American Indian Oral Literature, Cultural Identity and Language Revitalisation:

2013 ◽  
pp. 91-102
Author(s):  
Margaret Field
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-64
Author(s):  
Anne Obono Essomba

Globalization led by Europe has spread so-called 'universal' values across the globe, which seems to have cultural intermingling as its backdrop. All human endeavors are based on a culture that has become multidimensional. All the time, in their diversity, cultures try to complement and absorb each other. However, in this meeting of cultural giving and receiving, it takes on a new face, the culture shock.  This encounter causes major changes in our modern societies, giving way to a loss of cultural identity and internal imbalance. This article aims to analyze the way in which contemporary Cameroonian musicians use cultural and linguistic facts for communication purposes and other arguments. The aim of our work is to show how the various songwriters have found, through song, a new mode of resistance so that African traditions escape sedimentation. In this way, they reconcile the elements of oral tradition and the contributions of modernity to create a hybrid product. To illustrate our point, we have chosen oral texts from different regions of Cameroon.  In order to better understand the transcultural reality in the texts, we will highlight the marks of traditional and modern aesthetics, then show that the transcultural is seen as a space of symbiosis between the traditional and the modern.


2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 405-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gessiane Picanço

Mundurukú, a Tupian language of Brazil, exhibits two opposite scenarios. On one extreme, there is Mundurukú do Pará, the language of daily communication in the Mundurukú Indigenous Land, with fluent speakers found across all generations and still acquired by children as a mother tongue. On the other extreme, there is Mundurukú do Amazonas, formerly spoken in the Kwatá-Laranjal Indigenous Land, but whose inhabitants have shifted to Portuguese. A group of Mundurukú students from Amazonas decided to initiate a process of language revitalisation as a way to strengthen the community's ethnic and cultural identity. This paper reports the initial stages of language planning, and includes future actions to promote language use in the homes and communities, assessement of language proficiency, and definition of educational programs to teach Mundurukú in local schools.


2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 127-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Stewart ◽  
Joseph Gladstone ◽  
Amy Verbos ◽  
Manasi Katragadda

This commentary examines the use of American Indian culture in the strategic marketing of goods and services produced from within the American Indian community. Building on concepts from multiple academic disciplines, we introduce a new construct for this practice: the "culture-of-origin" effect. Specifically, the culture-of-origin effect is the strategic use of one's cultural identity as a resource that increases the value of one's products. Moreover, we explore the ethical ramifications of exploiting one's cultural identity for capital gain by highlighting the quandary that emerges when individuals seek to profit from a resource (cultural capital) that belongs collectively to the tribe.


2013 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 25-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arieahn Matamonasa-Bennett

Domestic violence is a serious social problem in contemporary American Indian communities and research is critical to create and evaluate prevention and intervention strategies. This small qualitative study sought to discover the ways in which men from a single reservation community with histories of domestic violence define and perceive domestic violence within the cultural context. The narratives held themes of intergenerational family violence and dysfunction, alcoholism, racism, isolation, deep grief, and remorse. Each of the narratives also revealed themes of healing and hope through connecting with elders, learning spiritual traditions and strengthening cultural identity as a means for achieving sobriety and lives of nonviolence.


2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-39
Author(s):  
Teresia M. Paul ◽  
Stephanie L. Lusk ◽  
Alicia Brown Becton ◽  
Rachel Glade

There are several challenges adolescents face on a daily basis, and this is particularly true for American Indian adolescents, where rates of substance use and trauma are high. Due to the significant gaps in research focusing on American Indian adolescents and client-centered interventions, it is difficult to determine what might serve as the best format for providing services. Furthermore, cultural identity can play a major role for American Indian adolescents receiving treatment for substance use and cooccurring disorders. Research has proven that incorporating culturally- and trauma-specific interventions into the treatment milieu can decrease the potential for relapse. However, understanding the complexities of substance use, cultural identity, and trauma for American Indian adolescents can be a daunting task for many rehabilitation professionals. This article explores the impact of substance use, culture, and trauma on the lives of American Indian adolescents and implications for rehabilitation professionals when working with AI clients/consumers. Gaining an understanding regarding how substance use, culture, and trauma affect the lives of American Indian adolescents is vital for the development of culturallyrelevant and appropriate interventions.


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