ph.D. > March 9, 2004 > > Wenatchee Valley College at Omak lies unobtrusively in the Okanogan Valley of Washington State. Nestled between two ranges of mountains, the Okanogan River marks a geologic boundary between colliding continental plates; a place of great drama if viewed on a grand time scale. From the perspective of us ephemeral humans who live here, the more visible collision is not geologic, but one of cultures. Rare in our U.S. history, some of the local Native American tribes remain at home, living where their ancestors have fished, hunted, dug roots, and picked huckleberries for many thousands of years. The culture is ancient, sophisticated, and rich in what?~@~Ys often referred to as ?~@~\deep knowledge,?~@~] those things that can only be learned through countless generations of observation. > I am one of the suyapis, those flighty, invasive newcomers whose ancestors, when driven from their native lands of Scotland and Ireland by the invading British, came to America and became the invaders of this land. As with most cultures, ours tends to be arrogant and ethnocentric, believing that we hold the truths with which we may enlighten others. > Before our arrival, education flowed from the elders, both human and non-human. Correct behaviors were modeled rather than preached, silent observation of natural phenomenon led to deep understandings of the workings of nature, and psychological principles were taught through stories told in the darkness of winter. These were long-evolved paradigms for education; demonstrably successful over thousands of years. > As a faculty member of the local community college, I am a purveyor of the new system. Merely a few hundred years old at best, this system has been demonstrably awesome in the manipulation of molecules, forcing them into intriguing categories and shapes. Like a bunch of aging children, we seem unable to resist the temptation to simply try something out and see what happens. We seem less concerned about ultimate results than we are infatuated by immediate novelties. While quite impressive materially, the driving force behind this culture does not seem to bode well for sustainability. Never-the-less, our forefathers (and, yes, also our foremothers) set about eliminating the existent educational systems of this continent, replacing them as completely as possible with one in which captive children are removed from their homes for between six and twenty-four hours each day, imprisoned in a square-cornered building filled with well-meaning adults who require them to think and behave in terms of linear, hierarchical subdivisions. While almost every parent complains about the local schools, we tend to believe whole-heartedly in their basic premises. > Okanogan County can only be reached from outside by traveling over a hundred miles on two-lane roads. There was little violent combat between males when the white people arrived; most of the violence was carried out silently by the accompanying viruses, or was visited upon the heads of the children in the mission schools. This last was literal, not merely figurative. In the 1980?~@~Ys, at our college?~@~Ys first Pow-wow, a woman in her sixties spoke of attending the local boarding school. If she spoke her own language, the woman reported, the nun?~@~Ys would strike a match and extinguish it on her tongue. > Hearing these stories causes us suyapis to flinch in White guilt; we?~@~Yd rather they were laid to rest. But if we move past the discomfort and past a bit of our innate ethnocentric worldviews, there awaits an awesome world of wisdom. Many Native Americans are understandably reluctant to share much of this wisdom, both because they were shamed for it and because of the painfully literal truth of the saying, ?~@~\Once burned, twice shy.?~@~] But for Indian children to succeed in the imposed school system without being totally subsumed into the white worldview, the cultural paradigms must be incorporated into our understanding of how learning takes place. Such a shift benefits not only Indian children, but would expand the worldviews of all learners passing through our institutions of education. > Since all people learn in multiple ways, sincere teachers worldwide have been rediscovering methods that teach holistically. A generation ago, when linearity reined king, we were asked to outline all papers before beginning to write. An outline consisted of a linear, hierarchical ordering of our thoughts, deemed necessary before intelligible writing could begin. Although reared and nurtured in a highly logical, ?~@~\scientific?~@~] family, I have never mastered that art. My outlines were generated ex post facto, created after the papers were completed. More recently educators invented ?~@~\clustering,?~@~] balloons of linked concepts placed in no particular order. Neither lineal nor hierarchical, clustering allows an author to view all thoughts on a subject holistically before organizing them. Clustering shows an example of the possibilities awaiting us through non-linear thinking. > > A basic precept of anthropology teaches that cultures that build circular structures tend to view time as a spiral, to problem solve by council, and to think holistically. Cultures that build in squares and pyramids, on the other hand, tend to have hierarchies with coercive powers, to view time as linear, and to think sequentially: a goes to b, b goes to c. We also read that language and culture interweave, inextricably tied together, both reflecting and shaping a worldview. > Since 1999 the Language Preservation Program of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation and Wenatchee Valley College have been working together to offer a course of study in which students can incorporate the learning of their native languages into a college degree program. Through extensive contact with elders, I have begun to glimpse the magnitude of a parallel universe in which I was not raised. Most of the languages taught in our schools are Indo-European, sharing an ancestry and structural similarly. We have textbooks and dictionaries with lists of words to memorize and incorporate into increasingly complex dialogs. Most of what challenges the reciprocal learners of these languages is the conjugation of verbs. For these we must learn to recognize various affixes, small units of meaning attached to the root words, indicating person and tense. Trying to consciously dissect a verb when hearing a language spoken leads to ones comprehension falling behind the words; the learner becomes lost. Only when these verbal affixes become ?~@~\second nature?~@~] to us can we begin to understand and to speak, automatically recognizing the meanings of the conjugations without trying to translate. > Now try to imagine a language made up primarily of affixes. With fewer separate words standing on their own, the majority of meaning in a given sentence lies in a string of what linguists refer to as ?~@~\bound morphemes,?~@~] small units of meaning that cannot stand alone. Using English, one can say, ?~@~\Suddenly he decided to walk along the river, quickly moving upstream.?~@~] In the native languages of the Pacific Northwest, however, one encounters a single word constructed from multiple affixes: ?~@~\Person not oneself or the person being spoken to ?~@~S alone ?~@~S going ?~@~S in an upstream direction?~@~S along a small river - deciding suddenly to do this ?~@~S moving quickly ?~@~S in the past.?~@~] > Haruo Aoki?~@~Ys monumental dictionary of nimiputimptki, the Nez Perce language, is organized by word stems or roots.1 These can act either as nouns or verbs, depending on the affixes. To look up a Nez Perce word, one must be able to recognize which section holds the primary unit of meaning, a feat involving considerable knowledge of the language. The word "hiwacaptka?ykima" translates as ?~@~\He ran back and forth with his, through the length of the longhouse.?~@~]2 One can find it listed under the stem ?~@~\capati,?~@~] meaning ?~@~\to lie or move lengthwise,?~@~] with the subheading ?~@~\we,?~@~] meaning ?~@~\to run.?~@~] Also under capati one finds the command ?~@~\?inahicilcaptx,?~@~] meaning ?~@~\Climb on a branch with it.?~@~] The reader must recognize ?~@~\capt?~@~] as the root section in each. > One can see that our brains must approach the Nez Perce language differently than Indo-European languages. In English we can say, ?~@~\They collectively took down each one of the items he was carrying for him.?~@~] But in nimiputimtki the same meaning is conveyed with > ?~@~\pewi?nekehneysene.?~@~] The latter cannot be deciphered in the linear manner one would use on the first. Listening to an Indo-European language one tracks the words sequentially, unconsciously knowing when to expect each part of speech. One?~@~Ys brain can follow the flow of words, ticking off subjects, verbs, and modifying phrases as they are spoken. But, even unconsciously, a listener cannot use the same heuristic to decipher the second sentence. The brain must wait for all the affixes to present themselves, and then organize them into a meaningful whole. Martina Whelshula, a tribal educator who is seeking to become fluent in her heritage language, verbalized this shift beautifully. Her face lit with joy as she exclaimed, ?~@~\My language paints a picture in my head; I just watch it!?~@~]3 > > How the brain is utilized may differ somewhat depending on the language one speaks. The implications of this difference for science education may be quite large. Through language itself, Indo-European speakers practice sequential thought, while speakers of Native Languages process language more holistically. Logical, sequential brain functions may be consciously controlled; one can use ?~@~\critical thinking?~@~] inductively to reach conclusions. Holistic thinking, on the other hand, seems to be based on less conscious processes. One feeds the brain information and waits for the ?~@~\ah-ha?~@~] to be supplied to one?~@~Ys conscious awareness, one must wait for the picture to be painted. > Neuroscientists continue to make great strides in understanding learning and memory. Although the pre-frontal cortex appears to be the site of conscious, analytical thought, it is not the primary recipient of incoming sensory data. The thalamus and amygdala, tied more to our emotive processes, have first decision-making rights as to how data will be processed. Depending on our previous experience with a situation, these unconscious areas of our brains can choose to send impulses to our conscious minds for processing, can cause us to flee or avoid a situation, or can even shut down all neural channels to our frontal cortex, causing our minds to literally ?~@~\go blank.?~@~]4 Even if our frontal cortex receives the sensory data, it must rely on the unconscious processes of the hippocampus to retrieve bits of relevant stored memory from various sections of the brain and, after processing, to return the data for storage. By far the greatest amount of brain function in learning and memory are unconscious processes. > Despite this fact, our educational systems continue to deify conscious, logical processes as the only valid method of learning. Controlled, sequential thought fits well with the linear paradigm of Anglo-American culture. Holistic thought, on the other hand, requires a great deal more trust and the release of conscious control. The unconscious mind must be trusted to be the bastion of learning and memory that it actually is. In the Anglo paradigm we tend to identify our ?~@~\selves?~@~] with areas of controlled consciousness. I would argue that Native Americans tend to have a broader definition of ?~@~\self,?~@~] encompassing more of the unconscious connections. > > This paper itself is based on a four-in-the-morning ?~@~\ah-ha?~@~] experience. Each winter for the past twenty years I have taught a course called ?~@~\Life Continuity?~@~] at Wenatchee Valley College. During those years I have refined and fine-tuned the class until I will admit to being quite pleased with my method of instruction; years after being in the class, students often contact me to say how it has stayed with them. These are the outcomes an instructor strives for. Yet this year, as I taught it again, my conscious mind registered a pattern that I?~@~Yd been unconsciously observing throughout the history of the course. > For the first half of the quarter I teach the processes of genetics. My goal is to have students become ?~@~\fluent?~@~] in the language of genes: what genes actually are, how they are created, how they work in the body, and how they are passed on. The second half of the quarter covers population genetics and evolution. Once students truly understand genes, we look at what happens to them in ecosystems, how the genes of various organisms affect each other. The two halves of the course are taught and assessed quite differently. I teach the genetic processes in a neat, organized, linear fashion: e.g., in ?~@~\transcription?~@~] there first comes a recognition of the allele on the DNA, then the chromosome ?~@~\puffs,?~@~] then RNA polymerase begins putting in matching nucleotides along the DNA bases . . . etcetera, etcetera, and so forth. Linear, sequential me and most of my linear, sequential-thinking students love it. I make it funny and fairly hands-on. But fairly quickly most of the Native American students in the class tend to begin losing the sparkle in their eyes. I must leap in with extra encouragement, convincing people they can understand it, re-explaining in my linear, sequential fashion. And somehow we muddle through to reach the second half of the quarter. Once we begin discussing ecosystems, how populations holistically interact, the Native students tend to blossom. Students who tended previously to be silent in class offer examples of complex adaptations and interactions. > My morning ?~@~\ah-ha?~@~] that inspired this writing stemmed from a student who came to my office to do her ?~@~\check-off?~@~] for one of the genetic processes, her third attempt at explaining it to receive the requisite points for her grade. As she started drawing out the ?~@~\steps,?~@~] I attempted to intervene where I perceived she was leaving something out. To my way of thinking she was about to ?~@~\miss a step.?~@~] She pushed out her arm toward me, gesturing away my attempt to interrupt, saying, ?~@~\Just wait till I?~@~Yve got it all.?~@~] She then proceeded, in a non-linear fashion, to cover the paper with the appropriate drawings. Sitting back, obviously satisfied, when they were all drawn, she said, ?~@~\Now,?~@~] and proceeded to explain the process perfectly, pointing to each element and identifying its role, and thus receiving her points. She was using clustering, as opposed to outlining, to organize the material. The immediate response for both of us was relief and happiness. She tearfully hugged me and said, ?~@~\Now I can do the others.?~@~] > My understanding of her process arrived at four the next morning, waking me up both literally and figuratively. While in my mind mRNA transcription and all the other processes I teach must go from a to b to c to d, in actuality they are circular and simultaneous in the body. Everything truly is happening at once. My dentist has a paper that he authored mounted on the wall of his office; it argues that time is merely a mental construct we use in order to explain motion.5 Time is not perceived as linear in all cultures. Sequencing is not the innate reality of all things. Linearity is a cultural concept. Ah-ha. I have taught these ideas for years in anthropology classes, but on that day I ?~@~\got it.?~@~] > I approached my native students the next day, seeking their thoughts about my insight. The response was immediate and almost palpable, as if each person exhaled a breath she?~@~Yd been holding for the entire quarter. Yes, the second half of the class is much easier. Yes, explain the processes of the first half in a more circular fashion; try to let all the elements be viewed. > > This way of thinking and teaching will take some adjustment. Linearity is useful as a mode of thinking and understanding; but it is not the only method, and possibly not even the most effective. It is an aspect of the culture into which I was born, and a fits glove-like with the language I speak. To serve all students we must venture into ways of thinking, knowing, and teaching that require conscious reliance on less conscious brain functions, quite a stretch for those of us who gain most comfort from a feeling of control. Although science purports to recognize the necessity of both inductive and deductive reasoning, and although many great scientists report that important ideas seem to arrive unbidden in their minds, our scientific educational systems mostly remain locked in linear methodologies. In an increasingly multicultural world where more recognition is being given to the power of diverse ways of gaining and processing information, perhaps it is time to venture out of the comfort zones. Many of us succeeded in the educational system because it was designed by and for our languages and our ways of thinking. By seeking and experimenting with holistic paradigms, inestimable benefit will be derived from the inclusion of diverse minds in the educational pool. > > 1Aoki, Haruo, Nez Perce Dictionary, 1994. University of California Press. Berkeley. > 2 ibid. p. 7. > 3Whelshula, Martina, personal communication. > 4Passer, Michael W. and R.E. Smith, 2004. Psychology: the Science of Mind and Behavior, 2nd ed. McGraw Hill, New York. p. 89. > 5Loudon, Merle, unpublished document. > From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Mar 17 15:46:32 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2004 08:46:32 -0700 Subject: Microsoft goes even more global (fwd) Message-ID: Microsoft goes even more global http://www.theolympian.com/home/news/20040317/business/5622.shtml ALLISON LINN THE ASSOCIATED PRESS On the Web http://www.microsoft.com SEATTLE -- Microsoft Corp. is already known for its aggressive efforts to extend its global reach. Now, it's taking those efforts one step further. The latest versions of the company's dominant Windows computer operating system and popular Office software soon will be available in languages ranging from Ethiopia's Amharic to Inuktitut of the Arctic's Inuit, under a project involving Microsoft and various local governments and universities. The Local Language Program has already resulted in a Hindi version of Microsoft's software, and there are plans to make Windows and Office available in nine additional languages spoken in India in the next year. The Redmond software maker hopes the program will soon double the roster of languages available for Microsoft products, from 40 to 80. Hundreds of millions of people speak the languages that will be offered, but it's unclear how many of them have access to computers right now. Microsoft is providing technology and footing the bill for the projects, then working with local officials in a country or community to build a glossary. Microsoft executive Maggie Wilderotter said the goal is to make sure the glossary reflects both language and local culture. "I think the main benefit is the cultural benefit," Wilderotter said. "Language is one of the most central parts of culture, and preservation of culture, and technology has this tendency to make everything very global." It won't cost extra for users to get the software in their native language. And while Microsoft will own the technology used to build the glossaries, the company said local officials are free to use those glossaries to adapt other, competing software in their language. Joe Wilcox, an analyst with Jupiter Research, said the local language offering might help Microsoft gain an edge in new markets that otherwise might be lost to homegrown competitors. "If you look at Microsoft's success, it's really built on regions like North America and Europe, but where's the growth? It's Asia, it's China, it's India. These are the countries with massive populations, and also countries most likely to produce (another) Microsoft." ?2004 The Olympian From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Thu Mar 18 16:06:39 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2004 09:06:39 -0700 Subject: Linguists in race to save languages (fwd) Message-ID: Linguists in race to save languages http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2001881818_tongues18.html By Earl Lane Newsday WASHINGTON ? In half a dozen fishing villages in a remote part of central Siberia, the Middle Chulym people are losing their language, one of hundreds of tongues likely to vanish around the world during the next half century. Among the Middle Chulym, who survive by ancestral ways of hunting, gathering and fishing, only about 40 of 426 people continue to speak the native language, according to K. David Harrison, a linguist at Swarthmore College who traveled to the region last year to document two Turkic languages in imminent danger. He found that no one younger than 52 can speak Middle Chulym fluently, and the rest speak only Russian. "Each language that vanishes without being documented leaves an enormous gap in our understanding of some of the many complex structures the human mind is capable of producing," Harrison said. Number systems, grammatical structures and classification systems can be lost, along with knowledge about medicinal plants, animal behavior, weather signs and hunting techniques. Siberian language in peril Another Siberian language called Tofa also is threatened, with 35 of 600 in the community able to speak it. When such native languages die, Harrison said recently at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, villagers lose an oral history as well as detailed knowledge of the local environment. The Tofa people are reindeer herders, Harrison said, and their language has special ways of describing reindeer by sex, age, fertility, color and ease of riding. Such descriptions do not translate easily into Russian, he said. "Human languages are vanishing as we speak," said Harrison, who argues that the rate of loss is every bit as disturbing as the extinction of animal species. Stephen Anderson, a Yale University linguist, estimates that "probably 40 percent or more of the world's languages will cease to be spoken within the next 50 to 100 years." Ethnologue, a database maintained by SIL International of Dallas, lists 6,809 languages worldwide. That number is subject to debate, say Anderson and others. Laurence Horn, a Yale linguist, said the number of languages sometimes is influenced by politics as much as linguistics. Cantonese and Mandarin are distinct languages, he said, but the Chinese government prefers to consider them dialects. Horn cited the oft-quoted comment, attributed to Yiddish linguist Max Weinreich, that a language is "a dialect with an army and a navy." Harrison said languages begin to decline when native speakers view them as less prestigious or not accepted as widely as the dominant language in a region. That has been the case with Middle Chulym, Harrison said. Native languages Of the indigenous languages of North America, Anderson said, only eight have as many as 10,000 speakers. Navajo is the largest, with about 160,000 speakers, he said. But many young Navajos no longer are learning the language as their first tongue, he said. "Once young children don't learn it as a first language," Anderson said, "then it has only as many years to go as the life expectancy of its current native speakers." Language-maintenance efforts are under way in American Indian communities, he said, but studying the language for a few hours a week in school is not sufficient to rescue a threatened language. Some elementaries, including one on the Mohawk reservation in northern New York, teach the traditional tongue as a first language in immersion programs aimed at preserving language and culture. The loss of languages is not inevitable, Anderson said. Linguists such as Harrison have been trying to record and document endangered languages, help foster interest in them among local populations and develop written forms to help preserve them. Whenever a language dies, Anderson said, "it's a human tragedy and one of the few human tragedies that linguists can do something about." From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sun Mar 21 16:33:14 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sun, 21 Mar 2004 09:33:14 -0700 Subject: Tribe fears loss of culture through mandated school standardization (fwd) Message-ID: Tribe fears loss of culture through mandated school standardization http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2004/03/21/news/top/news01.txt By MICHAEL JAMISON of the Missoulian BROWNING - A hard, cold wind hummed unchecked through the big empty, hammering across a rolling ocean of midwinter brown and nagging at the hem of Justin Little Dog's jacket. The 6-year-old gave his dad a hug, and turned out of the early morning frost to board the school bus. His bus stop, located along a lonely strip of pavement on Montana's Blackfeet Indian Reservation, is just this side of the middle of nowhere, a rural outpost marked by big horizons and stark drifts of month-old snow. "Be good," his dad called into the wind. Justin waved, and the bus pulled away, toward Browning, toward an all too common reservation town where unemployment can hit 85 percent in the winter months and more than a third of the townsfolk live below the poverty line. It's a place where, by some estimates, adult alcoholism can top 70 percent, and where three of every four homes is a single-parent household. Passing those households, where metal roofs are pinned down against the wind by stacks of bald tires, Justin's bus threaded its way toward the school. If he makes it to high school, which is no sure bet in these parts, young Little Dog will enter classrooms where more than 40 percent drop out before graduation. "He'll be lucky if he makes it," said Darrel Kipp. "Our children have already been left behind." Kipp is one who made it, growing up in Browning and graduating and leaving and finally coming back home with a master's degree from Harvard. Today, he runs a private, nonprofit school where 30 kids from kindergarten through eighth grade are taught in the ancestral Blackfeet tongue. His school, which began in 1994, has no administrators, no superintendents, no boards and no chairmen and no principal. Most notably, it has no standardized tests. "Standardized tests are great for standard kids," Kipp said. "But our kids aren't standard kids. They don't live in standard American homes." Standardized tests, as required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act, fail Browning's students, he said, rather than the other way around. The act requires states to craft standard tests for all schools, and schools must score high enough to clear the federal bar. If they fail, they are put on "improvement." (Browning schools have been on improvement since the act took effect.) If they fail consistently, the schools can lose their federal funding. In fact, the entire state system could lose its funding. Educators in Indian Country, people like Kipp, worry that children who are culturally distant from the "standard" are at a disadvantage when taking the tests. Although the kids are as smart as their "standard" peers, they might not share the same fundamental knowledge base, or so the theory goes. Take, for example, the lesson of the awning. Shiela Rutherford is the eighth-grade counselor at Browning Middle School, where kids have been practicing this winter for the upcoming state tests. She couldn't help but notice that nearly all her students missed the vocabulary question about the word "awning." "Of course they missed it," Rutherford said. "This is Browning. Nobody has an awning. The wind blows 70 miles per hour." The last awning seen in Browning, she joked, was flapping its way toward Ohio. It was the same story with the question about the "babbling brook." "Our students come from a totally different background," said Mary Johnson, superintendent of Browning Public Schools. "They speak English, but it's not the English of Iowa." Robert Rides-At-The-Door, a member of the Browning School Board, believes the new tests should have the flexibility to reflect "regionalized English." "Someone from Illinois who creates a test to measure how English-effective you are, he doesn't understand English on the reservation," Rides-At-The-Door said. Nor does he understand the English of New England or the South, not to mention the English of the barrio and the 'hood. And if Blackfeet English is not the English of Iowa, nor is Blackfeet science the science of Iowa. Walk the crowded and noisy aisles of the Browning Middle School science fair and you find an inordinate number of studies into the effects of fetal alcohol syndrome, the impacts of methamphetamine use, the power of ancient medicines distilled from native plants. And then there's Kourtnie Gopher's science project, which looked like a lesson in history. But it wasn't, and therein lies the rub. Gopher's project was an exercise in the present, a scientific exploration of current events in her community. It was good science, all about heat transfer and relative energy loss. But you can bet that when it comes time to take the annual standardized tests at Browning Middle School, there will be no questions about whether you'll stay cozier in a tepee, a long house, a kiva or a sweat lodge. Perhaps, Rutherford suggests, the tests should ask about pemmican rather than awnings. But then, of course, the kids in Iowa might not do so well on that question, she adds. "It's frustrating," said Superintendent Johnson. "Should there be something in these tests about us, too?" Johnson is quick to tell you she's no opponent of the "basic premise" behind the No Child Left Behind Act. "Traditionally, Indian children have been left behind by mainstream American education," she said. But, she wonders, is the solution to make the mainstream even more mainstream? Kipp doesn't think so. "I think the public schools are faced with a dilemma," he said. "They are being presented with more bureaucracy, when the truth is less bureaucracy is the answer." Johnson tends to agree. "I don't mind being held accountable as an educator," she said. "Public schools should be held accountable, no matter where they are. But I would like the luxury of doing things a little bit differently, to reflect who we are and what we know. The people who wrote this act want everybody to be the same; but the fact is, we're not all the same." "Not the same at all," Kipp insists. He calls No Child Left Behind a "major assimilation policy," and Johnson doesn't argue. The assimilation years still are fresh in the collective memory of Indian Country; they were the decades when the federal government gave up trying to defeat Indians militarily and instead tried to "whitewash" the reservations. The idea, Kipp said, was to dissolve Indian culture out of Indians, stirring centuries of cultural diversity into the homogeneity of the melting pot. The new school testing requirements, he said, do much the same, assimilating not just Indians but also Asian Americans and black Americans and Hispanic Americans. The loss of diversity in the classroom, he said, finally harms not just Indian culture, but also Indian education. Which is exactly why Kipp's private school teaches in the Blackfeet language, and why its graduates are leading their public high school classes. "In English," Kipp said, "you have taken a very beautiful word and bastardized it. It's the word 'equality.' 'Equality' by itself is a very strong and beautiful word, but it has been changed to mean 'sameness,' or 'uniformity.' It's about control. The more uniform a thing is, the easier it is to control. Standardized testing focuses on conformity. In doing so, they take away the ingenuity that comes with diversity, and the result is totalitarianism." Kipp defines totalitarianism as an attempt from on high to "decide who deserves to get what." "If you go the other way, away from totalitarianism," he said, "then you enliven diversity, and diversity is where creativity comes from. Sameness produces dullness. Diversity produces vibrancy and life. That's why we need true equality - education that's equal, but different." The emphasis on diversity has, in fact, been showing signs of success in Browning Schools, Johnson said, and she hopes not to lose it now that teachers are "teaching to the test" (she calls it "standards-based education") in preparation for new requirements. "The things that work, in terms of strategies to improve mainstream education, don't always translate well here," she said. In recent years, she said, the biggest improvements have come from school district efforts to move away from standardized education, not toward it. The schools now teach Blackfeet language classes, she said, and classes in Blackfeet history. Those lessons are then translated into skills that will help children "become literate in both cultures." A lesson in crafting a traditional drum, for instance, is packed with geometry skills. A lesson in the ancient Blackfeet constellations is a way of introducing Greek mythology. "Knowing who you are and where you come from makes you secure," Kipp said. "You know you can succeed. You're not as likely to feel intimidated; you're not wanting to be someone else." For generations, he said, Indians were told their language was bad, their religion was bad, their cosmology was bad, their culture was bad. That message was strongest in the schools, where there were no Indian teachers, no Indian pictures on the walls, no Indian language. "The schools told us we were stupid, ugly and bad," he said, "and after enough repetition, we started to believe it. We no longer believed we held potential." And that, Johnson said, is a primary reason so many parents still will have nothing to do with the schools. Elders still live who remember the government boarding schools where they were beaten for speaking their language. "It goes all the way back to the mission schools," Johnson said. "Historically, the schools took away our identity. "They took our language and culture. I believe we have a moral obligation to restore that." The trick will be finding a way to restore culture and teach basic reading and math skills while at the same time teaching to the test. "Our kids are already behind," she said, "but now we have to teach even more curriculum in the same amount of time. Does it create a culture versus standardization situation? That is a concern. Are they asking us to choose? In some respects, I guess they are." The makers of the law insist no one will have to make a choice between standardization and culture, and point to flexibility built into the act that allows states to custom-fit exams to regional difference. "It's really not in our hands," said Elaine Quesinberry, a public relations officer for the federal Department of Education. "Each state is responsible for figuring out what test works best for all the children in that state." "Impossible," replies Linda McCulloch, Montana's superintendent of public instruction. There is no way, McCulloch said, to craft one single test that is equally accessible to students in Missoula and in Browning. The federal Department of Education talks about giving states flexibility with regard to the test, she said, "but you don't really have any latitude in anything that matters." She, like Kipp and others, worry that culturally based education programs will be lost in the push to teach to the test, even though culturally based education is proving to work better than anything tried so far. And the fears of assimilation through standardization, she said, are "very real." Faced with the dilemma of how to accommodate Montana's Indian students, McCulloch first had a long sit-down with the folks at the company from which Montana is purchasing its test. Then, she and lots of educators from around the state walked through the questions, looking for red flags. Now, each time the results come in, they pore over the results, looking for red flags they might have missed. And up in Browning, Johnson has created "school improvement teams" for each building, as well as a districtwide committee that focuses exclusively on getting ahead of the curve with No Child Left Behind. They're analyzing achievement test data and planning programs narrowly aimed at answering the sorts of questions that appear on the tests. "No Child Left Behind has been my life for most of two years now," McCulloch said. "It's consuming all our time. That's the problem of putting all the focus on one method of testing." But the fact is, McCulloch said, Indian children generally are being left behind. A "standard" Montana kid comes to school packing about 30,000 English words, she said. An Indian kid might come with 2,500 English words. The problem, she said, is not necessarily that the schools are failing. It's that English is a second language in many of the families. It's that parents tend to be less involved in education. It's that parents have less schooling, and are more likely to be divorced. It's that competition-based testing does not translate well into a tribal culture founded on cooperation. It's that poverty is the standard. McCulloch, who started her career teaching on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation, wonders how one statewide test can hope to accurately assess what's going on in Indian education. "Not all education happens at school," she said. "You can't tell me that 70 percent unemployment doesn't affect education, because it does." Of course, the folks who designed and implemented No Child Left Behind have no control over such social factors. What they do control, however, is a pretty big checkbook, some of which has been aimed at improving basic education in Indian Country. "The act has provided some money for reading in Indian schools," McCulloch said, "and that's a very good thing." Last September, the act also also provided about $105 million in grants to Indian Country educators, including money for everything from early childhood development to professional training for teachers. The money is not, however, available for use in crafting culturally sensitive tests. "That's the real problem," Rides-At-The-Door said. "They give you more of the same old, when we know the same old isn't working. We don't need more of what's not working. We need the freedom to continue with what we know is working." What's working, he and Johnson and Kipp said, is a creative blend of Blackfeet culture and basic reading, writing and arithmetic lessons. "Doing that enriches us all," Johnson said. "What Browning is becoming famous for is creating the cultural background that provides the support system that helps develop a whole person. Not a standard person, a whole person." In the meantime, however, Johnson needs to get off that "improvement" list in the next three years. Can she do it? "We have to," she said. "Our kids have lots of talents and skills that just aren't measured by those tests. But by golly, if we have to do well on those tests, then we'll do it." But can she do it while at the same time continuing to see overall improvement in all facets of education, including graduation rates? "That will be tougher," she admits. "We would like to be able to continue with what we know is working. This No Child Left Behind law, it's like a thorn in your side all the time. Before it came along, we were doing a much better job than we had in generations. We can't lose that." After all, she said, what's at stake is the future of a people who have endured generations of assault on their very identity. "I feel very strongly about reading and literacy," Johnson said. "These kids here, their parents had to learn about Blackfeet history by reading what was written by non-Indians. I want our children to develop the skills necessary to write our own stories. We need to write our own stories." Reporter Michael Jamison can be reached at 1-800-366-7186 or at mjamison at missoulian.com From Rrlapier at AOL.COM Mon Mar 22 05:03:06 2004 From: Rrlapier at AOL.COM (Rrlapier at AOL.COM) Date: Mon, 22 Mar 2004 00:03:06 EST Subject: Feature Article Message-ID: Front page feature in the Sunday, March 21, 2004, Missoulian. Tribe fears loss of culture through mandated school standardization By MICHAEL JAMISON of the Missoulian Kelly Little Dog gives his son Justin, 6, a hug as the youngster heads to school in Browning on the Blackfeet Reservation earlier this month. Schools in Indian Country, like many schools in Montana, are finding it difficult to achieve the standards required in the No Child Left Behind Act. Photo by MICHAEL GALLACHER/Missoulian BROWNING - A hard, cold wind hummed unchecked through the big empty, hammering across a rolling ocean of midwinter brown and nagging at the hem of Justin Little Dog's jacket. The 6-year-old gave his dad a hug, and turned out of the early morning frost to board the school bus. His bus stop, located along a lonely strip of pavement on Montana's Blackfeet Indian Reservation, is just this side of the middle of nowhere, a rural outpost marked by big horizons and stark drifts of month-old snow. "Be good," his dad called into the wind. Justin waved, and the bus pulled away, toward Browning, toward an all too common reservation town where unemployment can hit 85 percent in the winter months and more than a third of the townsfolk live below the poverty line. It's a place where, by some estimates, adult alcoholism can top 70 percent, and where three of every four homes is a single-parent household. Passing those households, where metal roofs are pinned down against the wind by stacks of bald tires, Justin's bus threaded its way toward the school. If he makes it to high school, which is no sure bet in these parts, young Little Dog will enter classrooms where more than 40 percent drop out before graduation. "He'll be lucky if he makes it," said Darrel Kipp. "Our children have already been left behind." Kipp is one who made it, growing up in Browning and graduating and leaving and finally coming back home with a master's degree from Harvard. Today, he runs a private, nonprofit school where 30 kids from kindergarten through eighth grade are taught in the ancestral Blackfeet tongue. His school, which began in 1994, has no administrators, no superintendents, no boards and no chairmen and no principal. Most notably, it has no standardized tests. "Standardized tests are great for standard kids," Kipp said. "But our kids aren't standard kids. They don't live in standard American homes." Standardized tests, as required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act, fail Browning's students, he said, rather than the other way around. The act requires states to craft standard tests for all schools, and schools must score high enough to clear the federal bar. If they fail, they are put on "improvement." (Browning schools have been on improvement since the act took effect.) If they fail consistently, the schools can lose their federal funding. In fact, the entire state system could lose its funding. Educators in Indian Country, people like Kipp, worry that children who are culturally distant from the "standard" are at a disadvantage when taking the tests. Although the kids are as smart as their "standard" peers, they might not share the same fundamental knowledge base, or so the theory goes. Take, for example, the lesson of the awning. Shiela Rutherford is the eighth-grade counselor at Browning Middle School, where kids have been practicing this winter for the upcoming state tests. She couldn't help but notice that nearly all her students missed the vocabulary question about the word "awning." "Of course they missed it," Rutherford said. "This is Browning. Nobody has an awning. The wind blows 70 miles per hour." The last awning seen in Browning, she joked, was flapping its way toward Ohio. It was the same story with the question about the "babbling brook." "Our students come from a totally different background," said Mary Johnson, superintendent of Browning Public Schools. "They speak English, but it's not the English of Iowa." Robert Rides-At-The-Door, a member of the Browning School Board, believes the new tests should have the flexibility to reflect "regionalized English." "Someone from Illinois who creates a test to measure how English-effective you are, he doesn't understand English on the reservation," Rides-At-The-Door said. Nor does he understand the English of New England or the South, not to mention the English of the barrio and the 'hood. And if Blackfeet English is not the English of Iowa, nor is Blackfeet science the science of Iowa. Walk the crowded and noisy aisles of the Browning Middle School science fair and you find an inordinate number of studies into the effects of fetal alcohol syndrome, the impacts of methamphetamine use, the power of ancient medicines distilled from native plants. And then there's Kourtnie Gopher's science project, which looked like a lesson in history. But it wasn't, and therein lies the rub. Gopher's project was an exercise in the present, a scientific exploration of current events in her community. It was good science, all about heat transfer and relative energy loss. But you can bet that when it comes time to take the annual standardized tests at Browning Middle School, there will be no questions about whether you'll stay cozier in a tepee, a long house, a kiva or a sweat lodge. Perhaps, Rutherford suggests, the tests should ask about pemmican rather than awnings. But then, of course, the kids in Iowa might not do so well on that question, she adds. "It's frustrating," said Superintendent Johnson. "Should there be something in these tests about us, too?" Johnson is quick to tell you she's no opponent of the "basic premise" behind the No Child Left Behind Act. "Traditionally, Indian children have been left behind by mainstream American education," she said. But, she wonders, is the solution to make the mainstream even more mainstream? Kipp doesn't think so. "I think the public schools are faced with a dilemma," he said. "They are being presented with more bureaucracy, when the truth is less bureaucracy is the answer." Johnson tends to agree. "I don't mind being held accountable as an educator," she said. "Public schools should be held accountable, no matter where they are. But I would like the luxury of doing things a little bit differently, to reflect who we are and what we know. The people who wrote this act want everybody to be the same; but the fact is, we're not all the same." "Not the same at all," Kipp insists. He calls No Child Left Behind a "major assimilation policy," and Johnson doesn't argue. The assimilation years still are fresh in the collective memory of Indian Country; they were the decades when the federal government gave up trying to defeat Indians militarily and instead tried to "whitewash" the reservations. The idea, Kipp said, was to dissolve Indian culture out of Indians, stirring centuries of cultural diversity into the homogeneity of the melting pot. The new school testing requirements, he said, do much the same, assimilating not just Indians but also Asian Americans and black Americans and Hispanic Ameri cans. The loss of diversity in the classroom, he said, finally harms not just Indian culture, but also Indian education. Which is exactly why Kipp's private school teaches in the Blackfeet language, and why its graduates are leading their public high school classes. "In English," Kipp said, "you have taken a very beautiful word and bastardized it. It's the word 'equality.' 'Equality' by itself is a very strong and beautiful word, but it has been changed to mean 'sameness,' or 'uniformity.' It's about control. The more uniform a thing is, the easier it is to control. Standardized testing focuses on conformity. In doing so, they take away the ingenuity that comes with diversity, and the result is totalitarianism." Kipp defines totalitarianism as an attempt from on high to "decide who deserves to get what." "If you go the other way, away from totalitarianism," he said, "then you enliven diversity, and diversity is where creativity comes from. Sameness produces dullness. Diversity produces vibrancy and life. That's why we need true equality - education that's equal, but different." The emphasis on diversity has, in fact, been showing signs of success in Browning Schools, Johnson said, and she hopes not to lose it now that teachers are "teaching to the test" (she calls it "standards-based education") in preparation for new requirements. "The things that work, in terms of strategies to improve mainstream education, don't always translate well here," she said. In recent years, she said, the biggest improvements have come from school district efforts to move away from standardized education, not toward it. The schools now teach Blackfeet language classes, she said, and classes in Blackfeet history. Those lessons are then translated into skills that will help children "become literate in both cultures." A lesson in crafting a traditional drum, for instance, is packed with geometry skills. A lesson in the ancient Blackfeet constellations is a way of introducing Greek mythology. "Knowing who you are and where you come from makes you secure," Kipp said. "You know you can succeed. You're not as likely to feel intimidated; you're not wanting to be someone else." For generations, he said, Indians were told their language was bad, their religion was bad, their cosmology was bad, their culture was bad. That message was strongest in the schools, where there were no Indian teachers, no Indian pictures on the walls, no Indian language. "The schools told us we were stupid, ugly and bad," he said, "and after enough repetition, we started to believe it. We no longer believed we held potential." And that, Johnson said, is a primary reason so many parents still will have nothing to do with the schools. Elders still live who remember the government boarding schools where they were beaten for speaking their language. "It goes all the way back to the mission schools," Johnson said. "Historically, the schools took away our identity. "They took our language and culture. I believe we have a moral obligation to restore that." The trick will be finding a way to restore culture and teach basic reading and math skills while at the same time teaching to the test. "Our kids are already behind," she said, "but now we have to teach even more curriculum in the same amount of time. Does it create a culture versus standardization situation? That is a concern. Are they asking us to choose? In some respects, I guess they are." The makers of the law insist no one will have to make a choice between standardization and culture, and point to flexibility built into the act that allows states to custom-fit exams to regional difference. "It's really not in our hands," said Elaine Quesinberry, a public relations officer for the federal Department of Education. "Each state is responsible for figuring out what test works best for all the children in that state." "Impossible," replies Linda McCulloch, Montana's superintendent of public instruction. There is no way, McCulloch said, to craft one single test that is equally accessible to students in Missoula and in Browning. The federal Department of Education talks about giving states flexibility with regard to the test, she said, "but you don't really have any latitude in anything that matters." She, like Kipp and others, worry that culturally based education programs will be lost in the push to teach to the test, even though culturally based education is proving to work better than anything tried so far. And the fears of assimilation through standardization, she said, are "very real." Faced with the dilemma of how to accommodate Montana's Indian students, McCulloch first had a long sit-down with the folks at the company from which Montana is purchasing its test. Then, she and lots of educators from around the state walked through the questions, looking for red flags. Now, each time the results come in, they pore over the results, looking for red flags they might have missed. And up in Browning, Johnson has created "school improvement teams" for each building, as well as a districtwide committee that focuses exclusively on getting ahead of the curve with No Child Left Behind. They're analyzing achievement test data and planning programs narrowly aimed at answering the sorts of questions that appear on the tests. "No Child Left Behind has been my life for most of two years now," McCulloch said. "It's consuming all our time. That's the problem of putting all the focus on one method of testing." But the fact is, McCulloch said, Indian children generally are being left behind. A "standard" Montana kid comes to school packing about 30,000 English words, she said. An Indian kid might come with 2,500 English words. The problem, she said, is not necessarily that the schools are failing. It's that English is a second language in many of the families. It's that parents tend to be less involved in education. It's that parents have less schooling, and are more likely to be divorced. It's that competition-based testing does not translate well into a tribal culture founded on cooperation. It's that poverty is the standard. McCulloch, who started her career teaching on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation, wonders how one statewide test can hope to accurately assess what's going on in Indian education. "Not all education happens at school," she said. "You can't tell me that 70 percent unemployment doesn't affect education, because it does." Of course, the folks who designed and implemented No Child Left Behind have no control over such social factors. What they do control, however, is a pretty big checkbook, some of which has been aimed at improving basic education in Indian Country. "The act has provided some money for reading in Indian schools," McCulloch said, "and that's a very good thing." Last September, the act also also provided about $105 million in grants to Indian Country educators, including money for everything from early childhood development to professional training for teachers. The money is not, however, available for use in crafting culturally sensitive tests. "That's the real problem," Rides-At-The-Door said. "They give you more of the same old, when we know the same old isn't working. We don't need more of what's not working. We need the freedom to continue with what we know is working." What's working, he and Johnson and Kipp said, is a creative blend of Blackfeet culture and basic reading, writing and arithmetic lessons. "Doing that enriches us all," Johnson said. "What Browning is becoming famous for is creating the cultural background that provides the support system that helps develop a whole person. Not a standard person, a whole person." In the meantime, however, Johnson needs to get off that "improvement" list in the next three years. Can she do it? "We have to," she said. "Our kids have lots of talents and skills that just aren't measured by those tests. But by golly, if we have to do well on those tests, then we'll do it." But can she do it while at the same time continuing to see overall improvement in all facets of education, including graduation rates? "That will be tougher," she admits. "We would like to be able to continue with what we know is working. This No Child Left Behind law, it's like a thorn in your side all the time. Before it came along, we were doing a much better job than we had in generations. We can't lose that." After all, she said, what's at stake is the future of a people who have endured generations of assault on their very identity. "I feel very strongly about reading and literacy," Johnson said. "These kids here, their parents had to learn about Blackfeet history by reading what was written by non-Indians. I want our children to develop the skills necessary to write our own stories. We need to write our own stories." Reporter Michael Jamison can be reached at 1-800-366-7186 or at mjamison at missoulian.com Rosalyn LaPier Piegan Institute www.pieganinstitute.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Tue Mar 23 19:09:28 2004 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2004 11:09:28 -0800 Subject: FYI Message-ID: Yes, I would schedule April 25-30th as booked for the Language review session. The Commissioner has not given us a definite yes, but we need all the Language reviewers we have. We will be calling for sure next week. Have a Great Weekend and I look forward to talking to you next week Thanks AnnaMarie AnnaMarie Wilber Administration for Native Americans 370 L'Enfant Promenade SW Aerospace Center Bldg. - 8th Floor West Washington, DC 20447-0002 (877) 922-9262 Toll Free (202) 690-8360 Phone (202) 690-7441 Fax awilber at acf.hhs.gov Website: www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ana -- Andr? Cramblit: andre.p.cramblit.86 at alum.dartmouth.org is the Operations Director Northern California Indian Development Council NCIDC (http://www.ncidc.org) is a non-profit that meets the development needs of American Indians To subscribe to a news letter of interest to Natives send an email to: IndigenousNewsNetwork-subscribe at topica.com or go to: http://www.topica.com/lists/IndigenousNewsNetwork/subscribe/?location=listinfo From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Mar 24 16:15:14 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2004 09:15:14 -0700 Subject: HP Technology Transforms Native American Reservations (fwd) Message-ID: HP Technology Transforms Native American Reservations; Tribal Digital Village Celebrates Three Years of Cultural Preservation and Prosperity Through Technology Innovation http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20040324005301&newsLang=en SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 24, 2004--PALA RESERVATION/ HP (NYSE:HPQ) (Nasdaq:HPQ) and the Southern California Tribal Chairmen's Association (SCTCA) today announced the third anniversary of the Tribal Digital Village, a project designed to help the tribal community bridge the digital divide and meet key community and economic development needs through the creative application of information and communications technology. HP, SCTCA, University of California at San Diego, Palomar College and other partners are commemorating the anniversary today at a community event at the Pala Reservation in San Diego County. Activities include tours of Hi Rez Digital Solutions and San Pasqual Resource Center, cultural performances by tribal members, presentations on project achievements by digital village leaders and comments from HP executives. "The success of the Tribal Digital Village began by listening to the needs of the Native American community and taking an innovative approach to provide HP technology to meet those needs," said Debra Dunn, senior vice president, Corporate Affairs, HP. "Throughout our three-year partnership with the tribal community, HP has been proud of the achievements of the tribal community to utilize technology to enhance their rich traditional way of life." Since the Tribal Digital Village was launched in 2001 with a $5 million HP grant to SCTCA, the program has successfully fostered cultural, educational, community and economic development in the Southern California tribal community. HP's contributions have enabled the diverse tribal communities to connect and communicate with each other and preserve their culture through the use of technology and they have provided opportunities for economic growth with the establishment of a for-profit digital printing business, Hi Rez Digital Solutions. The Tribal Digital Village has engaged community youth and adults to ensure the development and transfer of technical knowledge and expertise going forward. In addition, the Tribal Digital Village has conducted outreach to communicate its goals to organizations and institutions outside of the tribal community. As a result, in December 2003, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell visited the Tribal Digital Village, providing an opportunity to gain exposure for the community's accomplishments, share best practices that can be leveraged by other communities and possibly yield federal support from programs that enable isolated, rural communities to install, maintain or upgrade their technological infrastructure. Together, SCTCA and HP have achieved the Tribal Digital Village's goals of providing the Native American community with programs that address five key areas. They are: linking the tribes to a community network infrastructure; preserving traditions and culture for future generations; improving education opportunities through distance learning; enabling community interaction using online tools; and launching a community-led economic development project. Tribal Digital Village achievements: -- Community Network Infrastructure: An impressive, high-speed wireless Internet and wide area network infrastructure spread over several thousand square miles and utilizing 200-plus miles of point-to-point and point-to-multipoint links was designed, built and implemented by newly trained tribal community members. Local high school students participated in Youth Academy programs where they were trained to use topographic and global positioning system software to identify and survey potential sites for the solar-powered wireless network line-of-sight radio nodes. The community backbone links thousands of American Indians across the region and enables interaction and collaboration among members of rural tribal areas, and it provides access to educational resources outside the reservations. More than 50 buildings, including 20 computer labs, are now connected. -- Community Service Access: Tribal members can now access their own Web portal and e-mail system, leverage video and webcams, and access other online cultural, medical and technological information. The team also has created a portal to enable individual tribes to host their government and educational Web sites. Multiple community calendars are helping facilitate communication throughout tribal communities. -- Distance Learning: Community members, including young people and seniors, are connecting to each other's tribes, surrounding school districts, health agencies and colleges for distance learning, tutoring and mentoring programs. -- Cultural Education and Preservation: Tribal members, from youth to elders, are creating audio and video materials for a variety of projects related to community members' histories, languages and cultures. The Tribal Digital Village collaborated with First Peoples Cultural Foundation to launch a Web-based, multimedia, indigenous language dictionary system (www.FirstVoices.com). FirstVoices provides tools for language preservation efforts while giving control of content to each tribe. In addition, Tribal Resource Centers are now using distance-learning services through Internet-based video conferencing. -- Entrepreneurial Spirit: Two businesses that launched in October 2003 - Hi Rez Digital Solutions and Southern California Tribal Technologies (S.C.T.T.) - are believed to be the only American Indian consortium-owned, technology-based for profit businesses in the United States. Hi Rez provides digital printing services in the Southern California area using an HP-donated HP Indigo 3000 series digital press, as well as HP service and support. S.C.T.T. is an Internet service provider and technical-support business. One goal of the businesses is to generate income for the 18 community tribes; a portion of profits is planned for use in funding ongoing tribal community programs. The ventures also will provide technology-based jobs for Native Americans throughout the region. "In 2001, the SCTCA had a vision of bringing together remote tribal communities via a powerful wireless network," said Denis Turner, executive director, SCTCA. "HP's contribution and involvement in the Tribal Digital Village made this vision possible. Over the past three years, we've established a wireless infrastructure that has brought together 18 tribes dispersed across several hundred square miles, preserving culture and promoting sustainable growth simultaneously." HP's commitment to e-inclusion The Tribal Digital Village is part of a growing global network of communities HP is partnering with as part of its e-inclusion program. The program seeks to provide people access to greater social and economic opportunities by closing the gap between technology-empowered and technology-excluded communities, focusing on sustainability for the communities and HP. Other communities include the empowerment zone of East Baltimore, Md.; East Palo Alto, Calif.; Dikhatole, South Africa; Kuppam, India, and Mogalakwena, South Africa. Over the last 20 years, HP has contributed more than $1 billion in cash and equipment to schools, universities, community organizations and other not-for-profit organizations around the world. In 2003, HP's giving worldwide amounted to more than $62 million in cash and equipment. About Southern California Tribal Chairmen's Association The Southern California Tribal Chairmen's Association (SCTCA) is a multi-service non-profit corporation established in 1972 for a consortium of 19 federally recognized Indian tribes in Southern California. The primary goals and objectives of SCTCA are the health, welfare, safety, education, culture, economic and employment opportunities for its tribal members. A board of directors comprised of tribal chairpersons from each of its member tribes governs SCTCA. More information about Tribal Digital Village is located at http://www.sctdv.net/ About HP HP is a technology solutions provider to consumers, businesses and institutions globally. The company's offerings span IT infrastructure, personal computing and access devices, global services and imaging and printing. For the last four fiscal quarters, HP revenue totaled $74.7 billion. More information about HP is available at www.hp.com. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Mar 24 16:21:34 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2004 09:21:34 -0700 Subject: Rescue bid for languages (fwd) Message-ID: Rescue bid for languages http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/3564267.stm Languages threatened with extinction are being recorded and protected at a research centre being opened in London. A ?20m donation is funding an endangered languages research project at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. It is claimed that out of the 6,500 languages spoken in the world about a half are under threat of extinction. The research centre will build a digital archive of languages that could disappear. The Hans Rausing Endangered Languages Project is claimed as the largest research centre of its type in the world. Disappearing languages Peter Austin, director of the Endangered Languages Academic Project, says that the scheme will preserve a record of many languages that are set to disappear in the next century. "There are languages which might have thousands of speakers, but the communities are switching to another language - often a larger regional, national or international language. "This is mainly because parents think that it's an advantage to their children, socially, economically or politically," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. The centre will train researchers in recording and documenting threatened languages - so that there will be a way of hearing and understanding these lost languages in the future. This will involve the setting up of a multimedia archive of languages. Professor Austin said that it was not inevitable that threatened languages would disappear - as he said there was growing awareness of the cultural loss that accompanied the death of a language. "There are communities around the world where they are realising that the loss of a language means the loss of their history, their culture, their identity," he said. And he said that the increasing number of people who said that they could speak Welsh was a reflection of how the "tide is turning". Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/education/3564267.stm Published: 2004/03/24 12:53:08 GMT From coyotez at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU Wed Mar 24 19:34:28 2004 From: coyotez at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU (David Lewis) Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2004 11:34:28 -0800 Subject: [Fwd: Coquille Culture Conference] Message-ID: To all: Please see attachment. Please make copies. Please circulate. Please spread the word. Additional information will follow in next few days. With luck, it will all get posted on our web page. Hope you can make it. I will be soliciting some of you personally for your attendance and participation in the program. If you plan to attend, please send a reply ASAP confirming same. Thanks. Don Ivy Director, Coquille Cultural Resources Department -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: Don Ivy Subject: Coquille Culture Conference Date: Mon, 22 Mar 2004 19:05:35 -0800 Size: 39779 URL: From coyotez at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU Wed Mar 24 19:59:11 2004 From: coyotez at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU (David Lewis) Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2004 11:59:11 -0800 Subject: CALL FOR PAPERS, Ayaangwaamizin: The International Journal Message-ID: CALL FOR PAPERS, Ayaangwaamizin: The International Journal of Indigenous Philosophy announces a theme issue, ?Techaminsh Oytpamanatityt or Kennewick Man?? This issue is directed to philosophical issues raised by the recent 9th Circuit Court of appeals opinion: http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/ca9/newopinions.nsf/AAFB80F54839DD2D88256 E300069CF95/$file/0235994.pdf?openelement It is our purpose to have this issue in print by October, in the hope that if the case goes to the U.S. Supreme Court, indigenous thinkers might have an opportunity to address the controversy at a meaningful time. You may also submit by e-mailing as a Microsoft Word or WordPerfect attachment to: leehester at sbcglobal.net PLEASE SUBMIT BY JUNE 1, 2004 From dzo at BISHARAT.NET Fri Mar 26 15:39:43 2004 From: dzo at BISHARAT.NET (Donald Z. Osborn) Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 09:39:43 -0600 Subject: Botswana: Tribal coalition calls for end to "assimilationist policies" Message-ID: Of possible interest (from Pambazuka News #149): BOTSWANA: TRIBAL COALITION CALLS FOR END TO 'ASSIMILATIONIST POLICIES' http://www.minorityrights.org/ A coalition of thirteen associations of non-Tswana speaking ethnic groups in Botswana, including the Wayeyi tribal community, have raised their concerns over 'assimilationist policies' which deny their linguistic and cultural rights and leave them marginalized. Calling for dialogue with the government, the coalition representative stated that non-Tswana speaking groups are not recognized or consulted on decisions affecting their lives through their chiefs, lack rights to land, and do not have their languages used in education, the national radio and other social domains. From pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET Fri Mar 26 16:30:55 2004 From: pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET (phil cash cash) Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 09:30:55 -0700 Subject: Fwd: All Nations News Update for Friday March 26, 2004 Message-ID: fyi, Aboriginal Voices Radio is airing the following story: Ottawa plans to protect Aboriginal languages Begin forwarded message: > All Nations News Update > Broadcasting in Downtown Toronto - CFIE 106.5 FM > Internet Radio stream at http://www.aboriginalradio.com > Date: Friday March 26, 2004 > Published by Aboriginal Voices Radio Inc. > (http://www.aboriginalradio.com) > > -------------------------------------------------- > > Today's Stories: > > Miq Maq bands in Nova Scotia hesitate to agree to federal control over > where and when they fish. > > B.C. first Nations fight in highest court over the issue of property > rights and Aboriginal titles. > > Tawassen First Nation in final stages of signing BC treaty process. > > Ottawa plans to protect Aboriginal languages. > > Winnipeg holds comedy festival featuring Native comedians. > > -------------------------------------------------- > > Broadcast times: M-F, 5 AM - 6 AM - 8 AM - 9 AM - NOON - 2 PM - 5 PM - > 6 PM - 8 PM - 9 PM (ALL TIMES EASTERN) > > ALL NATIONS NEWS IS NOW ON DEMAND AT > http://www.aboriginalradio.com/ANN.shtml > > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > ----------------------------- > > Aboriginal Voices Radio's All Nations News is pleased to announce that > WAHTA Radio Hawk CFWP-FM 98.3 (http://www.wahta.com) is now > broadcasting All Nations News. If your community would like to carry > our news service contact andre.morriseau at aboriginalradio.com > > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > ----------------------------- > > All Nations News (ANN) would like to thank the Trillium Foundation > (http://www.trilliumfoundation.org) for it's financial support. > > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > ----------------------------- > > > Aboriginal Voices Radio Inc. > Studio City Building > 366 Adelaide St. E., Suite 323 > Toronto, ON, M5A 3X9 > (tel) 416-703-1287 > (fax) 416-703-4328 From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sat Mar 27 16:41:01 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2004 09:41:01 -0700 Subject: In Siberia, a race to preserve a dying language (fwd) Message-ID: In Siberia, a race to preserve a dying language http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/business/index.ssf?/newsflash/get_story.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?f0028_BC_WSJ--Siberia-Language&&news&newsflash-financial By JEANNE WHALEN The Associated Press 3/26/04 9:02 AM The Wall Street Journal LUKASHKIN YAR, Russia -- Lyuba Parnyuk had traveled thousands of miles across frozen swampland to make an elderly woman sing, but the sun was going down, and the young linguist's tape recorder was still empty. Outside, her Siberian snowmobile driver was cold and hungry. "Please," she pleaded. "Just one song." Sitting next to her in the remote cabin was 71-year-old Elizaveta Sigilyetova, one of the last living speakers of a rare dialect of Khanty, a regional tongue nearly overwhelmed by Russia's slavic majority. Forced to speak Russian since her school days, the petite grandmother was slow to remember her native language. But finally, fiddling with the tails of her headscarf, she filled the room with a hoarse melody: "Ankel wajah qimlen semkan lalten pa qit' qaskin ninet." "The eagle owl with sad eyes sings that all the men and women have gone." Delighted, Ms. Parnyuk scribbled down new words and coaxed a few more songs from her hostess. It was a coup for the 22-year-old graduate student, who braves blizzards and voyages to the farthest corners of the taiga to document little-known languages before they die out. Based in Tomsk, an oil and university town lined with 18th-century log cabins, Ms. Parnyuk and her colleagues at Tomsk State Pedagogical University are fighting a global epidemic: Linguists estimate that two-thirds of the world's 6,500 languages will disappear this century as the increasingly global economy and culture promote a few dominant languages. A crossroads of migrating peoples since the Stone Age, Siberia's forests once echoed with the songs and legends of the Saams, the Karels, the Veps and Moris, and dozens of other tribes. Their remoteness helped preserve their cultures for centuries, but Siberia's Russification over the last 50 years means the last generation of about 30 language groups is now dying off. To many -- even to some native Siberians -- the drive to preserve local tongues seems futile. Yet every time a language is lost, thousands of years of culture, religion and medical knowledge die with it, linguists argue. They worry about the disappearance of Pongyong (in Nepal), Arabama (in Australia) and Lower Sorbian (in Germany). "If you wait another two years in this region, it'll be too late," Ms. Parnyuk said after her recording session, sipping tea in the kitchen of a nearby Khanty family. Ms. Parnyuk's travels took her to three remote villages along the Ob River, a shallow waterway 2,000 miles east of Moscow that once supported thousands of Khanty. The tribe is distantly related to the Finns, Estonians and Hungarians, who migrated west from Siberia 40,000 years ago. Some linguists also see links to native Americans. For centuries the Khanty fished and hunted rabbit and moose near the Ob. Their language had no alphabet but was rich with legends about mammoths, shamans and pagan gods. Awestruck by bears, the Khanty invented a whole separate vocabulary to describe the animal and its body parts. Slavic missionaries turned up in the 18th century to preach Christianity. Then the Russian Revolution brought lasting change. Bent on forging hundreds of ethnic minorities into one Soviet citizenry, the Bolsheviks herded Khanty children to boarding schools and adults to collective farms, where they were forced to speak Russian. When the Soviets discovered oil in Siberia in the 1960s, millions of Russian-speaking workers invaded Khanty land to drill wells and build cities. Demoralized, most Khanty either assimilated into Russian life or took to drink, typically vodka or moonshine. "Russians tell us to this day that we weren't literate, we couldn't read or write. Well, OK, they brought culture, literacy and education, but they also destroyed our way of life," says Klavdia Demko, a Khanty activist who helps arrange Ms. Parnyuk's travels. In the 1950s, a distinguished Soviet linguist named Andrei Dulzon began meticulously documenting indigenous languages, traveling by motorboat to remote settlements along the Ob. Today, at the university in Tomsk, surrounded by stacks of Mr. Dulzon's vocabulary-card files, graduate students compile dictionaries, write ABC books for kids, and train teachers to keep up the languages in rural schools. They set out on expeditions as often as possible. Andrei Filtchenko, a Tomsk linguist finishing his Ph.D. on Khanty dialects at Rice University in Houston, once walked 40 miles through a bog to visit two elderly Khanty hunters. Navigating the knee-deep water in rubber boots, he finally reached a log house sitting on a shallow lake. Delighted by the company, the hunters regaled him with tall tales about bears. "Ninety percent of my language data comes from bear stories," says Mr. Filtchenko, who developed an interest in indigenous people after reading "The Last of the Mohicans" as a child. Khanty superstitions pepper every journey. Last summer, Mr. Filtchenko cut himself while swimming. The wound swelled. The next day, several Khanty led him to a sacred log cabin where he laid a piece of cloth and a few coins before a wooden deity inside. "The cut healed in one or two days," he says. Ms. Parnyuk paid for her recent two-week expedition herself, keeping costs to under $250. She stayed with families and often hitched rides with drivers such as Father Alexei, an orthodox priest who drove her from village to village in a 1979 Moskvich, the Soviet equivalent of a Ford Escort. The priest's rattly car broke down twice and finally plowed into a snowbank. In Lukashkin-Yar, population 600, Ms. Parnyuk cruised from cabin to cabin on a snowmobile in the minus 40 degree temperatures. She found only three remaining Khanty who could speak the regional dialect, known as Alexandrovskoye. They helped the linguist correct a draft of a Khanty dictionary and filled her notebook with legends. After her tea break, she zoomed off to another elderly informant, a retired oil worker who had chatted at length with her the previous summer. Ducking into the door of his disheveled hut, she found him sitting in his undershorts, drunk on moonshine. "Tell us about all the oil fields you've explored," she said gently. But realizing it was no use, she left a package of food and departed. The Tomsk linguists hope to finish their Khanty dictionary by 2008. Ms. Demko, the activist, has offered to raise money from local Khanty to help sponsor the book. "We are all counting on Lyuba," she says. But she admits young Khanty such as her nephew, a computer programmer, are more interested in studying English. Ms. Parnyuk, who now speaks Khanty better than many of her informants, has few illusions that her work will restore the Alexandrovskoye dialect. Still, she adds, the Khanty have remarkable faith in renewal. "When they bury someone, they put broken things in his grave," she says. "They think that in the next life, all broken things will become whole again." ------ Word Play Khanty ways of saying "bear": "Ih" -- Bear, as hunters would say it "Pupi" -- Bear, as women or children would say it "Qaqi" -- Bear, a sweet nickname that means "little brother" "Worong Qu" -- Bear, meaning "man of the forest" "Mae elle ih welsim" -- I killed a big bear From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sat Mar 27 16:43:10 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2004 09:43:10 -0700 Subject: Lightning strikes twice for endangered Aboriginal tongues (fwd) Message-ID: Lightning strikes twice for endangered Aboriginal tongues http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/03/26/1079939845162.html By Linda Doherty, Education Editor March 27, 2004 Kelsey Strasek-Barker's sweet voice sings out strange words to the popular children's ditty, the Hokey pokey. "Nginda dhina way, Nginda dhina dhuwimay" in the Yuwaalaraay language means "You put your foot in, you take your foot out." Kelsey, 9, of Tamworth, is one of the stars of Yugal, a CD of songs recorded in Yuwaalaraay and Gamilaraay for a language revival project in northern inland NSW. "I'm proud of singing the Aboriginal language, and it's fun. I starting learning in Lightning Ridge when I was five," she said. Many Aboriginal tongues are fast dying out, and linguists such as Christian Brother John Giacon, of Walgett, rely on 1970s recordings of elders to rediscover the words, grammar and pronunciation. Two years ago the Board of Studies said not a single child in NSW could competently speak one of the 60 native languages. But that is changing in Catholic and public schools in Walgett, Lightning Ridge, Toomelah-Boggabilla, Coonabarabran and Goodooga, where the CD and an accompanying Yuwaalaraay and Gamilaraay dictionary are vital teaching resources. The similar languages were once widespread from Lightning Ridge in the west, to Goondiwindi in the north and Tamworth in the south. The main learning hub is St Joseph's primary school at Walgett, where more than half of the 190 pupils are Aboriginal. All children in kindergarten to year 3 learn the languages, as do indigenous pupils in senior primary classes. On Thursday the children sang and made speeches in the ancient languages for a Harmony Day concert, and it is not unusual for them to now greet each other with "yaama" instead of "hello". "They enjoy singing, and it's a great way to get them actually using the language," Brother John said. A frustration is that there are many gaps in the vocabulary, and no words for modern phenomena like television or telephones. But for Kelsey's mother, Priscilla, who has taught Yuwaalaraay at Lightning Ridge, building on the few words she grew up with brings immense pride. "It's great just to know the language of my nan and great-nan and pop. The kids pick it up really easily, but it's harder for adults because you have to get used to rolling your tongue." This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/03/26/1079939845162.html From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Sat Mar 27 16:44:57 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2004 09:44:57 -0700 Subject: Maori language television makes it (fwd) Message-ID: Maori language television makes it http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2004/3/26/latest/16616Maorilang&sec=latest WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - The indigenous Maori language was banned in New Zealand schools from the 1880s and now is spoken by only one in 10 Maoris, but its supporters believe the launch of nationwide Maori TV broadcasts will help ensure its survival. After 16 years of struggle and controversy, the new taxpayer-funded Maori Television Service, or MTS, begins operation Sunday. Its first broadcasts coincide with a bitter debate in New Zealand over race relations sparked by a pledge by opposition National Party leader Don Brash to end preferential government treatment for Maori ranging from welfare payments to funding for the new TV network. A National Party spokesman said the party likely would pull the plug on the new channel if it wins power in elections next year. "I don't see MTS as having a long life,'' the party's Maori affairs spokesman, Gerry Brownlee, said this week. Opponents have fought the project since the country's highest court ruled in 1991 that the government had a legal responsibility to fund Maori TV to protect the language under a 1840 treaty between Maori and British settlers. Since then, every step of the fledgling TV service's creation has been dogged by controversy. Its first appointed chief executive, Canadian John Davy - who spoke no Maori and had no knowledge of the culture - was jailed in 2002 and later deported for false claims about his credentials for the job. Earlier efforts to run a private Maori TV channel ended in bankruptcy after it squandered millions of dollars of taxpayer cash. There was outrage when it was revealed one of its directors used taxpayer money to buy 85 New Zealand dollar (US$55) pairs of silk boxer shorts. Maori are among New Zealand's least-educated, least-healthy and worst-housed citizens, have high unemployment levels and fill more than half the nation's prison cells. Their language, spoken by less than 10 percent of the nation's 530,000 Maori, was only recognised as an official national language alongside English in 1987. Maori elder and academic Huirangi Waikerepuru led the fight for its recognition, which spawned the 1987 Maori Language Act and paved the way for Maori language schools and Maori radio stations. "The launch of Maori television is yet another milestone for us and our language,'' Waikerepuru said this week. "My being at the launch will be out of respect for the kuia and koroua (elderly women and men) who told ... their stories of being punished at school for speaking their native tongue,'' Waikerepuru said. Legislation setting up the new channel requires Maori to be used in at least 50 percent of its programming. It plans to eventually subtitle all programs to make them accessible to non-Maori. It promises a broad range of programs, including dramas, entertainment, cooking shows and a daily news hour focusing on Maori issues. Even its weather bulletins will be different - looking not only at temperatures and storm patterns but also at tides and good times to fish and work in the garden. Prime Minister Helen Clark said the service should be judged on its merits, not its turbulent past. She said despite the problems, other minority groups around the world had found that to keep a language alive they needed a voice on television. Associate Maori Affairs Minister John Tamihere, a Maori, said the channel will be a "powerful voice for Maori. I am very pleased that voice will be a bilingual one.'' He said he hopes the new channel will help end some of the "ignorance and misunderstanding'' about Maori issues fueling the nation's acrimonious race relation debate. - AP From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Mon Mar 29 15:42:34 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2004 08:42:34 -0700 Subject: Native language classes teach manners in addition to words (fwd) Message-ID: Native language classes teach manners in addition to words Students want to reclaim culture, bone up or learn a new tongue http://www.adn.com/front/story/4901271p-4836278c.html [two photo insets] By SANDI GERJEVIC Anchorage Daily News (Published: March 29, 2004) It is a sunny spring morning, but Moon Woman, Bear Woman, Little Bird and Baby Baby -- their translated Aleut names -- are huddled inside an annex of the Alaska Native Heritage Center, trying to master the sound of a rough "G." In the western dialect of the Aleut, or Unangax, language, the sound of a regular "G" comes from one part of the mouth and the sound of a rough "G" comes from another -- subtle but critical to meaning. "Forget it. You're going to get yourself upset," Sally Swetzof (Moon Woman) tells her aunt, Angelina Guenther (Baby Baby). Guenther is trying hard to get her tongue around a certain word but gives the whole thing up with an "Ay-yi-yi." Swetzof, the instructor, was a little tougher on her aunt than the other two students, calling on her often, coaching her through words and correcting her with a firm "No, aunt." Unangax is one of four Alaska Native language classes taught at the Heritage Center weekly in March. The program draws Natives and non-Natives of all ages, said the center's Kay Ashton. Some attend to bone up for Bush travel. Some want enough of their own cultural language to introduce themselves publicly. Others have personal reasons. Guenther forgot her language when she left Atka to attend boarding school at age 6. Now, at 63, she wants to recapture it. "It was such a part of me when I was younger," she said. Sitting next to her, Tatiana Petticrew (Little Bird) was a striking contrast. A crown of black hair fell across her shoulders. She wore a sprinkle of garnets in her earlobes, and her nails were painted coal black. Petticrew, 11, has studied Unangax in Atka since preschool. When she and her mother, Jolene Petticrew (Bear Woman), moved to Anchorage, Tatiana wanted to continue lessons with Swetzof, who also teaches in the Aleutian Region School District. The women pored over words like baliikax (smoked fish), gis-xix (rookery) and ganax (the glow in the sky when the sun is setting). Along with mastering ways to introduce themselves and other conversation starters, students pick up a few protocol pointers for traveling in the Alaska Bush -- things like learning to wait a few beats after asking a question. It's one of the things that irks Swetzof: when a non-Native asks a question and then, not getting an instant response, jumps in with another or, worse yet, asks the question in another way, as if the Native person hadn't understood. Phrasing is important in speaking to an elder, said Marie Meade, who teaches a class in Yup'ik. In that case, you might say: "Would you like some coffee?" Not "Do you want coffee?" There is a distinction that shows a measure of respect, she said. Here is another tip: If someone offers you food you don't want, it's OK to say "No, thanks" if you say it in a nice way. Sometimes, it's easiest to tell the truth. For example, if you're hopping a prop plane in a few hours, you might explain that you have to be careful what you eat. An even simpler tack is to ask the host to wrap a portion to go. "Whatever you do with it after that, it's between you and the all-seeing eye," said Paul Marks, who teaches a Tlingit class at the center later on Saturdays. Marks revealed common cultural gaffes. In Tlingit, it's considered inappropriate to ask a lot of questions, he said. There's a time for that, but to lead off a conversation with questions might be considered forward or rude. Traditionally, you would avoid asking anyone for anything in a direct manner. An example would be a woman who wants her husband to clean out the garage. Not only would she not ask directly, she would not even ask indirectly. She would wait until the husband was within earshot and then mention to someone else how badly the garage needs to be cleaned. Also, in a formal setting, women allow men to take the lead when speaking, Marks said. He acknowledged these are cultural practices that may be out of fashion or in direct opposition to a Western style (and maddening to women, in fact). Nevertheless, he said, "When in Rome ..." Marks, 54, grew up in Juneau, speaking Tlingit in his family, which he characterized as a long-standing and traditional clan. He has traveled and earned an education at a number of schools. He once dated a non-Native woman. In most contexts, she suited him well. But in the company of other Natives, she stood out. "When she was in my circle, her cultural etiquette ... was very obvious to me," he said. Marks had trouble defining that exactly, except to say the girlfriend was too exuberant, too boisterous, too willing to lead the conversation. "It was so un-Tlingit," he said. That's not a bad thing, he added. But it is different from how he was raised. Once, Marks said, he was sitting at a table with his sister, who is in her mid-70s. She turned to him and asked whether he'd ever heard the Lord's Prayer sung in Tlingit, as the Russian Orthodox sing it. No, he said. So she sang it to him. Marks thought about that exchange for some time. He understood there was a difference between his sister telling him he needed to know the song and her offering the song to him, almost as a gift. In general, the rules of etiquette that apply in town are the same in the Bush and incorporate common sense, the language teachers said. Take your shoes off (it's an Alaska thing). Be quiet and listen. Ask before blundering in. Thank people. Be sincere. In other words, a respectful manner and a smile go a long way in any language. When a culture has been offended so many times, Marks said, it shuts down. And that, he pointed out, is the death of communication. Daily News features writer Sandi Gerjevic can be reached at 257-4325 or sgerjevic at adn.com. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Mon Mar 29 15:54:57 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2004 08:54:57 -0700 Subject: Windows learns to speak Inuktitut in crucial move for Inuit cultural survival (fwd) Message-ID: Windows learns to speak Inuktitut in crucial move for Inuit cultural survival http://www.canada.com/technology/story.html?id=22A4CD21-CE73-430E-B999-7A613032470C BOB WEBER Canadian Press Sunday, March 28, 2004 (CP) - In a move that could be central to the survival of Inuit culture, the world's largest software company is teaching its most powerful computer operating system to speak the ancient tongue of Arctic hunters. Microsoft is developing software to run its popular Windows XP system in Inuktitut. This marks the first time the world's most popular operating system will speak a Canadian aboriginal language. "We're doing this to support the language," said Microsoft spokeswoman Mina Gharbi-Hamel from Toronto. The company is developing a so-called language interface pack, to be available as a free download. That means menus will drop down with Inuktitut commands. Applications from e-mail to databases will be available in Inuktitut. Inuktitut speakers will be able to use Windows and all its features in their own language. Gharbi-Hamel saw first-hand the problems English-only Windows is causing in Nunavut when she visited government offices last February. "I saw people translating menus on little yellow sticky notes and putting them around their PC screen to be able to understand the application being used," she said. "If I'm using an application, I'd like to be able to understand my menus." Officials in Nunavut, where preserving Inuktitut is a powerful political issue, welcome the language pack. "An operating system that uses Inuktitut is incredibly important," said Jonathan Dewar of Nunavut's Office of the Language Commissioner. "(It) gives young people the opportunity to use Inuktitut in their school lives and their work lives so they can be immersed in their culture without having to put their English hat on when they leave the house in the morning." Relative to many other aboriginal languages, Inuktitut remains healthy. Government surveys suggest that Inuktitut remains the mother tongue of 84 per cent of Nunavut's roughly 21,000 Inuit, with about the same percentage speaking it at least reasonably well. But that reassuring number drops for young people. Nearly 88 per cent of Inuit aged 15-24 say they speak English well, compared with only 79 per cent for Inuktitut. And it's not hard to understand why. Only 27 per cent of Inuit report using Inuktitut as the language of work - a figure that falls to 11 per cent for schools. The Windows language pack could help change that, says Chris Douglas, Nunavut's director of official languages. "I think it's extremely important - mainly because the government of Nunavut is committed to making Inuktitut the language of government by 2020," he said. But first, software developers have to come up with Inuktitut equivalents for geekspeak such as "upload," "file format," and "database." Other terms already in more-or-less general use, such as "matuirli" for "open" or "matuli" for "close," have to be standardized and accepted by the general community. "Some of it will be identifying words that exist and some of it will be making new words," said Gavin Nesbitt of the Pirurvik Centre in Iqaluit, which is running the project for Microsoft. Creating the language interface is expected to take about a year, said Gharbi-Hamel. Microsoft has already written such software for local languages around the world, from Ukrainian to Urdu to Swahili. Inuktitut will be the first aboriginal language in Canada to receive the software, but it may not be the last. "We are addressing the Inuktitut language first," said Gharbi-Hamel. "It doesn't mean we will stop there." Dewar says the Windows language interface could be a crucial link between the next generation of Inuktitut speakers and the tongue of their elders. "It's young people who are accessing modern technology, and they're the demographic that is most at risk of losing the language," he says. "Young people have to be able to use the language in day-to-day life." ??Copyright ?2004?The Canadian Press From dzo at BISHARAT.NET Mon Mar 29 23:25:09 2004 From: dzo at BISHARAT.NET (Donald Z. Osborn) Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2004 17:25:09 -0600 Subject: Interview on "assimilation" Message-ID: The following request for help was posted on the Assimilation group, which is still very small, so I hope it's okay that I crosspost it. Please address replies directly to the student. Don Osborn Bisharat.net To: Assimilation at yahoogroups.com From: "Angela" Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2004 17:58:38 -0000 Subject: [Assimilation] Seeking an interview Hello, my name is Angela, and I am seeking out someone who can interviewed about their opinion on assimlation into different societies(preferably professional). You can be either pro or con. I am doing a college research paper about the effects that assimilation has on a culure, specifically how it has affected the aborigines in Australia. The interview can be via e-mail or by phone. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Assimilation/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: Assimilation-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Tue Mar 30 16:48:48 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 09:48:48 -0700 Subject: Teacher Reviving Language (fwd) Message-ID: Teacher Reviving Language http://www.swtimes.com/archive/2004/March/29/news/language.html By Marcus Blair TIMES RECORD ? MBLAIR at SWTIMES.COM GORE ? Each time Phyllis Yargee hears children speaking Cherokee on the playground, she knows her difficult job is worth the effort. Teaching a complex, dying language to children isn?t easy, even among a student body that is 71 percent American Indian. Most Cherokees are unable to speak their native language, and even fewer can read or write the characters of the Cherokee syllabary, Yargee said. ?I think people should know the language because they live in the heart of the Cherokee Nation,? the Notchietown resident said. ?There are now so few speakers and most of them are elders.? Yargee spent 14 years working for the Johnson O?Malley program for the advancement of American Indian students. She helped develop the Cherokee Challenge Bowl in which young Cherokees test their knowledge of tribal culture. Through the experience, she learned basic Cherokee words. Since being hired last year by Gore Schools and fueled by a desire to keep the language from dying, Yargee has learned more about her native tongue. The dialect connects Cherokees to their heritage and helps students of other races learn about another culture, Yargee said. She believes stereotypes fall and students are more accepting of others when they receive a multicultural education. Yargee teaches 45-minute classes daily to students from kindergarten to fifth grade. The sessions are steeped in tribal history, government and customs. Yargee?s students seem to devour their lessons and are acquiring more of the language on their own, school officials said. One student astonished Yargee by learning her name in Cherokee without the help of a teacher. The learning also produced some unexpected results, Yargee said. Students are using Cherokee as a secret language around teachers who can?t speak it. The conspiratorial aspect of the speech is an unusual drawing card that piqued the interest of the students, Yargee said. Superintendent Marvin Thouvenel said the language is never a problem because the school is ecstatic to see the children enthusiastic about learning. ?I hear them sometimes when I?m down there at the elementary,? Thouvenel said. ?I like to hear them speak Cherokee and I ask them to. I wish all of them could do it.? Yargee is the first Cherokee teacher at Gore Schools to introduce the written language of the tribe to the elementary students. She developed the curriculum, which was a monumental task, said Sandy Williams, federal programs coordinator for the school. ?Phyllis has done a tremendous job. She?s the one who decided to implement the syllabary and there is no written curriculum for that from the state,? Williams said. Yargee is searching for ways to involve parents who can?t help with homework because they are unable to decipher the lessons of their children. To help parents get acquainted with the language, Yargee is developing several tools, including a Cherokee lunch menu designed to teach adults the names of foods. The developing language barrier between adults and children may be a positive sign that shows a revival of the Cherokee dialect that was not experienced in previous generations, Yargee said. School officials say they are thankful to have Yargee, a member of the Cherokee Tribal Council, as a teacher. Yargee has enthusiasm and knowledge that are irreplaceable in teaching, Williams said. ?When we asked her to come here, we never dreamed we would get her,? Williams said. ?She brings a knowledge and experience to the school that is a huge asset to us.? From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Wed Mar 31 16:30:41 2004 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 08:30:41 -0800 Subject: Language Maintenance Message-ID: 03/18/2004 - WASHINGTON By Earl Lane, Newsday In half a dozen fishing villages in a remote part of central Siberia, the Middle Chulym people are losing their language, one of hundreds of tongues likely to vanish around the world during the next half century. Among the Middle Chulym, who survive by ancestral ways of hunting, gathering and fishing, only about 40 of 426 people continue to speak the native language, according to K. David Harrison, a linguist at Swarthmore College who traveled to the region last year to document two Turkic languages in imminent danger. He found that no one younger than 52 can speak Middle Chulym fluently, and the rest speak only Russian. "Each language that vanishes without being documented leaves an enormous gap in our understanding of some of the many complex structures the human mind is capable of producing," Harrison said. Number systems, grammatical structures and classification systems can be lost, along with knowledge about medicinal plants, animal behavior, weather signs and hunting techniques. Siberian language in peril Another Siberian language called Tofa also is threatened, with 35 of 600 in the community able to speak it. When such native languages die, Harrison said recently at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, villagers lose an oral history as well as detailed knowledge of the local environment. The Tofa people are reindeer herders, Harrison said, and their language has special ways of describing reindeer by sex, age, fertility, color and ease of riding. Such descriptions do not translate easily into Russian, he said. "Human languages are vanishing as we speak," said Harrison, who argues that the rate of loss is every bit as disturbing as the extinction of animal species. Stephen Anderson, a Yale University linguist, estimates that "probably 40 percent or more of the world's languages will cease to be spoken within the next 50 to 100 years." Ethnologue, a database maintained by SIL International of Dallas, lists 6,809 languages worldwide. That number is subject to debate, say Anderson and others. Laurence Horn, a Yale linguist, said the number of languages sometimes is influenced by politics as much as linguistics. Cantonese and Mandarin are distinct languages, he said, but the Chinese government prefers to consider them dialects. Horn cited the oft- quoted comment, attributed to Yiddish linguist Max Weinreich, that a language is "a dialect with an army and a navy." Harrison said languages begin to decline when native speakers view them as less prestigious or not accepted as widely as the dominant language in a region. That has been the case with Middle Chulym, Harrison said. Native languages Of the indigenous languages of North America, Anderson said, only eight have as many as 10,000 speakers. Navajo is the largest, with about 160,000 speakers, he said. But many young Navajos no longer are learning the language as their first tongue, he said. "Once young children don't learn it as a first language," Anderson said, "then it has only as many years to go as the life expectancy of its current native speakers." Language-maintenance efforts are under way in American Indian communities, he said, but studying the language for a few hours a week in school is not sufficient to rescue a threatened language. Some elementaries, including one on the Mohawk reservation in northern New York, teach the traditional tongue as a first language in immersion programs aimed at preserving language and culture. The loss of languages is not inevitable, Anderson said. Linguists such as Harrison have been trying to record and document endangered languages, help foster interest in them among local populations and develop written forms to help preserve them. Whenever a language dies, Anderson said, "it's a human tragedy and one of the few human tragedies that linguists can do something about." -- Andr? Cramblit: andre.p.cramblit.86 at alum.dartmouth.org is the Operations Director Northern California Indian Development Council NCIDC (http://www.ncidc.org) is a non-profit that meets the development needs of American Indians To subscribe to a news letter of interest to Natives send an email to: IndigenousNewsNetwork-subscribe at topica.com or go to: http://www.topica.com/lists/IndigenousNewsNetwork/subscribe/?location=listinfo From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Mar 31 16:45:23 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 09:45:23 -0700 Subject: A window of opportunity for the Inuit (fwd) Message-ID: A window of opportunity for the Inuit http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=115&art_id=qw1080719282828C535&set_id=1 Toronto - How would an Inuit hunter who scratches out a meagre living in the Arctic chill write "email", "log off" or "shut down"? That's a teaser facing Microsoft programers in their new project to adapt Windows XP and Office applications to the ancient tongue of Inuktitut, spoken by the Inuit, formerly known as Eskimos. The frozen Inuit homeland encompasses some of the planet's coldest and most inhospitable regions in parts of north-eastern Russia, areas of Greenland, Alaska and northern Canada. Computing is not among the Inuit's typical pursuits, as the civilisation has been passed from generation to generation with storytelling, drum dancing and hunting and fishing skills. 'It will bring the community closer' So the first task for software engineers is to find words and concepts in the Inuit language applicable to computers. "It is very important to us to make sure the composition of the words is acceptable to the community," said Mina Gharbi-Hamel, Windows International Programming Manager to Microsoft Canada. Microsoft's venture will mark the first time the software behemoth's programs have been made available in an aboriginal Canadian language. The move will also represent a substantial boost for a language, which like other ancient and native tongues is suffering from the global onslaught of English. A development team is to spend four to six months compiling a glossary of words to be used in the program, which will allow Inuit users to follow the menus and commands familiar to millions of Windows users. Inuit is a particularly difficult language to adapt as it is written as a mixture of symbols and consonants. The program will be offered free as a downloadable "skin" on Microsoft's website to existing Windows customers. Gharbi-Hamel visited the northern Canadian territory of Nunavut, earlier this year, where Inuit is the official government language, to research potential consumers for the project. "It will bring the community closer," she said. "I think there will be some job opportunities too, in areas where there is technology but where people see barriers because of their language." Published on the Web by IOL on 2004-03-31 09:48:03 From cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Mar 31 16:53:59 2004 From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (phil cash cash) Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 09:53:59 -0700 Subject: Language promoted through technology (fwd) Message-ID: Language promoted through technology http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/zones/sundaytimes/newsst/newsst1080724304.asp Wednesday March 31, 2004 11:21 - (SA) The government announced it is about to embark on a project to bring indigenous languages into line with current international norms. ? This was the message from Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the Minister of Minerals and Energy, Arts, Culture, Science and Technology when she announced an innovative language scheme at the Durban Convention Centre. ? The minister said Africa as a whole had a woeful history as far as honouring the languages of the people of the continent was concerned. ? "African languages' biggest problem stems from the days of colonialism and the ill-conceived idea that African languages were inferior to colonial languages and unfit for any functional role in business or politics," said the minister. ? As part of a strategy to reverse this situation the minister announced three initiatives - a bursary scheme, the establishment of language research and development centres (LRDCs) and the launch of a human language technologies (HLT) initiative. ? "I would like to state that it is the government's goal to have all the official languages of South Africa adequately developed in order to serve the complex and diverse requirements of modern communication," she said. ? "Developing a language requires the use of realistic strategies, and a proper plan of action with clear goals and objectives. When one thinks about developing languages one has to think about research, which provides the backbone of all language development strategies. ? "It is for this reason that we have decided to establish language research and development centres and to link them with academic institutions. The mandates of these centres are terminology development, literature development and research, and language planning research. ? Mlambo-Ngcuka said the human language technologies unit would co-ordinate the work that was done in terms of developing and managing electronic language and speech resources in all the official languages of South Africa. ? Department spokesman Xolile Mfaxa said the new technology could be used in all sections of society such as universities, government and the private sector in promoting the use of indigenous languages. ? "We want to see capacity built along the lines of terminology so there is no excuse for not using a particular language - for example not using Zulu because it doesn't have certain technical terms." ? Mfaxa said five bursaries worth R40,000 each, were awarded to post-graduate students in the fields of translation and editing, interpreting, terminology development, human language technologies and language planning. ? All of these initiatives follow the February 2003 adoption by government of the National Language Policy Framework. Sapa From CRANEM at MAIL.ECU.EDU Wed Mar 31 19:39:26 2004 From: CRANEM at MAIL.ECU.EDU (Bizzaro, Resa Crane) Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 14:39:26 -0500 Subject: Info on epidemics Message-ID: Hi, everyone. I have a special request of you all. Can anyone suggest places to look for information on the smallpox, measles, and mumps epidemics in this country among indigenous peoples? I have a friend who's an immunologist who is going to teach a course on the politics of infection/chemical warfare, and he wants to read some materials and use them in his class. In particular, it would be helpful if these things were written from our (i.e., a Native American) perspective. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Resa Resa Crane Bizzaro English Department East Carolina University Greenville, NC 27858 (252) 328-1395 - Office (252) 328-4889 - Fax -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From bischoff at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Mar 31 20:12:27 2004 From: bischoff at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (s.t. bischoff) Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 13:12:27 -0700 Subject: Info on epidemics In-Reply-To: <7F4FA3FB24EC7040825418FFCCA088FB1EB830@ecufacstaf1.intra.ecu.edu> Message-ID: Hi Resa, There is a book by Ward Churchill, "A Little Matter of Genocide: Holocaust and Denial in the Americas, 1492 to the Present". In one of the essays he talks about talks about the use of 'smallpox' as a means of 'chemical warfare' and cites some interesting letters from early military figures and politicians. It has been some time since I read the material, but if memory serves me the references would be a good source of material. I think he covers other issues as well, like the distribution of medicines for such diseases and military policy governing such distribution (or lack of distribution). Best of luck, Shannon -- S.T. Bischoff bischoff at email.arizona.edu Department of Linguistics University of Arizona Quoting "Bizzaro, Resa Crane" : > Hi, everyone. I have a special request of you all. Can anyone suggest > places to look for information on the smallpox, measles, and mumps epidemics > in this country among indigenous peoples? I have a friend who's an > immunologist who is going to teach a course on the politics of > infection/chemical warfare, and he wants to read some materials and use them > in his class. In particular, it would be helpful if these things were > written from our (i.e., a Native American) perspective. Any suggestions > would be greatly appreciated. > > Thanks. > > Resa > > Resa Crane Bizzaro > English Department > East Carolina University > Greenville, NC 27858 > (252) 328-1395 - Office > (252) 328-4889 - Fax > From dba at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU Wed Mar 31 20:24:33 2004 From: dba at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU (Diana Archangeli) Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 13:24:33 -0700 Subject: Info on epidemics In-Reply-To: <7F4FA3FB24EC7040825418FFCCA088FB1EB830@ecufacstaf1.intra.e cu.edu> Message-ID: Linda Green, in the UA's department of Anthropology & reachable at lbgreen at email.arizona.edu, might be able to help. best, Diana At 02:39 PM 3/31/04 -0500, you wrote: > > Hi, everyone. I have a special request of you all. Can anyone suggest > places to look for information on the smallpox, measles, and mumps epidemics > in this country among indigenous peoples? I have a friend who's an > immunologist who is going to teach a course on the politics of > infection/chemical warfare, and he wants to read some materials and use them > in his class. In particular, it would be helpful if these things were > written from our (i.e., a Native American) perspective. Any suggestions > would be greatly appreciated. > > Thanks. > > Resa > > Resa Crane Bizzaro > English Department > East Carolina University > Greenville, NC 27858 > (252) 328-1395 - Office > (252) 328-4889 - Fax Diana Archangeli Associate Dean, Research, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences University of Arizona Tucson, AZ 85721 520-621-2184 Director, Social and Behavioral Sciences Research Institute University of Arizona 520-621-3930 Professor, Linguistics University of Arizona 520-621-2184 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From CRANEM at MAIL.ECU.EDU Wed Mar 31 21:55:58 2004 From: CRANEM at MAIL.ECU.EDU (Bizzaro, Resa Crane) Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 16:55:58 -0500 Subject: Info on epidemics Message-ID: Thanks, Shannon. I look forward to seeing this book and to hearing from other people on the list. Resa -----Original Message----- From: s.t. bischoff [mailto:bischoff at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU] Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 3:12 PM To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU Subject: Re: Info on epidemics Hi Resa, There is a book by Ward Churchill, "A Little Matter of Genocide: Holocaust and Denial in the Americas, 1492 to the Present". In one of the essays he talks about talks about the use of 'smallpox' as a means of 'chemical warfare' and cites some interesting letters from early military figures and politicians. It has been some time since I read the material, but if memory serves me the references would be a good source of material. I think he covers other issues as well, like the distribution of medicines for such diseases and military policy governing such distribution (or lack of distribution). Best of luck, Shannon -- S.T. Bischoff bischoff at email.arizona.edu Department of Linguistics University of Arizona Quoting "Bizzaro, Resa Crane" : > Hi, everyone. I have a special request of you all. Can anyone > suggest places to look for information on the smallpox, measles, and > mumps epidemics in this country among indigenous peoples? I have a > friend who's an immunologist who is going to teach a course on the > politics of infection/chemical warfare, and he wants to read some > materials and use them in his class. In particular, it would be > helpful if these things were written from our (i.e., a Native > American) perspective. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. > > Thanks. > > Resa > > Resa Crane Bizzaro > English Department > East Carolina University > Greenville, NC 27858 > (252) 328-1395 - Office > (252) 328-4889 - Fax > From CRANEM at MAIL.ECU.EDU Wed Mar 31 22:02:52 2004 From: CRANEM at MAIL.ECU.EDU (Bizzaro, Resa Crane) Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 17:02:52 -0500 Subject: Info on epidemics Message-ID: Hi, Diana. Thanks for the info. I'll forward it to my friend in immunology. Resa -----Original Message----- From: Diana Archangeli [mailto:dba at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU] Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 3:25 PM To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU Subject: Re: Info on epidemics Linda Green, in the UA's department of Anthropology & reachable at lbgreen at email.arizona.edu, might be able to help. best, Diana At 02:39 PM 3/31/04 -0500, you wrote: Hi, everyone. I have a special request of you all. Can anyone suggest places to look for information on the smallpox, measles, and mumps epidemics in this country among indigenous peoples? I have a friend who's an immunologist who is going to teach a course on the politics of infection/chemical warfare, and he wants to read some materials and use them in his class. In particular, it would be helpful if these things were written from our (i.e., a Native American) perspective. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Resa Resa Crane Bizzaro English Department East Carolina University Greenville, NC 27858 (252) 328-1395 - Office (252) 328-4889 - Fax Diana Archangeli Associate Dean, Research, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences University of Arizona Tucson, AZ 85721 520-621-2184 Director, Social and Behavioral Sciences Research Institute University of Arizona 520-621-3930 Professor, Linguistics University of Arizona 520-621-2184 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From andrekar at NCIDC.ORG Wed Mar 31 22:13:43 2004 From: andrekar at NCIDC.ORG (Andre Cramblit) Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 14:13:43 -0800 Subject: Ancient Voices-Modern Tools (language) Message-ID: Greetings from Seattle! Registration is now open for "ANCIENT VOICES/MODERN TOOLS: Language and Tech-Knowledge", to be held on the University of Washington campus in Seattle from August 20 to 23, 2004. Hosted in collaboration by Indigenous Language Institute and the University of Washington, this symposium is in response to tribal language programs throughout North America and beyond that want to use computer technology in their language programs. The goal of the workshops is to ensure that attendees have a chance to acquire practical, useful information, and enhanced computer skills to start new or to strengthen existing language programs. The 2 1/2 day program will: 1) provide lectures and demonstrations on ways of collecting language materials, including stories, songs, personal interviews, word lists, and photographs through audio and audiovisual recordings, digital scanning of documents and photographs and more; 2) allow participants to explore ideas about what can be taught with old and newly collected materials and for what purpose; 3) provide opportunities for considering various technologies available for language programs to present their existing collections in diverse formats such as games, videos, CDs, interactive CD-ROMs, and more; and 4) help people learn how to put materials onto interactive, multimedia CD-ROMs using simple programs. Hands-on "computer camps" will be led by experts who will coach attendees on the creation of videos, DVDs, CDs or CD-ROMs. Attendees are expected to bring materials they wish to use in language instruction such as photographs, video recordings, audio recordings, old or new documents, and curriculum materials from current or past indigenous language classes. In addition we have arranged for an affordable room and board package in the UW dormitories. You are not required to stay in the dorms while you participate in the workshops, but they are much less expensive than most hotels in Seattle. The attached registration brochure contains descriptive information about the computer workshops and the featured events. This information is also available on the conference website: http://depts.washington.edu/ili2004 Our goal is to minimize postage and phone expenses by distributing as much information as possible by email. However if you are unable to open this attachment then please let us know and we will promptly send you a brochure by fax or mail. While the program continues to be developed we will add new information to the website as it becomes available, so please visit it often to view the latest updates. Feel free to forward this message to anyone who might be interested in participating. Attendance will be limited so we urge you to register early to avoid disappointment. Pages 3 & 4 of this brochure comprise the registration application. Complete both pages and return them to us with payment by fax or mail by April 15 if possible. We hope that everyone who wishes to attend will be able to; however if we receive more registrations than we can accommodate we will make selections based on our ability to meet your needs as described on the registration form. We are very excited about providing this opportunity to assist you in discovering the ways in which technology can be used to aid you in your language preservation efforts. Please make plans now to join us in Seattle in August. Best Regards, Sue-Ellen Jacobs, University of Washington Inee Yang Slaughter, Indigenous Language Institute From coyotez at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU Wed Mar 31 23:48:48 2004 From: coyotez at DARKWING.UOREGON.EDU (David Lewis) Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 15:48:48 -0800 Subject: Info on epidemics In-Reply-To: <7F4FA3FB24EC7040825418FFCCA088FB1EB838@ecufacstaf1.intra.ecu.edu> Message-ID: Hi Resa, The book, The Coming of the Spirit of Pestilence: Introduced Infectious Diseases and Population Decline among Northwest Coast Indians, 1774-1874, by Robert Boyd, University of Washington Press, 1999, is an excellent source and well referenced. David Lewis