traditions of assimilation...

[Heather Souter]

On 2/25/08, Mia Kalish <MiaKalish at learningforpeople.us> wrote:
> Everyone was so *cool* about this.
>  In one way, I feel a bit silly about being to absolutely incensed both about
>  the content of Dirk Elzinga's email, and about what it seems to me to be the
>  nerve that it took to send it. I was watching an episode of Dexter at lunch,
>  and one of the characters used the term "entitlement." I guess that's
>  perhaps what it is, a sense from a certain group of people that they have
>  the right to tell others how to be. (I'm doing it again; I'll stop.)
>
>  It's been interesting reading everyone's responses. I guess for me, the
>  intersection of language, religion and hegemony cut close to the bone. I
>  frequently find myself thinking, in response to some unthinking person's
>  attribution of "whiteness" to me, When did the Jews become "white"? Was it
>  after the Holocaust killed 18 million of us and our closest undesirable
>  friends, like the Indigenous Gypsies? Maybe it was when we built Hollywood
>  because we weren't allowed to hold more "desirable" jobs; we are grateful
>  for the diamond and gold markets. Or maybe, it was when we built the Mt.
>  Sinai hospitals, arguably some of the best in the world - because we weren't
>  allow to practice in "white" hospitals. Maybe it was then that we became
>  "white". Although, the rumors of our horns still abounded in the middle 40s,
>  when a friend's father surprised his army cohort because they didn't see
>  them when he took of his hat. We know it definitely wasn't then.
>
>  Maybe on second thought, we learn about the world and people's place in it
>  and their/our relation to others when we talk about the things that hurt us,
>  the things that bring tears to our eyes: Maybe it's the million points of
>  light in Yad Vashem, one for each of the million children whose names are
>  read endlessly, in remembrance.
>
>  Maybe it's "The Silent Scream" and maybe it shouldn't be silent any more.
>
>
>  Mia
>
>
>
>  -----Original Message-----
>  From: Indigenous Languages and Technology [mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU]
>
> On Behalf Of Mark Sicoli
>  Sent: Sunday, February 17, 2008 12:35 AM
>  To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
>  Subject: Re: [ILAT] traditions of assimilation...
>
>  Dear Jimmy,  Thank you for this response and the information you provided.
>   It's very interesting how the Chinese nationalist project also produced
>  the same ideological relationship of one language=one nation, with similar
>  oppressive results for vernacular languages.  Since I work in and am from
>  ex-european colonies, I trace it's effects there to European nation
>  building which was the model for the colonies.  You show the same type of
>  process where the Chinese communists model their idea of nation building
>  on past symbols deployed for unification.  In all these cases the belief
>  in unity doesn't match the real life diversity.  I would like to learn
>  more.  Can you recommend a book or article?
>
>  I wish you luck with your work with Siraya and look forward to hearing
>  more about your work in the future.
>
>  Mark
>
>
>
>  On Sun, February 17, 2008 12:33 am, Jimmy/ Chun said:
>  > Hi all,
>  >
>  > This is my first time writing here, so please allow me to
>  > introduce myself.
>  >
>  > I am a Siraya from Taiwan, now a PhD student under Dr Hardman's
>  > supervision at UF. I work at revitalizing Siraya language that is
>  > noted as extinct in Ethnologue (Ethnologue also uses Chinese terms
>  > that actually means "savage" in its Siraya entry). I work with a
>  > group of Sirayan people that are also Presbyterian; with the
>  > little re-constructed mother tongue, they have written a few
>  > Christian songs in addition to some folk songs with Austronesian
>  > tunes in Siraya. I enjoy the fact that we now have songs to sing.
>  > In the songs we sing the name of Alid...when singing Alid, I think
>  > of the Sirayan Goddess-mother, although my folks use it to refer
>  > to the Western God/Lord.
>  >
>  > I love this thread and I'd like to contribute to the discussion of
>  > "tradition of assimilation" by recommending a movie called
>  > "Hawaii" made in 1966, directed by George Roy Hill. It's a looong
>  > movie and makes me sad, but it has given me plenty to think.
>  >
>  > Also I very much agree with Mark Sicoli that the concept of "one
>  > nation = one language" has a lot to do with European nation-state
>  > building. But I'd just like to point out that such belief has a
>  > Chinese root as well. Since as early as 259 BC, the Qin King in
>  > China was already obsessed with the notion of a huge, unified,
>  > China Kingdom that spoke and wrote (!) only one language. This
>  > Chinese nationalist ideology has informed the communists in China
>  > as well as the Chinese Nationalists in Taiwan and led to many
>  > Mandarin-only (commonly thought to be "the Chinese language"
>  > today) policies. By 1930's the Japanese colonializers in Taiwan
>  > still documented about 30 indigenous Austronesian languages spoken
>  > around the island; now we have speakers for only about 13 of them
>  > and two peoples (Siraya and Bazai) are trying to re-constitutes
>  > their lost mother tongues (mostly based on written documents --
>  > 17th century land contracts and bibilical stuffs [!!] left by the
>  > Dutch missionaries). Luckily (??) I can't recall any Taiwanese or
>  > Chinese politician talking about us having a "tradition of
>  > assimilation" :)
>  >
>  >
>  > Jimmy (or "Chun Huang," my registered Chinese name, which is again
>  > a case of assimilation. Siraya used to be matri-focal and people
>  > used to have only first names, but the Chinese colonial government
>  > has assigned Chinese last names to us based on fathers being the
>  > head of a household).
>  >
>  >
>  >
>  >
>  >
>  > On Sat Feb 16 17:03:15 EST 2008, 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.?? And as Richard points out so well, the
>  >>> nationalist myth (in what ever
>  >>> manifestation it may take) supports other agendas as well.?? Phil
>  >>> UofA
>  >>>
>  >>>
>  >>
>  >>
>  >> -- Mark Sicoli Ph.D.
>  >> Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
>  >> Postbus 310
>  >> 6500 AH Nijmegen
>  >> The Netherlands
>  >>
>  >>
>  >
>  >
>
>
>  --
>  Mark Sicoli Ph.D.
>  Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
>  Postbus 310
>  6500 AH Nijmegen
>  The Netherlands
>