Language more important than land - academic (fwd link)

[Dr. MJ Hardman]

What you say is the way I understood it 50+ years ago when I first went into
the mountains and discovered that the only people in town during the day
were the schoolkids, the ill, the drunks sprawled in the plaza - all men,
and one blind man.  The drunks were all men who had left and come back.  I
learned what women could do and could be and for that I am profoundly
grateful.  I had, naively, expected to work with the women during the day
(utter ignorance on my very young part).  I worked with the blind man, who
was a superb teacher and who very much enjoyed working with me with his
Jaqaru.  Since it was always dark, he was often the one who did the
irrigating at night, and he liked to travel at night.  But the drunks, as I
read it, were those who had left, been in the military or some other
experience, learned the sexism/racism of the hispanic system and come back
unable to fulfill the expectations of either culture, and thus, unable to
feel good about themselves.  This is an observation of the late 50s, but it
correlates with what you are saying and the way in which they were treated
while they were away, in ways they could not admit nor process.  It seemed
even more evident as I learned more about Jaqi culture.  MJ

On 9/13/12 9:49 AM, "Richard Zane Smith" <rzs at WILDBLUE.NET> wrote:

> Thanks Rolland and thanks MJ!
> look forward to reading it.
> From our Wyandot removal, actually ALL the small nations removed to this NE
> corner of OKL.
> we are very likely some of the most assimilated people groups. Also among the
> most belittled, 
> and shamed, from all sides for not surviving as "real Indians"  ( another big
> topic entirely)
> There is VERY likely a corolation between land loss (legalized ethnic
> cleansing), 
> and depression, alcoholism, poverty, the loss of identity,as well as the
> obvious, language and ceremony.
> 
> Indigenous people groups, leaving homelands behind are in some way
> "reconstructed" people groups.
> In our past captives were expected to leave behind the identity they were born
> into,
> to merge into their adopted clan and phratry. In many regards we are captives
> taken to 
> a foreign land -  trout raised in a pet store...
> 
> unę́h,
> Richard
> 
> 
> 
> On Thu, Sep 13, 2012 at 2:07 AM, Rolland Nadjiwon <mikinakn at shaw.ca> wrote:
>> P.P.S. to my post: 
>>  
>> 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.
>>  
>> http://plaza.ufl.edu/hardman/DTPacket/linguisticpostulate.pdf    in the .pdf
>> format it is pages 34-39(equals 151-161)
>>  
>>  
>> wahjeh
>> rolland nadjiwon
>> ________________
>> Harper is a joke and 'pansy' to anyone and any country that will act as his
>> 'sin eater'...
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> From: Indigenous Languages and Technology [mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU]
>> On Behalf Of Huang,Chun
>> Sent: September-12-12 9:35 PM
>> To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
>> Subject: Re: [ILAT] Language more important than land - academic (fwd link)
>> 
>> 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
> 
> 

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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