'the linguists'

[Richard Smith]

Hi Claire,

sorry    I meant no disrespect to those critical of the film.
I haven't even seen any clips from the film,
just reporting my own impressions of my meeting with Greg.
I am an artist volunteering in a public school and teaching basic Wyandot
language to a few hundred children ( k-4th)
Often i feel it is a miracle to be doing this...what an honor.
and yet even as a tribal member,
I am also isolated and often wonder if what i'm doing is even relevant.
 Joining this egroup and also meeting people on adventures makes me feel i'm
on a worthwhile adventure myself knowing there are similar efforts
all over the world....like i'm an invisible member of some valuable team.
so...
I hope the film really awakens alot of viewers to the incredible importance
of saving our indigenous languages. If it can draw people in through some
excitement and "discovery"   ...well...who knows?

(and i apologize for using the word "snivel".... that just wasn't nice)
take care,   and ....watch out for those crocodiles!

Richard Zane Smith
Wyandotte Oklahoma




On 1/27/08 4:04 PM, "Claire Bowern" <anggarrgoon at GMAIL.COM> wrote:

>>     Scholars can snivel about these guys as Indiana Jones image
>>     types.....well, it might be a little over dramatic,
>>     but it ain't far off!
> 
> This was probably a jibe at me in part, since I was one of the main
> "snivellers" linked to from the ELAC blog. Let me explain a little why I
> have been less than enthusiastic about some aspects of "Living Tongues"
> and the media coverage that came from National Geographic. It's nothing
> to do with envy at the Indiana Jones image. If we want to play "my
> site's more dangerous than your site" or "Lara Croft: verb raider" I too
> can think of a multitude of horrible ways to die at my field site, from
> crocodiles to sarcophagic bacteria. Big deal.
> 
> My problem with Living Tongues is not about this movie, it was about the
> portrayal of Greg and David coming in, "discovering" a bunch of
> languages, "saving" them, having the story be all about them but
> pretending it was about the language groups they were "saving". They
> didn't discover anything, they didn't save anything, and it wasn't about
> the people they were working with. Apologies for complaining if
> reporting adheres only to some idealised truth rather than reporting
> facts from the world we live in. None of that applies to the movie. If
> anything, I'm happier that it's clearly about them, and isn't trying to
> be seriously reporting.
> 
> Claire