A century later, Ishi still has lessons to teach (fwd link)

[Huang,Chun]

Thanks, Richard, 
"I think its OUR time to study the studiers, do
anthropology on the anthropologists, archaeology on the archaeologists 


linguistic studies on you "expert" linguists! Might be a new field in
and of itself --- especially within Native colleges!" 

I agree, and I
have been thinking about it. Especially now there are more and more of
us so-called "heritage linguists" (indigenous people working with their
own language/culture). We should do something... 

Jimmy 

Chun (Jimmy)
Huang 

Assistant Professor, Department of English and Applied
Linguistics 

De La Salle University - Manila 

On Tue, 13 Sep 2011
08:36:41 -0500, Richard Zane Smith wrote: 

> It was reading the book
Ishi in the 70's that sparked me and made me take notice 
> of how
anthropology,a brand new field, was studying people as rare specimens in
a dish. 
> The article is good, and it was good to hear aboriginal
people respond. 
> I'm not sure I agree with one of the last comments
quoted in the article: 
> 
> _One reason for the persistence of the
"last wild Indian" trope, __Myers speculated, is the comfort to be found
in the belief that if "the last one is gone," then "we've done our
job."_ 
> well...Though, this might have been the attitude of land
grabbing U.S. government, where any other "nation" is a threat, 
> Other
forces were at work that are STILL having a detrimental effect on our
survival as indigenous cultures. 
> One was(and is) cultural ignorance
from popular novel induced infatuation with _ "THE LAST OF....(FILL IN
THE BLANK")_ 
> feeding a kind of wistful sentimentalism that was being
applied widespread upon traditional cultures facing violent opposition

> and even extinction. "aww...the poor little indians" . 
> Feeling
pity is dangerous because it often supplants itself as a substitute for
real action. 
> "I feel sorry...therefore I'm not the oppressor , and
because i feel sorry...I've done what i can." 
> there are OTHER forces
at work on the powerful down stream flow against ALL of us working on
cultural revitalization efforts. 
> I think its OUR time to study the
studiers, do anthropology on the anthropologists, archaeology on the
archaeologists 
> linguistic studies on you "expert" linguists! Might be
a new field in and of itself --- especially within Native colleges!
> 
>
Sohahiyoh (Richard Zane Smith) 
> Wyandotte Oklahoma 
> On Tue, Sep 13,
2011 at 4:40 AM, Derksen Jacob wrote:
> 
>> Thanks for sending that
along. It was the 1978 tv movie, Ishi: Last of His Tribe, that acted as
the spark that ignited my interest in endangered languages. Just last
month I had occasion to be in San Francisco and happened to find a copy
of Theodora Kroeber's book of the same name. 
>> 
>>> Date: Mon, 12 Sep
2011 21:37:46 -0500
>>> From: cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU [1]
>>>
Subject: [ILAT] A century later, Ishi still has lessons to teach (fwd
link)
>> > To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU [2] 
>> 
>>> 
>>> A century
later, Ishi still has lessons to teach
>>> 
>>> By Barry Bergman,
NewsCenter | September 12, 2011
>> > USA
>>> 
>>> BERKELEY - They came
both to bury Ishi -- at least the outdated notion
>>> of Ishi prevalent
in pop culture -- and to praise him. They came to
>>> learn from him, to
remember him not as a research subject but as a
>> > teacher, not as an
artifact of a vanishing culture but as a survivor
>>> and, as Berkeley
law professor Karen Biestman put it, "a pioneer of
>>> indigenous
intellectual property protection."
>>> 
>>> 
>> > Earl Neconie, right,
gave the morning's traditional blessing (Peg
>>> Skorpinski photos)
>>>
Joseph Myers, a School of Law graduate and lecturer in Native
American
>>> studies here, put it more simply.
>> > 
>>> "I like the
idea of celebrating Ishi," Myers said. "But let's
>>> celebrate him as a
human being. "
>>> 
>>> Access full article below:
>>>
http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2011/09/12/century-of-ishi/ [3]
> 
> --

> 
> _"this language of mine,of yours,is who we are and who we have
been.It is where we find our stories,our lives,our ancestors;and it
should be where we find our future too" Simon Anaviapik ... Inuit_ 
>
richardzanesmith.wordpress.com [5]

  

Links:
------
[1]
mailto:cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU
[2]
mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
[3]
http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2011/09/12/century-of-ishi/
[4]
mailto:jieikobu at hotmail.com
[5] http://richardzanesmith.wordpress.com
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