traditions of assimilation...

[Richard Smith]

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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