traditions of assimilation...

Thu Feb 21 21:02:11 UTC 2008

I agree with Joseph,
it would be great to read Rosalyns differing point of view.
How is language and culture preserved by a presence of Christianity?
My interaction with many Christian Native Americans
even those who refuse to accept european-based church structures
and meet in their own drum circles have made it clear
that they have no beef with Jesus nor his teachings.
But English as a first language has changed our thinking.

One of the things that unites Traditionalists with Christians is
a concern about our youth---a drift towards a total lack of spirituality.
A common invasion into our native communities is spirit-free "secularism"
which many of us understand as a "belief", complete with its own creation
story,
(naturalistic evolution) taught as "fact" with the same authority as Genesis
once was.
This new paradigm is taught as THE LENSE above ALL lenses
complete with its own historical interpretations, and even end times
scenarios.

Native Communities are busy on ALL fronts!
We're over-stressed because we have the highest statistics of "the worst"
Language revitalization efforts must work in tandem with education.
Learning our history,its influences, its changes and its goals..wakes us up
a little.
This is what we are doing with our language classes in the public school
here in Wyandotte.
its not just teaching "different funny sounds to say the same thing"
its  also giving our kids a foundation of stories,and a little history as
well.

Can't move forward till ya know where ya been

Richard Zane Smith

On 2/21/08 9:26 AM, "Joseph Lavalley" <graphfix at HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:

> Ahnii, niichquay Rosalyn,
> 
> When and if you do, I would like to see and read that long historical answer.
> It should be interesting to hear someone else's point of view. Maybe there
> is some value to the WHY fundamentalist Christians and Catholic communities
> are the last bastion of indigenous languages across the country.
> 
> Niin sa,
> 
> Mishomis dezhniikaz (Joseph Brian Lavalley ), Nme dodem
> 
>> 
>> Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2008 10:37:07 -0500
>> From: rrlapier at AOL.COM
>> Subject: Re: [ILAT] traditions of assimilation...
>> To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
>> 
>> 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.Â  In
>>>> > today's
>>>> > contemporary context, this nationalist myth states that our societies are
>>>> > or
>>>> > can become linguistically, culturally homogenous.Â  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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> 
>  

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