Siraya update

[Heather Souter]

Taanshi, hello, Chun/Jimmy,

I have been following the story of the Siraya people's struggle through
ILAT.  I just want to thank you for sharing this information with us and
encourage you and Siraya people to continue on.  I am glad to hear that you
are keeping your eyes and hearts on "(re)connection with your foremothers"!
When struggling against a large central government, it is easy to get sucked
into the other side's rhetoric....  I have seen (and continue to see)
language used as a political tool for "nation-building" by our leaders to
the detriment of the grassroots people.  (Of course, our case may be very
different from yours in that our leaders have privileged one language over
all the others our people traditionally speak....)  Anyhow, it is good to
hear that you are keeping your focus on what is most important to you as
people....

Eekoshi pitamaa. That is all for now.
Heather
Michif (Metis) from Manitoba, Canada

On Fri, May 15, 2009 at 6:27 PM, Chun Jimmy Huang <huangc20 at ufl.edu> wrote:

> Thank you Rudy for your encouraging words and the suggestion. Also thanks
> all those who have provided valuable information concerning precedents
> and/or indigenous multilingualism in the US. I will forward the suggestion
> and information to the Siraya Chairwoman/chief, Uma, in Taiwan.
>
> Still while we Siraya recognize the symbolic value of language in identity
> legalization (playing along the nation-state's laws and regulations, yak!),
> (re)connection with our foremothers remains the most important motivation
> behind our current language revitalization efforts.
>
> Chun/Jimmy
>
> On Fri May 15 14:02:15 EDT 2009, Rudy Troike <rtroike at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU>
> wrote:
>
>  The government response to the peaceful Siraya demonstration is sad, and
>> certainly inadequately informed. It would be useful to compile information
>> on precedents in the US, where tribal groups have been recognized, even
>> though they had completely lost their languages. This has happened at the
>> state level in California and (I think, Texas) and at the federal level.
>>
>> Regrettably, with the continuing dormancy of indigenous languages
>> worldwide,
>> ethnic identity will be less and less based on linguistic criteria. The
>> argument for legal identity of an ethnocultural community should not be
>> dependent on current language use. This completely ignores the historic
>> basis for the claim.
>>
>>    Rudy
>>
>>    Rudy Troike
>>
>>
>>
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