Language more important than land - academic (fwd link)

[Richard Zane Smith]

Ecuador, also seems to be on the cusp of giving indigenous personhood
status to nature:

http://www.rightsofmotherearth.com/rights-nature/ecuador-rights/


On Mon, Sep 10, 2012 at 3:04 PM, Richard Zane Smith <rzs at wildblue.net>wrote:

> Thanks Bernadette,
> for voicing these concerns and thoughts. The idea of "ownership" in our
> Wyandot language is interesting. its still not completely understood,
> but one can't "own" an animal,a lake,a valley,or a mountain. Ownership in
> the most common forms seems to be about what you can "hold"
> or an object that is so much yours, no one else would WANT to own
> it...because it wouldn't make sense. Why would i want a brothers bow
> that is made to fit his arm draw length and weight? or his medicine pouch?
> or even a sacred stone he keeps ?
> Its absurd to even comprehend. it'd be like wanting someone else's teeth,
> or trying to borrow someone else's eyebrows.
>
> I hope everyone has heard about  the returning of personhood to the
> Whanganui River in Aotearoa (NZ)
>
>
> http://www.care2.com/causes/new-zealand-grants-a-river-the-rights-of-personhood
>
> This is in my opinion a good first step towards restoring honor to ancient
> waterways  and restoring the river the status of a "being"
> needed to protect it against abuse. Perhaps we can take note and begin a
> similar process with many of our own sacred places, rivers and lakes.
> The clear cut division of inanimate and animate seems to be a foreign
> idea, its not often so clear within our ancient paradigms.
> Honor to the Maori people for the guts, the strength and "audacity" to do
> what needs to be done.
> I wish our assimilated ones tip-toeing, around the American flag, afraid
> to shake the system, could visit Aotearoa and see what the Maori are
> accomplishing.
> Grounded Indigenous peoples who walk with heads held high and simply don't
> take "no" for an answer.
>
> Speaking of our own cosmology,
>  people always say "oh you are a Leo!" when they hear my birth date. I
> say..."well, not really...I'm Wyandot not Greek"
> unéh
> Richard
>
>
>
> On Mon, Sep 10, 2012 at 12:26 PM, BSantaMaria <bernisantamaria at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> I strongly disagree with the last statement of paragraph:  "Language &
>> culture are intertwined & because of this it's impossible to see how land
>> can be seen as more important."  It is because of how intertwined
>> everything is in our Indigenous ideologies/philosophies including
>> especially our lands, natural resources, languages, cultures, social and
>> economic issues, etc., etc., that is not understood by non-Natives or
>> non-Indig. people that is an issue in many aspects of language & culture
>> revitalization efforts.  I believe they do not "get it" because they do not
>> speak an Indigenous language that speaks intimately of our connections to
>> our homelands within our speech/terminology.  Speaking our languages
>> fluently also engages/intimately involves our lands and resources that come
>> from it, without these, our languages would be missing a vital link to our
>> cultures, some of us even believe that "our land is us" in our language,
>> is our mother.  Thinking of land as property with fiscal value is the
>> antithesis of some of our views on it and that usually comes from the
>> western world capitalist view.
>>
>> These are also the reasons why I came to an MA thesis conclusion back in
>> the mid-1990's that language revitalization efforts involves "Wholistic
>> Healing for our Native People" to revive their languages and I meant in all
>> areas of Native life including returning to a belief in our
>> cosmologies/spiritality beliefs, traditional socio-economic patterns, etc.
>> It seems that recent articles and books on these issues are arriving at
>> similar conclusions. These reasons are also why I saw the field of
>> linguistics as lacking in considering these aspects of Native people
>> when studying our languages focusing so narrowly on a certain aspect
>> of them and mostly benefiting themselves.
>>
>> I'm also going to request info from those on this list that know of some
>> books and titles/articles that I can review pertaining to what I brought
>> out above.
>>
>> Ahiye'e (Thank you,
>>
>>
>> Bernadette Adley-SantaMaria
>> White Mountain Apache
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Sep 10, 2012 at 10:04 AM, Phillip E Cash Cash <
>> cashcash at email.arizona.edu> wrote:
>>
>>> *Language more important than land - academic
>>> *
>>> Updated at 7:19 pm on 10 September 2012
>>>
>>> Linguistics expert Ghil'ad Zuckermann says that the loss of language is
>>> more damaging for indigenous peoples than the loss of their land.
>>>
>>> Access full article below:
>>>
>>> http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/115509/language-more-important-than-land-academic
>>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
>
>  "…revitalizing our language is really just an act of returning to what
> we are supposed to be. It is like a fish returning to the water, breathing
> and living once again. "Xh'unei Lance E. Twitchell (Tlingit)
> *
>
>  richardzanesmith.wordpress.com
>
> **
>
> **
>
> *
>
>


-- 

 "…revitalizing our language is really just an act of returning to what we
are supposed to be. It is like a fish returning to the water, breathing and
living once again. "Xh'unei Lance E. Twitchell (Tlingit)
*

richardzanesmith.wordpress.com

**

**

*
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