Native peoples ask Jesuits to help preserve language (fwd link)

Sun May 29 00:35:55 UTC 2011

yeah,Rolland, *sorry* you couldn't find out more,
What this *"sorry" investigation* could challenge us with is a good response
to any past abusive regime/institution
who seeks to create the performance of "public apology" with our tribal
members.

We can respond saying,"*nice thought" but, this doesn't really compute in
our languages or cultural practices(you tried to eradicate) *
*as it further asks of us to leave our own cultural moorings aside and apply
our thinking within your colonizers paradigm where "apology" *
*especially "public apology" has become a public artform/media event to
arouse emotions,and make news coverage.*
*If however, you (the abuser) (or past abuser) would like to help our
community heal , donate time, medicines ,energy, capitol,legal services,*
*to right the wrongs as "gifts to ease our grief" then it would be perfectly
acceptable form and traditionally sensitive as well.
*
these are usually the kinds of situations that catch us off guard and often
elected tribal officials even LOVE this media stuff,
and the sense of "power" it pretends to bestow. good photo ops and newspaper
coverage for their portfolio,and office walls.
i try not to be cynical,but i keep seeing this over and over,where
traditional governments are replaced with U.S.gov. look-a-likes.

ske:noh
Richard

On Sat, May 28, 2011 at 3:11 PM, Rolland Nadjiwon <mikinakn at shaw.ca> wrote:

>   Hi Richard...I have consulted the ‘sages’ of the ‘sweetgrass’ and, as I
> figured with ‘anishnabemowin’, there is no direct transference back and
> forth between our language and ‘I’m sorry’ or ‘forgive me’.
> The closest we could come is to say ‘ni mahnandum’ and which translates
> literally as, ‘I think negatively about.....’ and that ‘something’ has to be
> identifiable in the statement. We have no ‘blanket’ words equivalent to the
> panacea of ‘I’m sorry....’ Anishnabemowin is not an abstract language or
> abstractly speculative....
>
> I’m sorry I couldn’t come up with more...[image: Winking smile] I think I
> will cross post this to Netrez-L. It should interest a few people there and
> perhaps elicit more responses.
>
> _______
> wahjeh
> rolland nadjiwon
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
> "there was a time when we could list the problems...
> not anymore...
> the situation has outdistanced our ability to understand it...."
>
>  *From:* Richard Zane Smith <rzs at WILDBLUE.NET>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, May 25, 2011 10:20 PM
> *To:*
> *Subject:* Re: Native peoples ask Jesuits to help preserve language (fwd
> link)
>
>  it would be an interesting study:
> the anthropological cultural psychological apologetics of a culture of
> apologies.
>
> what is the root of : "i'm sorry" , " forgive me"
> are there any indigenous cultures who use similar words.
> Wyandot have a word that is translated as "I'm sorry"  *a'yetate'*
> but honestly i don't really know what that means...
> rzs
>
>
>
> On Wed, May 25, 2011 at 4:34 PM, Rolland Nadjiwon <mikinakn at shaw.ca>wrote:
>
>>   I simply respond to people who ‘apologize’ to me or say, ‘I’m
>> sorry....’ ‘Please don’t apologize to me or tell me you are sorry...just
>> don’t do it again and/or fix it.’ Apologies, to me, are simply a license to
>> repeat inappropriate action and I will not allow myself to be victimized by
>> an apology. I see people repeatedly victimized by their willingness to
>> ‘forgive’ perpetrators.
>>
>> [image: image]
>>
>> _______
>> wahjeh
>> rolland nadjiwon
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------
>> "there was a time when we could list the problems...
>> not anymore...
>> the situation has outdistanced our ability to understand it...."
>>
>>  *From:* Dr. MJ Hardman <hardman at UFL.EDU>
>> *Sent:* Wednesday, May 25, 2011 2:27 PM
>> *To:*
>> *Subject:* Re: Native peoples ask Jesuits to help preserve language (fwd
>> link)
>>
>>  Well said.  Some of us study the ‘apologies that aren’t apologies.’  MJ
>>
>> On 5/25/11 2:10 PM, "Richard Zane Smith" <wlmailhtml:rzs at WILDBLUE.NET>
>> wrote:
>>
>>  on a similar note:
>> Public apologies are big media events and becoming "the in thing"
>> Apologies ought to accompany a commitment to undo damage that's confessed
>> to,
>> not simply a time for the abuser to get a hug and made to "feel better".
>>
>> as much as apologies are nice...many tack on disclaimers in fine print at
>> the end
>> to make sure no one can legally hold them accountable to their admissions.
>>
>> a public apology puts Indigenous people ON THE SPOT.
>>
>> To *refuse* to accept a public apology makes indigenous people look
>> "unforgiving" and mean,
>> and the "apologizers" as the ones turned away for seeking to right a
>> wrong.
>> but
>> to *accept *apology gives the abuser documentation of "a public
>> forgiveness"
>> a freedom from guilt, a sigh of relief that they may be now free from
>> prosecution.
>>
>> Either way,an apology without committment to work to heal or undo damage,
>> is merely an emotional "feel good event" for the party with dirty hands.
>>
>>
>> ske:noh,
>> Richard Zane Smith
>> Wyandotte Oklahoma
>>
>>
>>
>> On Wed, May 25, 2011 at 12:51 AM, Phillip E Cash Cash <
>> wlmailhtml:cashcash at email.arizona.edu> wrote:
>>
>> Native peoples ask Jesuits to help preserve language
>>
>> May. 23, 2011
>> By Michael Swan, Catholic News Service
>> CA
>>
>> TORONTO -- As Canada's Jesuits remembered their first steps on North
>> American soil and the welcome they received from Mi'kmaq people 400
>> years ago, the Mi'kmaq asked for a favor.
>>
>> "Maybe it's time for the Mi'kmaq to ask for your help in preserving
>> our language," Grand Keptin Antle Denny told three dozen Canadian
>> Jesuits and about 100 guests who had gathered to mark the 1611 landing
>> of two Jesuits at Port Royal in what is now Nova Scotia.
>>
>> Access full article below:
>>
>> http://ncronline.org/news/native-peoples-ask-jesuits-help-preserve-language
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Dr. MJ Hardman
>> Professor of Linguistics and Anthropology
>> Department of Linguistics
>> University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida
>> Doctora Honoris Causa UNMSM, Lima, Perú
>> website:  http://grove.ufl..edu/~hardman/
>> ------------------------------
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>
>
>
> --
>  rzs at wildblue.net
>
> richardzanesmith.wordpress.com
>
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-- 
rzs at wildblue.net

richardzanesmith.wordpress.com
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