Scholar in Siraya

[Rolland Nadjiwon]

Congratulations Dr. Chun Jimmy Huang. It is a great pleasure to see your 
success and know how well you will use it for your people and all 
indigenous peoples. I have already used much of your information and 
some of the video of your people as springboards and stepping stones for 
some of our own peoples who are struggling with identity, culture and 
independence based on the sovereignty of creation. I know I will use the 
information again. I am (supposedly) teaching a half course at 
University of British Colombia in July. The course title is 'ancestral 
memory' and is, it appears to me, the captivating motivation for many 
indigenous peoples internationally. I have received much feed back on 
what other peoples are doing and suggestions which are so valuable to 
me. I will be using much of what you have written me if it is ok with 
you. Indigenous peoples are moving so strongly and connecting so well I 
often think I can feel it happening like and aura of good feeling around 
the earth. We are so in need of the wisdom and knowledge that has 
allowed us to continue to live on this planet so much longer than so 
called modern civilizations. Perhaps not in my life time, but I know and 
feel the strength of what our peoples are doing to try and have the 
earth be a better place for human survival. I know you are a great part 
of that and I am proud to have come to know you...even if it is cyber...lol

-------
wahjeh
rolland nadjiwon
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A clear conscience is usually a sign of a bad memory…
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On 21/05/2010 2:18 PM, Chun Jimmy Huang wrote:
> Thank you, Richard
>
> As for waking up sleeping tribal members, well, we began by just 
> "listening." Say, our language was labeled (and still is by some) as 
> "extinct" or "dead." But me and my friends (in their 40s) didn't give 
> up. We went on to visit some elders. At first, the elders were 
> reluctant to talk... they probably didn't want to be reminded of being 
> "savages," which was/is the label the mainstream put on us. But then 
> as they realized that we were sincere, they became willing, and eager, 
> to talk. From there we found out we actually have rememberers, who 
> know some words and phrases. In addition to linguistic input, the 
> elders also told us stories (in the dominant languages), taught us 
> songs, taught us how to make some tools, or showed us pottery they had 
> hidden away for decades. We listened to them, and we learned from 
> them. Then we taught the young ones what we had learned. And... 
> somehow, the young ones have been very interested since, even though 
> learning these things wouldn't bring them any practical benefit (like 
> entering college) since our people have not yet been officially 
> recognized by Taiwan's govt. So anyway, we have had no problem with 
> the young people... and many of the older ones. Still, we do face 
> difficulty convincing the middle-agers, like the parents of those 
> school-age children. until today, some parents think of learning our 
> heritage as "useless." But anyway, we are progressing and optimistic.
>
> So... allow me to say that "all ears" is right. Some members may have 
> been sleeping, but many of them do have "dreams." Listen to their 
> dreams first and then one day they may wake up and put an effort to 
> make the dreams come true.
>
> Jimmy
>
>
> On Fri May 21 13:02:47 EDT 2010, Richard Zane Smith <rzs at WILDBLUE.NET> 
> wrote:
>
>> congrats! Dr.Jimmy!
>> you deserved it with all that time, passion and energy
>> put into this important work... i know about *sleeping languages*
>> and now that i brought it up, if you or
>> if *ANYONE here *has ideas for waking up* **sleeping tribal members*
>> besides literally lighting fires under them... well...I'm all ears.
>>
>> Richard Zane Smith
>> Wyandotte, Okla.
>>
>>
>>
>> On Wed, May 19, 2010 at 8:05 PM, MJ Hardman <hardman at ufl.edu> wrote:
>>
>>> It is with pleasure that I can announce that Dr. Chun Huang received 
>>> his
>>> degree on May 1 with his dissertation "Language Revitalization and 
>>> Identity
>>> Politics: An examination of Siraya Reclamation in Taiwan" which was 
>>> rated
>>> 'outstanding'. I very much look forward to the work he will be doing 
>>> with
>>> language revitalization, awakening a sleeping language. I have enjoyed
>>> working with him and watching the development of a new scholar in 
>>> our field
>>> with a language that needs such a scholar so badly. May the future 
>>> be all
>>> that he and I would wish.
>>>
>>> MJ
>>>
>>> Dr. MJ Hardman
>>> Doctora Honoris Causa UNMSM, Lima, Per??
>>> website: http://at.ufl.edu/~hardman-grove/
>

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