traditions of assimilation...

[M. Paul Lewis]

No one can deny that pre-colonial and colonial contact between different 
languages and cultures was and still is, in many cases, disastrous.  I 
think the evidence is there, however, that this isn't only the result of 
Christian ideology/theology but rather a more generalized phenomenon 
related to ethnocentrism and power-based domination.  While one 
contributor to this list categorized that in terms of "conservatism", I 
think it is equally a danger for those with less than conservative 
ideologies as well. The intolerance of intolerance is just as powerfully 
dominating as the intolerance of anything else. Whether the "other" 
less-powerful group is categorized in theological terms (sinful) or 
socioeconomic terms (primitive, undeveloped, backwards, etc.) the same 
dynamics of power and domination are at work.

I think the categorization of missionaries presented here, while in many 
details accurate, represents an earlier age of Christian mission, and is 
analogous in some ways to categorizing all modern Englishmen as slave 
traders because of the history of English slave trading. At some point, we 
have to learn from that history and move on. Even so, the missionary 
arrival in Hawaii is not entirely typical of all missionizing activity and 
responses to local peoples and their ways. The history of the British 
presence in India, for example, is characterized by missionaries standing 
against the exploitive and racist agendas of the British trading companies 
in defense of the local peoples, languages, and cultures. More language 
description and literature development was carried out at the hands of 
missionaries there than by any secular/commercial agencies of the time, 
and a great deal of the diversity of South Asia was preserved as a 
consequence. 

Most (certainly not all) modern-day missionaries have learned from the 
past and are making strenuous efforts to be more sensitive to issues of 
language and culture. There's been a lot of theologizing about diversity 
going on in the Christian community and even many so-called 
"fundamentalists" now recognize as biblical an appreciation and 
celebration of diversity of languages and cultures. The data just shared 
regarding how the last bastions of language use in many threatened 
communities are among the Christians of those communities bears witness to 
the high regard given to all languages and cultures within Christian 
theologizing (if not always in practice - Christian theology also points 
out that "sinfulness" is not solely a property of the powerless or the 
powerful but of us all). 

One significant issue raised in this discussion that merits much longer 
discussion is how minoritized language communities negotiate the 
maintenance of their traditional heritage (identity, language, culture, 
knowledge) and the integration of outside identities, languages, cultures, 
and knowledges.  Paralleling in many ways the issues of 
bilingual/multilingual/intercultural education, such a discussion would 
consider how a heritage identity (and its associated language, cultural 
traits, and knowledge-bases) can be retained and honored while at the same 
time outside identity and its accompanying knowledge can be incorporated 
and integrated.  Does a modern day Native American have to give up the 
heritage language in order to learn (and be educated in) a national 
language? Similarly, then, how can outside ideas be acquired without 
necessarily discarding heritage perspectives? Can those differing 
perspectives be integrated?  Will they be hybridized (combined in some 
way)?  Will they simply co-exist side-by-side in some sort of tension? Can 
traditional healing measures be practiced alongside vaccinations and 
antibiotic therapies?  Integrated into those therapies? Be replaced by 
those therapies?

I'd suggest that a careful examination of some of those Native American 
Christian communities might provide some insights on this topic both 
through the sad examples of heritage abandonment/replacement and, more 
helpfully, through examples of integration, hybridization, and addition.

With regards,

Paul Lewis

*****************
M. Paul Lewis, PhD.
Editor, Ethnologue / International Sociolinguistics Consultant
SIL International
7500 W. Camp Wisdom Rd.
Dallas, TX 75236

Voice: (972) 708-7521
Fax: (972) 708-7589
Cell: (817) 703-8361



rrlapier at AOL.COM 
Sent by: Indigenous Languages and Technology <ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>
02/21/2008 09:37 AM
Please respond to
Indigenous Languages and Technology <ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>


To
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Subject
Re: [ILAT] traditions of assimilation...






I do not have time to discuss this in full right now. But it has been our 
experience (at Piegan Institute) that within our community the last 
stronghold of first language speakers is among the fundamentalist 
Christians (holy rollers) and Catholic communities. Why? I could provide a 
long historical answer. But I won't right now.
 
However, individuals from these communities have been the most helpful in 
revitalizing the Blackfeet language, working with our children, recording 
old stories, translating for us, etc.
 
So the opposite is true in our community. It is within the devout 
Christian sects that the Blackfeet language continues and does not have an 
assimilationist agenda. 

Each Indian community has its own unique history. 
 
Rosalyn LaPier


-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Smith <rzs at WILDBLUE.NET>
To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
Sent: Thu, 21 Feb 2008 9:41 am
Subject: Re: [ILAT] traditions of assimilation...

Hi David,

I think you raise an important topic towards revitalization.
Unfortunately people are easily made defensive about their own beliefs
This makes it difficult to discuss errors and offer possible solutions. 
I personally don't know one Native American who "hates" Christ.
But its the multitude forms of   _ianity we have had so much difficulty 
with.

One I have found so damaging are forms of "Replacement Theology"
Which is basicly an attempt to reshape people by presenting
as "The Truth" a different foreign paradigm , from creation to afterlife.
We cannot automaticly doubt the sincerity of such proselytizers
because often they themselves are "the converted" and go to extraordinary
lengths and sacrifice to bring what they have been taught is "the gospel"

I confess i didn't read the entire book.But i glimpsed through an account 
of
early Christian missionaries first encountering Hawaiians and I learned 
something. 
These European Christians had just sailed completely around S. America, 
were
suffering from scurvy, and food poisoning,and basicly were dying of 
malnutrition.
When they finally encountered the people of the island joyfully welcoming
them from their dugouts and on the beaches,the missionaries burst into 
tears
from the deck of the ship. Why were they weeping?
Because the islanders were "naked" and unaware their "sinful" condition.

We may be tempted to snicker today, but this isn't the point at all.
I think we should recognize this as what happens when two 
extremely different paradigms collide.Problems happen when one group 
comes with a belief that it must completely CHANGE the other group.
New creation stories, new values, new parables, new ideologies. 
Islanders must now be taught about sheep,and of course ,camels,
or they will never understand the Good Shepherd or understand
how hard it is to put a camel through the Eye of the Needle.

When a societies paradigms expand, its simply healthy education. 
Language expands and new ideas are added to what already exists.
I don't know of any indigenous people wishing to return to a stone age.
But when paradigms replace other paradigms,as in culture and theologies
Language itself begins to change from the inside out.

just some thoughts to toss out there....
Richard Zane Smith




On 2/16/08 2:03 PM, "David Lewis" <David.Lewis at GRANDRONDE.ORG> wrote:

I for one appreciate more dialogue about how Christians and other sects 
have contributed to the assimilation of Native peoples, which in turn has 
contributed to the extinction or near-extinction of many native languages. 
I too will use this in my classes.

David G. Lewis
Manager, Cultural Resources Department
Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde




-----Original Message-----
From: Indigenous Languages and Technology on behalf of Mark Sicoli
Sent: Sat 2/16/2008 12:49 PM
To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
Subject: Re: [ILAT] traditions of assimilation...

Thank you Phil, well said.  The nationalist myth is based on a pervasive
ideology where a single language is taken (or given) as the symbol of a
singular identity.  The one language=one nation association goes back to
nation-state building in Europe and the practices of linguistic
unifications, like in Spain, France, and Italy, and other such places
where vernacular languages were ideologically "erased" in the formation of
national unities.  These served as models for nation building in the
Americas and the ideology is real prominent in Mexico where I work, and
where language shifts from indigenous languages to Spanish are currently
occurring at unprecedented rates.  The same basic ideology is at work
equating one language with one individual, which serves to work against
bilingualism and bilingual education, thus facilitating language
abandonment rather than bilingual maintenance.  For these reasons I agree
that this is a worthwhile discussion for this list.

Mark


On Sat, February 16, 2008 9:02 pm, phil cash cash said:
> For the language advocates (LA) it might be worthwhile to point out 
these
> "assimilationist" agendas are all founded on a nationalist myth.  In
> today's
> contemporary context, this nationalist myth states that our societies 
are
> or
> can become linguistically, culturally homogenous.  When in reality, 
this
> may
> be impossible.Â
> And as Richard points out so well, the nationalist myth (in what ever
> manifestation it may take) supports other agendas as well.Â
> Phil
> UofA
>
>


--
Mark Sicoli Ph.D.
Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
Postbus 310
6500 AH Nijmegen
The Netherlands



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