Siraya update

[Heather Souter]

Sure.  Conatct me again if you are interested in learning more....

Heather

On Fri, May 15, 2009 at 10:15 PM, Chun Jimmy Huang <huangc20 at ufl.edu> wrote:

> Oh wow, thank you for the information, Heather. It really interests me. I
> see modern nationalism (be it originated in Europe or China) as the main
> obstacle of cultural and linguistic diversity. Besides "one language, one
> nation," it also presumes "one history," "one people," "one discourse," etc.
> In fact I am working on this topic in my dissertation. May I reference the
> Metis example?
>
> Jimmy
>
>
>
>
> On Fri May 15 22:54:59 EDT 2009, Heather Souter <hsouter at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
>  Jimmy,
>>
>> I am sorry I was not clear!  Our own Metis political leaders have
>> privileged
>> one of our own traditional languages over others!  This is causing
>> problems
>> for our own people!  This has been done for nation building purposes....
>> Somehow the leaders of our Metis National Council have bought into the
>> misguided idea of "one language, one nation"!  The Council seems to think
>> it
>> is easier to deal with our Canadian federal government and international
>> bodies if we have only one "historic and official language".  I guess this
>> is because they think that in Canada all (?) indigenous peoples only have
>> one language (with one or more dialects)....  However, that is not the
>> lived
>> reality of our people!  We have been multilingual since our ancestors
>> developed their own unique identity and developed into a nation.... (Being
>> a
>> hybrid of European and Native peoples makes us a bit usual among
>> indigenous
>> peoples--at least in North America at least!)  However, this insistence on
>> privileging one language over all others has been really divisive and
>> particularly painful for our Elders who are speakers of our languages....
>> Just for your information....
>>
>> Heather
>>
>> On Fri, May 15, 2009 at 9:20 PM, Chun Jimmy Huang <huangc20 at ufl.edu>
>> wrote:
>>
>>  Thanks Heather,
>>>
>>> just to comment on this: (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....)
>>>
>>> In fact, the one and only official, national, and most dominant language
>>> in
>>> Taiwan today, Mandarin Chinese, was brought to the island by the Chinese
>>> nationalists in 1945. Before 1945, NO ONE (either Austronesian indigenes
>>> or
>>> other early Han immigrants) spoke the language...
>>>
>>> Jimmy
>>>
>>>
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