no news from the LSA...

[Mia Kalish]

Hi, Phil, 

I want to assure you that we did lots and lots and lots about endangered
languages. We talked about them; we talked about how documentation efforts
that do not include an eye and support for revitalization are unethical. We
shared our ways and concepts of building revitalization materials. Numbers
of us made plans to work together to produce publishable research in
revitalization, especially as we can be using the internet, because not
everyone who is interested in a particular topic or aspect is in the same
physical locale either with others who have the same interest, or with
others who know the solution or approach. 

We talked about involving communities, we talked about empowering
communities. We talked about building teams, and how those teams should be
and work. We talked about tools for field work, and tools for archiving. 

It's true that a large portion of both LSA and SSILA were dominated by
linguistic elements, but there was a recognizable chunk devoted to the
revitalization issue. Some people, not everyone, but lots of people, are
realizing that we have to make sure these languages don't end up on museum
shelves, but back in the community. 

We even in some places made tiny little headways into issues of language
extension. The success of the Maori was one of the shining stars that gave
people something to think about. My presentation was about how we have no
language for math and science. I showed my materials, and how difficult it
was to find words for shapes, and how difficult it was to find people to
record the sounds of the words we do have for numbers. 

If the languages don't move into contemporary use, they WILL die, and people
are starting to talk about that. Interestingly enough, it is the younger
grad students who seem to find this concept intuitively obvious. I don't
know why that is, but the people who needed no explanation were people who
were in their 20's, and who were coping with complex issues in the field,
sometimes in South America, sometimes locally with diverse populations. 

We also talked about how Indigenous Languages need to be taught in schools,
both public and private, and we talked about how Indigenous scholars, people
like Mary Eunice Romero, are writing Indigenous pedagogies. There need to be
more Indigenous scholars writing about Indigenous pedagogies. Sandy Grande
also writes about Indigenous pedagogies; she calls it Red Pedagogy. She is a
critical race theorist, actually. But the bottom line is that the world
NEEDS TO KNOW that you don't teach Ndn kids the way you teach white kids.
Vine and Daniel Wildcat have been saying that for a long time, and so have
the Smiths, and Devon Mihesuah. 

We also need more research that shows that if you give people crappy
materials, they won't learn very well. We need research that helps others
understand what the technical term "crappy material" means in the context of
teaching and learning. Did you ever notice how people seldom if ever
evaluate their materials, but they are very ready to use these same,
uncritically accepted materials, to make people less than? 

Anyway, that's the gist of the conference.  This is also the gist of where
some of us are going (while others, who shall remain nameless of course, are
going to sojourn among the beautiful trout in the equally beautiful Snake
River in spectacular nearly-southern Idaho. (But of course we aren't saying
WHO, EXACTLY, is doing that. . . . . lalalalalaaaaaa. Send us pictures,
okay? I love trout, especially the living, breathing, swimming kind.)

Best, 
Mia

-----Original Message-----
From: Indigenous Languages and Technology [mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU]
On Behalf Of phil cash cash
Sent: Monday, January 09, 2006 12:38 PM
To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
Subject: Re: [ILAT] no news from the LSA...

it wasn't me that was left out, it was our endangered languages and i 
am sorry too.  glad to hear you all had a good time though.

Philcc

On Jan 9, 2006, at 12:10 PM, Mia Kalish wrote:

> We were having too much fun going to presentations, giving 
> presentations,
> recovering from presentations, meeting new friends,  . . . And, in my 
> case.
> . . . talking about revitalization software and who wants to build it 
> :-)
>
> A good time was had by all. Sorry we left you out. . . we apologize. 
> <Hangs
> head humbly>
>
> Mia
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Indigenous Languages and Technology 
> [mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU]
> On Behalf Of phil cash cash
> Sent: Monday, January 09, 2006 10:36 AM
> To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
> Subject: [ILAT] no news from the LSA...
>
> Greetings ILAT,
>
> I am a bit surprised that there is virually no news coming out from the
> LSA conference this past week.  The only news item I saw today was the
> "word of the year" which seems a bit trivial but particularly news
> worthy.  Nevertheless, we should continue to draw attention to the
> plight of the world's endangered languages.
>
> Phil Cash Cash
> UofA, ILAT
>