scholarly journals Taking Care of the Ancestral Language

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erika Katjaana Sarivaara ◽  
Satu Uusiautti
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous People ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Target Group ◽  
Indigenous Language ◽  
Indigenous Identity ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Electoral Register ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Official Status ◽  
Taking Care

Non-status Sámi are defined as a group of people who are of Sámi descent, but they do not have official Sámi status. The term ‘non-status’ means that they lack the official status of Sámi people because they do not fulfill the criteria of Sáminess, as defined by the Finnish law of the Sámi Parliament, and thus do not belong to the electoral register of the Sámi Parliament. Some of the Non-status Sámi have revitalised the Sámi language and started to use it actively; this was the target group of this study. In this study, ten Non-status Sámi’s narratives were obtained through interviews. The Sámi-speaking Non-status Sámi were divided into two types according to how they locate themselves in Sámi society: (1) conscious Non-status Sámi; and (2) integrative Non-Status Sámi. According to the findings, Sámi-speaking Non-status Sámi identities and locations within the Sámi society are diverse. The study contributes to the discussion of decolonisation a new perspective from Indigenous people who have consciously started to revitalise Indigenous language and culture. Furthermore, the study shows the multidimensional nature of Indigenous identity and sheds light on marginalities in Indigenous communities.

Reclaiming the narratives: Situated multidimensional representation of underserved Indigenous communities through citizen-driven reporting

Journalism ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 146488492098326
Author(s):  
Jiun-Yi Tsai ◽  
Rian Bosse ◽  
Nisha Sridharan ◽  
Monica Chadha
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous People ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Relationship Building ◽  
Media Representation ◽  
Situated Knowledge ◽  
Indigenous Identity ◽  
Indigenous Perspectives ◽  
Multidimensional Representation ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Practical Implications

Mainstream news outlets continue to ignore Indigenous people or cover them inadequately, resulting in mistrust and alienation by the former towards the latter. Yet, ways to meet Indigenous peoples’ needs for accurate media representation is understudied and undertheorized. Based on 16 in-depth interviews with Native and Indigenous citizens, we develop a conceptual framework of situated multidimensional representation to elucidate the agentic processes for citizen journalists to empower members of various tribal affiliations. Findings reveal that citizen journalists’ situated knowledge and expertise encourages humanizing Indigenous people, engenders media trust through evoking feelings of relatability and belonging, and strengthens Indigenous identity by foregrounding the focus on complex personhood. Our analysis highlights a need for transforming conventional journalistic values and relationship building practices to incorporate marginalized Indigenous perspectives. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

scholarly journals Language and culture in dimension

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 322-346
Author(s):  
Tereza Tayná Coutinho Lopes ◽  
Marília Ferreira
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Indigenous Languages ◽  
Indigenous Language ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
The People

Onomastic studies in general—and the studies of the onomastic systems of indigenous languages in particular—require interdisciplinary investigations that address properly the diversity inherent in the field. In this vein, the present work discusses how linguistic concepts dialogue with anthropology and ethnography in the study of the onomastic system of Parkatêjê, an indigenous language spoken by the people of the same name, who currently inhabit the area called Reserva Indígena Mãe Maria (RIMM), close to the municipality of Marabá (Pará, Brazil). We will discuss aspects observed in the description of the anthroponyms known and used mostly by native speakers of the Parkatêjê language. The methodology of the study consisted of bibliographic research and ethnographic research with data collection in the indigenous area inhabited by the indigenous communities in question.

scholarly journals “Somos Amazonía,” a New Inter-indigenous Identity in the Ecuadorian Amazonia

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehdi Saqalli ◽  
Eva Béguet ◽  
Nicolas Maestripieri ◽  
Lucie Morin ◽  
Ferran Cabrero ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous People ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Agricultural Products ◽  
Indigenous Identity ◽  
Ecuadorian Amazon ◽  
History Of

The double colonization of the Northern Ecuadorian Amazon, coming from the Southern Amazon but mainly from the Coast and Sierra, has multiplied perceptions, rights, and management methods in this territory. This article explores these differences and reconstructs the history of this colonization and the rights of access to land, which are private for the colonos (settlers) and communal for the indígenas (indigenous people). These legally differentiated groups are similar in their perception of the territory and their socioeconomic and environmental limitations: most agricultural products are not profitable. Between the growing metropolises and the remaining forest, the countryside is slowly shrinking. Communities are appearing that combine indigenous people and settlers and that copy the indigenous communities’ rights and practices. However, this communal right is acquired for the Amazonian groups but not for others, indígenas or colonos, defining de facto a jus aplidia, along with jus soli and jus sanguinis.

scholarly journals Language and Culture as Protective Factors for At-Risk Communities

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Onowa McIvor ◽  
Art Napoleon ◽  
Kerissa M. Dickie
Keyword(s):  
Protective Factors ◽  
Indigenous People ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Indigenous Populations ◽  
Indigenous Language ◽  
Health And Wellness ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Potential Health ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Positive Effects

A comprehensive review and analysis of the literature related to the role of Indigenous language and culture in maintaining and improving the health as well as reducing the risk factors for health problems of Indigenous people. Although much literature exists on various topics related to culture, language and health, the specific focus of this paper was studying the effects of the use of language and culture on the health of Indigenous people. Once all relevant literature was gathered, six linked themes emerged as protective factors against health issues; land and health, traditional medicine, spirituality, traditional foods, traditional activities and language. Findings included evidence that the use of Indigenous languages and cultures do have positive effects on the health and wellness of Indigenous people. However, the majority of the existing literature focuses on culture and its effects on health. Therefore, more studies are needed specifically on the potential health benefits of Indigenous language use. Other recommendations for ways forward include more targeted research on urban Indigenous populations, and making links between the loss of traditional land, contaminants in the food chain and the health of Indigenous people in Canada.

Indigenous Languages: Their Threatened Extinction Is a Global Responsibility

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana Cárdenas ◽  
Roxane de la Sablonnière ◽  
Donald M. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Bilingual Education ◽  
Indigenous People ◽  
Language Revitalization ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
Indigenous Languages ◽  
Indigenous Language ◽  
Reversal Theory ◽  
Global Responsibility

Indigenous languages are at the verge of extinction. For many indigenous communities, saving their languages means protecting one of the last-standing symbols of their cultural identity, a symbol that has survived a history of colonization and that can impact their well-being. If indigenous languages are to survive, language revitalization strategies need to be adopted by indigenous communities and governments. One such strategy is language revitalization planning, where communities and governments are actively engaged in changing the way group members use language. Language revitalization plans are often derived from two theoretical stands, either language reversal theory (which adopts a language-autonomy perspective) or language vitality (which focuses on the factors that favor a linguistic group’s survival). Language revitalization strategies also involve some form of bilingual education. Bilingual education in indigenous communities allows indigenous children to learn, and hence to gain competency in, both their indigenous language and the mainstream language. Strong forms of bilingualism, as opposed to weak forms of bilingualism, have great potential for nourishing competency in indigenous languages, because they give equal value to the indigenous language and the mainstream language. Language revitalization strategies also need to consider the collective functions of language, or how groups use their language. Language can be used by groups as a vehicle for cultural knowledge, as a symbol of identity, and as a tool for communicating in formal and informal settings. Strengthening the collective function of indigenous languages is essential to their survival. In the case of indigenous people, every single step taken to revitalize their languages (language planning, bilingual education, and the collective functions of language) is an affirmation of their continuous existence in the world, upholding their distinctiveness from colonizers. This “collective existential affirmation” of indigenous people may very well be the drive needed to achieve language revival.

scholarly journals Indigenous people, socio-environmental conflict and post-development in Latin America

2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernando de la Cuadra
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Social Development ◽  
Indigenous People ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Environmental Conflict ◽  
Everyday Practices ◽  
Man And Nature ◽  
New Perspective

The aims of this article is to reflect on the contradictions between a conception of development that is anchored in the idea of progress, industrialization and economic growth and worldviews of indigenous peoples, for whom the existing symbiotic bond between man and nature necessarily involves intangibility and irreducibility of natural resources as a source of economic and social development. For this reason, it is argued that a proper view of development must include an epistemic shift in which the ideas and knowledge of indigenous communities are built to radically alter society/nature and highly predatory logic environment relationship and life human that comes currently prevail. This new perspective implies a change in the discourse and everyday practices of "knowing" and "doing" in what some authors have referred to as post-development.

Participatory Design of Language and Culture Archives

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Wasson
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Participatory Design ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Indigenous Language ◽  
Endangered Languages ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Community Based ◽  
User Research ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Indigenous Materials

Online archives to preserve and share Indigenous language and culture materials emerged in the 1990s and 2000s. They were, in part, a response to concerns about Indigenous language and culture loss that gained prominence during that time period, both in Indigenous communities and in fields such as anthropology and linguistics. From an Indigenous perspective, language and culture were central to community members’ identities and exercise of sovereignty. The development of online archives was also facilitated by technology advances in the 1990s and 2000s, including more sophisticated online platforms for storing and sharing information, broader access to the internet, and digital recording technologies. Prior to the development of online archives, traditional brick-and-mortar archives had a long history of collecting language and culture materials from Indigenous communities. However, they operated in a colonial context in which their practices contributed to the subjugation of Native peoples. In response, the 1970s and 1980s saw a rise in tribal archivists and Indigenous approaches to managing Indigenous materials and collections. Concerns to treat Indigenous materials appropriately and with respect have continued with the development of online archives. One focus has been Indigenous data sovereignty. Some online archives have focused more on language and some have focused more on cultural heritage. The field of documentary linguistics has been highly active in developing language archives, with a particular concern for endangered languages. For example, Endangered Languages Archive (ELAR), Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures (PARADISEC), Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America (AILLA), and The Language Archive (TLA) all include data from a large number of different languages. A smaller group of anthropologists has engaged with the development of cultural heritage archives. Anthropologists have also critiqued the colonial logics of traditional archives and theorized what a “postcolonial archive” might look like. Some cultural heritage archives have started to enact these new principles. At the same time, Indigenous communities have developed their own community-based archives, often focused on meeting the needs of community members. Although Indigenous community-based archives have generally had a solid understanding of the needs of their users, archives that collect materials from a large number of communities have not always conducted user research. A user-centered design approach to archives was initiated through a 2016 workshop funded by the US National Science Foundation. In addition, there has been a trend to integrate language and culture materials into combined archives. Participatory design may be the most appropriate approach for archive development because it recognizes and honors the sovereignty of the Indigenous peoples whose materials are included in an archive. One example of an ongoing participatory design process for an archive is a collaboration between Christina Wasson’s research team and four Indigenous communities in Northeast India. Language and culture archives offer opportunities for design anthropologists to engage in a more participatory process than is possible in most private sector work. Many archives, museums, and libraries would be open to hiring people with this expertise.

scholarly journals Between support and marginalization

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-110
Author(s):  
Anahy Gajardo
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous People ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
16Th Century ◽  
Northern Chile ◽  
Indigenous Identity ◽  
Mining Company ◽  
The Third ◽  
Indigenous Group ◽  
The Social ◽  
Set Up

Long regarded as an ethnic group extinct since the 16th century, the Diaguita of Chile re-emerged as an indigenous people in the early 2000s in the midst of their struggle against extractivism. Although they did not „exist”Ÿ 15 years ago in legal terms and were socially invisible, they are now the third most important indigenous group in Chile, after the Mapuche and the Aymara. This paper analyses the combined roles of a Canadian mining company (Barrick Gold, Pascua Lama project) and the Chilean state in the process of this group”Ÿs re-emergence in the Huasco Alto region of northern Chile. In particular, it shows how the social responsibility programs of the mining company (CSR), set up to support “the ethnic revitalization” of the Diaguita, contribute both to divide local indigenous communities and to justify a culturalized and depoliticized indigenous identity, compatible with mining interests and the state's project to conciliate neoliberal and multiculturalist policies.

THE THE INDIGENOUS IDENTITY INTERPRETED AS A CATEGORY OF ANALYSIS IN POPULATION STUDIES

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (Especial) ◽  
pp. 105
Author(s):  
Dante Choque-Caseres
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Indigenous Identity ◽  
Critical Thought ◽  
Northern Border ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Government ◽  
New Research

In Latin America, based on the recognition of Indigenous Peoples, the identification of gaps or disparities between the Indigenous and non-Indigenous population has emerged as a new research interest. To this end, capturing Indigenous identity is key to conducting certain analyses. However, the social contexts where the identity of Indigenous persons are (re)produced has been significantly altered. These changes are generated by the assimilation or integration of Indigenous communities into dominant national cultures. Within this context, limitations emerge in the use of this category, since Indigenous identity has a political and legal component related to the needs of the government. Therefore, critical thought on the use of Indigenous identity is necessary in an epistemological and methodological approach to research. This article argues that research about Indigenous Peoples should evaluate how Indigenous identity is included, for it is socially co-produced through the interaction of the State and its institutions. Thus, it would not necessarily constitute an explicative variable. By analyzing the discourse about Aymara Indigenous communities that has emerged in the northern border of Chile, this paper seeks to expose the logic used to define identity. Therefore, I conclude that the process of self-identification arises in supposed Indigenous people, built and/or reinforced by institutions, which should be reviewed from a decolonizing perspective and included in comparative research.

scholarly journals Indigenous People, Organized Crime and Natural Resources: Borders, Incentives and Relations

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daan P. van Uhm ◽  
Ana G. Grigore
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Indigenous People ◽  
Organized Crime ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Economic Incentives ◽  
Environmental Harm ◽  
Criminological Perspective ◽  
History Of ◽  
Organized Crime Groups ◽  
Criminal Groups

AbstractThis article explores the relationship between the Emberá–Wounaan and Akha Indigenous people and organized crime groups vying for control over natural resources in the Darién Gap of East Panama and West Colombia and the Golden Triangle (the area where the borders of Laos, Myanmar (Burma), and Thailand meet), respectively. From a southern green criminological perspective, we consider how organized crime groups trading in natural resources value Indigenous knowledge. We also examine the continued victimization of Indigenous people in relation to environmental harm and the tension between Indigenous peoples’ ecocentric values and the economic incentives presented to them for exploiting nature. By looking at the history of the coloniality and the socioeconomic context of these Indigenous communities, this article generates a discussion about the social framing of the Indigenous people as both victims and offenders in the illegal trade in natural resources, particularly considering the types of relationships established with dominant criminal groups present in their ancestral lands.

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