Language more important than land - academic (fwd link)

[Huang,Chun]

Thank you, Bernadette Adley-SantaMaria 

I recommend Hardman's
article below where, through studying Jaqaru, she explains how land is
indeed, as you point out, intertwined with language (both being parts of
the whole): if you lose one, you lose the other. Hardman also
demonstrates how English, especially the English cultural thinking as
manifested its three major linguistic postulates, can often do damage to
the indigenous/local. One of the English postulates Hardman identifies
is "ranking through comparative/absolute," which the original article in
question here exemplifies very well for us: "LANGUAGE (IS) MORE
IMPORTANT THAN LAND!" Really, what's the point of ranking the importance
of language against the importance of land anyway??? Many English users,
unfortunately, seem unable to escape such ranking mentality. 

Hardman,
M. J. (1994) "'And if we lose our names, then what about our land?', or,
what price development?" in L. H. Turner and H. M. Sterk (eds)
_Differences that Make a Difference: Examining the Assumptions in Gender
Research_ (pp. 152-161). Westport & London: Bergin & Garvey. 

Let me or
Dr. Hardman know if you can't find a copy. I believe she wouldn't mind
sharing. 

Chun (Jimmy) Huang 

Siraya of Taiwan 

Assistant Professor,
University of Guam 

On Mon, 10 Sep 2012 10:26:58 -0700, BSantaMaria
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 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
[1]

  

Links:
------
[1]
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/115509/language-more-important-than-land-academic
[2]
mailto:cashcash at email.arizona.edu
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20120912/60fc58a2/attachment.htm>