ELL: SIL's religion

[Dennis Holt]

Dear ELLers,

The SIL Amazonian involvements alluded to are
discussed in a rather controversial book,  _Thy Will
Be Done: The Conquest of the Amazon: Nelson
Rockefeller and Evangelism in the Age of Oil_ by
Gerard Colby and Charlotte Dennett (HarperCollins
1995; paperback reprint 1996 -- both apparently out of
print).

In the year the book was published, the authors
attended the annual meetings of the American
Anthropological Association in Washington, where they
sold copies of the book and discussed its claims with
interested persons.  By sheer happenstance, I was able
to be present at an informal lunchtime discussion
between the authors and a very defensive SIL
representative (whose name I have forgotten).  I
remember that the conversation was polite but with an
unyielding adamancy on both sides of the issues
involved.

My own abiding sense of the SIL is that it is a mixed
blessing in the world of endangered languages -- an
organization about which one should be careful not to
overgeneralize.

Dennis Holt




--- coyotez <coyotez at oregon.uoregon.edu> wrote:
> As well, there are implications that the SIL
> missionaries had investigated the
> resources of third world areas, like the Amazon, for
> the benefit of the
> Rockefellers. The Rockefellers helped fund the SIL
> and had a keen interest in
> things Native, and they owned large oil and gas
> companies.
> Convertion+Corporations=cultural disintegration and
> loss of languages.
> David
>
> >===== Original Message From Lakhan Gusain
> <lgusain at hotmail.com> =====
> >I strongly support Lucas Husgen's view about SIL.
> >Lakhan Gusain
> >
> >
> >
> >>From: "Lucas Husgen" <lhusgen at kirogi.demon.nl>
> >>Reply-To:
> endangered-languages-l at cleo.murdoch.edu.au
> >>To: <endangered-languages-l at cleo.murdoch.edu.au>
> >>Subject: ELL: SIL's religion
> >>Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2002 09:56:56 +0200
> >>
> >>  According to a story in Dutch newspaper NRC
> Handelsblad the Summer
> >>Institute of Linguistics, which has fathered the
> Ethnologue, is not as
> >>unbiased as it might seem. As I understand it's
> firstly a Christian
> >>project, vising at the conversion into
> Christianity. Though it's fostering
> >>endangered languages all around the world, it only
> does so in order to
> >>promote the Bible in those languages, with
> sometimes disruptive
> >>consequences, because those sent out into the
> streets to peddle the Bible
> >>make an amount of money, way above the financial
> standards of their
> >>respective communities. The most capable of these
> peddlers are being sent
> >>to the States to have them discover that
> Christianity is the one and only
> >>true religion - through of course prosperity,
> making them look down upon
> >>their own background. So, finally, the work of SIL
> is vising at disrupting
> >>those selfsame societies which they purport to
> protect. What does the list
> >>have to say on this?
> >>
> >>Best regards,
> >>Lucas
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
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>
> David Lewis
> Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde
> Department Of Anthropology
> University of Oregon
>
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