traditions of assimilation...

[Heather Souter]

I, too, agree with Joseph and would like to hear the story Rosalyn has
to tell.  I love to hear about situations where seemingly
contradictory (or at least drastically different) elements are somehow
woven together to make a coherent whole.  Stories like this have
something to teach us all....

Eekushi.
Heather Souter

On 2/21/08, Richard Smith <rzs at wildblue.net> wrote:
>
> 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.  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
>
>
>
>  ________________________________
> More new features than ever.  Check out the new AOL Mail
> <http://o.aolcdn.com/cdn.webmail.aol.com/mailtour/aol/en-us/text.htm?ncid=aolcmp00050000000003>
> !
>
>  ________________________________
>
>
>