Today, more concerns are being addressed and analyzed by various indigenous rights activist organizations.
Roy Sesana, leader of the CKGR San approached two indigenous rights activists named Rupert Isaacson and Kim Langbecker in desperate hopes to help alleviate the condition his people were subjected to. Roy, as well as Maori, Mayan, Hawaiian, and Lakota representatives discussed with Isaacson and Langbecker an NGO focused on indigenous land claims. Through the organization, indigenous peoples would gain international advocacy and its media and legal campaigns would be implemented as defense against misplacement. In 2004, The Indigenous Rights Land Fun (ILRF) initialized and began to work by facilitating a strategy in which they “intertwined” many programs and partnerships aimed towards resolving indigenous land conflicts. The ILRF has maintained provision of political, financial, legal, and consulting service for the San through its three-fold mission: 1; to assist indigenous communities in gaining secure tenure of ancestral lands, 2; to support cultural integrity, sustainable development and self-determination, and 3; to help protect the health and safety of the environment.
Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa (WIMSA) is a non-governmental network that aims to coordinate and voice the concerns and interests of the San people. WIMSA helps develop a representative council of San members that provides a hands-on approach to plan their own advocacy and assert their human rights. Through intellectual property rights, WIMSA also works to preserve and promote cultural and linguistic sustainability.
Founded and based in Austin, Texas, the Kalahari People’s fund non-profit organization seeks to benefit the San by acting as a liaison between the people of the Kalahari and the agencies from which they can receive sustainability, economic, and educational needs.
Above are examples of methods of action towards promoting, preserving, and improving the condition of indigenous peoples in today’s society. Of course, what sparks action is inspiration, and these organizations are formed because members of the global community not realize the tragedy in marginalizing indigenous members, and the importance in helping preserve their culture and ancestral lands. In the case of the San, as with every other indigenous people who have been displaced, marginalized, and discriminated against, colonialism is seen as the culprit of their loss. Colonialism is based on notions of greed, ownership, and superiority complex. The global mentality is shifting, and it is imperative in order to preserve the richness and diversity of humanity that the indigenous communities are able to retain their land, society, and lifestyle.
Works Cited
"The Bushmen". Survival: The Movement for Tribal Peoples. Sat. 23. 2010 .
"Intro". Land Rights Fund. Sat. 23. 2010 .
"The San Bushmen of Southern Africa". Blogspot. Sat. 23. 2010 .
“Navajo Leadership Camp & Meeting with San Bushmen from the Central Kalahari September 2004". The Tracking Project. Sat. 23. 2010 .
"Working Group of Indigenous Minorites in Southern Africa". Working Group of Indigenous Minorites in Southern Africa. Sat. 23. 2010 .
The alarming truth is that the San, whose culture may be the oldest in humanity, are nearing the edge of extinction. For centuries the San have endured significant discrimination and dispossession by the hands of surrounding South African authority. In recent years, the San have been forced to leave their ancestral and rightful lands and move into overcrowded, poorly conditioned resettlement camps outside of the Kalahari Reserve. As a hunter-gatherer people, the San treasure the land and with it share an intimate spiritual, emotional, and environmental connection. Their humanistic lifestyle is tied directly to the wealth and sustenance of the earth. When ripped from their home, the San lose the very core that shapes and maintains their linguistic, medicinal, spiritual, and societal culture.
Though they are no longer murdered for land, but disease ridden resettlement camps, erosion, cattle ranching, and ecological loss result in significant numbers of deaths. As San children who are displaced and enrolled into South African schools and boarding schools, are forced to learn and communicate in Afrikaans, their ability to facilitate and practice their own unique mother tongues suffers. Today, Less than 10,000 San remain on the Kalahari.
During the 1980’s, it was discovered that the Kalahari held generous amounts of diamonds. In 1997, 2002, and 2005, the Botswanian government evicted thousands of San from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) in order to clear land for diamond mines. Those who resisted the eviction were beaten and tortured brutally. Their homes and water supplies were destroyed. The San held in the resettlement camps are not permitted to hunt and gather and provide food for themselves, and many fall into depression, severe boredom, alcoholism, and HIV/AIDS. Many San opt to make a living as farm laborers, but because they are often seen as inferior to their South African neighbors, suffer from derogatory name-calling and mistreatment.
In 2006, the San were returned the right to their ancestral lands through a court procedure—a case that is the “longest and most expensive in the country’s history” (Survival International). However, despite declaring that it would no longer relapse into forced displacement, the government has made it extremely hard for the San to return. They were banned from utilizing their source of water and denied hunting permits despite the land being rightfully theirs. Over 50 San were arrested for hunting to provide for their families. It is as if the government has ensured that the San will never leave from the resettlement camps and resume their happy, peaceful, and unique lifestyle.
Tragically, all of this is leading to significant decrease in the San population. It is essential that the global community become aware of this alarming issue, and see the value in cultural and ecological preservation.
Preservation of their Culture, Language, and Way of Life
In the Kalahari Dessert of southern Africa lives the San, the large and diverse grouping of indigenous hunter-gatherers who share cultural, linguistic, and historical kinship. Fascinatingly, the San are considered by many anthropologists and linguists to be the “oldest humans”; descendents of Early Stone Age predecessors, and the remaining ancestors to the myriad of ethnicities and languages that comprise humanity today. They have also throughout the history of European research been referred to as Bushmen, but this recognized as derogatory and is typically avoided. The Kalahari Dessert largely covers Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa, where the San have lived for tens of thousands of years.
The San are a nomadic people, taking temporary residence in caves, rocky dwellings, or constructed shelters. Members usually stick to their clans of about 20—mostly family and relatives—with whom they travel, live, and communicate. Basic political framework is based on bonds of kinship. Groups will meet with each occasionally for marriage arrangements and exchanges of gifts or news. Their tribal system does not involve a formal leadership structure, and issues and concerns are discussed equally within the community. Though certain members who are particularly adept at hunting or building shelter may be addressed to take on such responsibilities, and male/female or young/seniority distinctions play important parts into organization, no member considers him or herself to have authoritative influence over another.
The San do not find necessity in claiming land or animals, so do not raise crops or keep livestock. They seek nourishment in a variety of plants and animals ranging from antelope, zebra, insects, and fish, to wild honey and root vegetables. The animals that are hunted and killed are highly valued, not just their meat for food but their hide and bones to be tanned and dried for blankets and tools. Childbirth does not involve elaborate ceremony. After giving birth in privacy, new mothers may seek comfort or care from other women, but will return to her task or responsibility soon after.
Their languages consist of a unique variety of dialects that are characterized by non-pulmonic “click” sounds. Though there are dozens of distinct dialects that differ in pronunciation and grammatical structure, today the International Phonetic Association has implemented a series of symbols within its alphabet to illustrate five different click noises.
The San live peacefully and with minimal conflict, as every member respects each other, their possessions, and the land with which they work. When the first Dutch settlers arrived on the San territory in 1652, they thought that the lack of governmental and economic order as “problematic”. They thought of the San as inferior, feral animals and began to exterminate them in order to claim land. Over a span of 200 years, 200,000 San were killed. The San were also made subject to slavery and traveling circus work.
Today, the global community has begun to view indigenous peoples differently. Attitudes surrounding the environment and autonomy are shifting. Organizations like the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples (UNPFII) were created to address problems involving discrimination, exploitation, and mistreatment of groups like the San. Still, the cultural and linguistic prosperity of the San are in danger of becoming extinct as members are forcibly integrated into “civilized” South African society.
The Cosby Show, starring Bill Cosby, immediately came to mind as a television program that effectively refutes African American stereotypes in American media. The show surrounds the Huxtables, a happy, comfortable, upper-middle class African American family living in New York. Bill Cosby plays “Cliff” Huxtable, an obstetrician, and his wife, Claire, is an attorney. Their children, Theo, Denise, Rudy, Vanessa, and Sondra, each find their own unique educational success.
With its 1984 premier, Cosby brought on a welcome change in how African Americans are portrayed and facilitated as characters in television. After decades of African Americans posed as subjects to caricature, stereotype, and pawns in racial discrimination lessons, Cosby instead illuminates issues regarding family, school, work, and relationships that are commonly shared by all American families. By avoiding the topics of race and class, the show positively affected the acceptance of African Americans in media.
The first episode that I watched is titled “Theo’s Holiday”. It begins as Theo’s younger sisters confront him about money—five dollars for Denise and a quarter for Rudy—that he has borrowed and now owes each. Claire and Cliff gently warn their son that he is developing poor finance management habits, as he is now “backed up until the age of 50”. Theo announces to his family that he plans to get by after high school earning money by modeling; Cliff decides that his son needs to be taught a lesson in the ways of the “real world”. Theo goes off to a sleepover, and when he returns the next morning, each member of his family has assumed a different societal role—a landlord, a restaurant owner, a banker, a furniture store owner, a waiter, etc. All of the furniture from his bedroom has been removed, to simulate an unfurnished apartment that he must collect finances and references to acquire. The family has set up an elaborate simulation in which Theo is passed from establishment to establishment, having to track down a job, furniture, food, a loan. Theo is cooperative and plays along, gradually becoming more aware of the realities of life beyond high school. In the end, as his parents come to join him in his empty bedroom to bring Theo dinner. Theo admits to have learned his lesson, and jokingly
Overall, the episode illustrates the promotion of positive lifestyle values on behalf of family. Though Claire’s restaurant owner character, “Millie”, could be seen as alluding to the image of a Southern woman jovially cooking her grits on the stove, and Cliff’s landlord persona “Harley” speaks a bit gruffly and holds himself with some swagger, I still get the sense that neither persona necessarily meets a specific African American stereotype. The youngest daughter, Rudy, acts as a finicky but powerful business owner. This reinforces the notion that the characters within the Cosby Show are not to be seen as merely African Americans, but Americans who maintain a healthy, happy family lifestyle. Theo’s parents are very loving and caring, so much so that they teach him lessons in order to promote responsibility.
The second episode that I watched is titled “Call of the Wild”. In this episode, eldest daughter Sondra has returned from her honeymoon with husband Elvin. Both have recently graduated from PrincetonUniversity. Cliff and Claire await their daughter and son-in-law enthusiastically, proud of their decisions to attend Law and Medical school (Sondra; law, Elvin; medical). Cliff has even purchased an expensive new stethoscope customized with an engraved “To Elvin—straight from my heart”—for the future doctor. To the shock of the proud Huxtable parents Sondra and Elvin announce a change of mind, describing their dream of owning and managing a “wilderness store” together. At first, both parents express verbally their disapproval and surprise, ultimately concerned for their economic security. Sondra and Elvin invited Claire and Cliff to their new apartment for dinner. At one point, when Sondra realizes that she is out of basil, she and her mother step out to buy some from a nearby store. As they close the door, the two Princeton diplomas hanging on the wall fall down from the impact. Cliff remarks; “Those are your Princeton diplomas. They’ve fallen down. A bit symbolic, isn’t it?” The parent’s skepticism does fade completely by the end of the episode, but they come to realize that Elvin and Sondra are now married adults who have the right to make their own life decisions.
This episode challenges African American stereotype in the sense that, as opposed to emphasizing two young African American’s glorified journey to make it into university, the message instead surrounds them making individual career decisions.
The third and final episode that I watched, called “Independence Day”, begins as Theo enters the house after spending the weekend at his best friend Cockroach’s house. He is wearing a knit ski cap to cover up his latest form of liberation—a pierced ear lobe. Denise notices it and thinks it is infected. She tells her parents, and Cliff goes upstairs to Cleo’s room to confront him about the ear piercing. After some resistance, Theo finally admits that he had Cockroach’s little sister pierce his ear for 99 cents in his garage—in order to impress a girl of his interest. Cliff cleans up the infection, and suggests that Theo’s punishment will involve his grandfather’s observance of the piercing, and gleefully displays Theo in front of his own father. Instead of reprimanding Theo, Grandfather Huxtable goes on to tell the story of how Cliff, when he was 15, wanted to impress a girl by having straightened hair. Since hair straightening solutions were expensive, and Cliff could not afford it, him and his friend created a mixture of potato skins, corn syrup, and nitroglycerin, which immediately burned off his hair. Theo and his grandfather tried to give Cliff a hard time about this, but the grandmother describes how her husband once got at tattoo of her name on his chest—misspelled. The episode ends well naturedly, as the three Huxtable men—“Scarface, Skinhead, and Hole-in-the-Lobe”, bond over the humor in the girl-impressive actions.
Each episode illustrates a positive, nurturing environment for family members and those in romantic relationships. Americans of all backgrounds are able to find some way by which they can relate to the Huxtables. The Huxtables are not posed as subject to racial or discrimination issues or stereotype, but a happy yet realistic model of an American family.
Sensational Cases of Animal Rights/Vegetarian Activism
The three articles that I have chosen to review each involve media created to voice animal rights or vegetarian activism. This is a meaningful topic to me as I have been a happy vegetarian since I was 14 years old. My personal decision to stop eating meat came about after studying the contemporary meat industry in school; its impact on the environment and treatment of animals. Today I am still very content with my choice, and try to be conscience of where my food comes from and how it is produced. While just and compassionate treatment towards animals and the environment are something I like to encourage, everyone contributes in their own manner differently, and in no way do I want to force my beliefs upon others.
I completely understand how self righteous phrases such as, “oh, I’m sorry I can’t eat that—I’m a vegetarian” and “that’s a nice bag…but is that leather?” can sound, and hope to avoid such situations with a positive, non-extremist approach. I would say that vegetarians are often discriminated against for being “holier-than-thou” when it comes to lifestyle choices. I definitely value voicing my individual opinion, but who wants to be that stereotypical pain in the neck vegetarian?
Activism is wonderful, but sometimes--often in the case of animal rights or the environment—can get a bit carried away and contradict what are thought of as pacifist, compassionate values. The media described in these articles are interesting examples of activism turning over-sensational or even offensive. This article, titled “PETA’s Holocaust On Your Plate”, revolves around a striking 2003 PETA (People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals) campaign that compares meat eaters and modern agricultural practice to Nazis and the holocaust. The first photograph is of a banner headed by the words “Baby Butchers”, and below a picture of child camp prisoners on the left, with slaughter house-caged piglets on the right. The second declares “To Animals, All People Are Nazis”. In this one, two photographs have been cut and placed together so that it appears that Jewish prisoners peering out of their bunk beds and rows of chickens lined behind bars, are facing each other. The author of the article notes that many viewers found the campaign advertisements very offensive, not surprisingly. It seems paradoxical that PETA, in attempting to promote love and fairness towards animals, would use something as devastating and horrendous as the Holocaust to illustrate its point. Also, by demonizing people who eat meat, these advertisements, though certainly attention grabbing, will more likely repel viewers from the organization than intrigue them.
The second article, “WOMEN AS MEAT DEMONSTRATION” is also about a PETA campaign. It shows a photograph of demonstration where women in nude colored bikinis lie crumpled, still, and covered in fake blood in giant plastic “meat packages” with mock labels included on the ground. Surrounding the women are signs that say “Meat is Murder”. These women are like the bloody chunks of flesh we can but at the supermarket, I get it. However, as the author of the article brings to attention, these near naked women are highly sexualized and objectified.
PETA has a history of using the enticing female body to help promote its message, and here, the women are meat! It is easy to understand that because this image of bloody, saran-wrapped women is so alarming, it is thought to be able to shock viewers into paying attention. Certainly effective in that sense. I understand that sensationalist scare tactics are sometimes necessary. In a way, this campaign idea is clever. But I question how clearly one might connect this to the idea that the packages from the supermarkets were once part of living animals, and instead just see it as “whoa—hot girls in a freaky demonstration”. Is this not a bit macabre? I do not mean to discredit PETA for its mission, research, and achievements, but I am unsure whether this campaign is conveying the right message.
I find the third article, “Animal Farm: Representing the Industrial Food System” particularly interesting because the media is visual arts. Nathan Meltz, an artist and graduate student based in upstate New York, has demonstrated his views on the meat and agricultural industry through unique mechanical-livestock of the “early modernist German machine aesthetic”. By creating pigs, cows, and chickens from bolts and screws, Meltz seeks to illustrate the effects of technology on the environment. The animals in his pictures are sad, waiting, and lost in a crowd of many (one major problem with commercial livestock farms is that will process one kind of animal, leading to mass “wiping out”). I personally liked his animation titled “The Chicken Coup”, a roughly ten minute long haunting depiction of a chicken’s life and death in a slaughterhouse. I find it stirring, and impressive that the artist can procure sympathetic sentiments in the viewer through mechanical chickens. I think that because this video is an animation, it affects the viewer differently than a graphic, messy live slaughterhouse film might.
The above examples of activism reach varying degrees of radical sensationalism. It is not to hard to understand why the terms “vegetarian” or “vegan” cause so much eye-rolling and annoyance. There is in this conflict a certain degree of misunderstanding, as well, on both sides—omnivores should not immediately right off vegetarians as radical and pretentious, and vegetarians should not demonize or treat meat-eaters like barbarians. It is too difficult to effectively voice a value, even if there is substantial support behind it, if the images are offensive.
Socrates Vs. Confucius: “Western” and “Asian” Educational Philosophy
Many divide our world into a generalized dichotomy—the East and the West. This division is used to distinguish cultural, societal, and political systems. In an increasingly globalizing and internationalizing world, the line placed between these two distinctions is fading. This paper review seeks to examine the history, differences, and merits of educational philosophy of both sides. What many consider and praise today as Western thought stems from the teaching methods of Greek philosopher Socrates, 2,500 years ago. He asserted that a student could not learn and seek knowledge only by following the authority, but instead by challenging oneself to seek evidence, analyzing relevant concepts, and determining one’s subjective perception of truth on his or her terms. He stressed the importance of questions that encourage evaluation and dissection of thought; one’s own sense of logic and profundity is key. His concept of critical thinking developed through the European historical timeline as it was adapted by Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas of the Middle Ages who emphasized the power of reasoning, Renaissance scholars, Voltaire in the French Enlightenment, Karl Marx, Darwin, and Sigmund Freud of the 19th century, and into modern Western educational methods. This is the reason that those who attend, for an example, an American university are typically encouraged to assess, debate, and discuss the information we receive within the classroom. When we think of exceptionally high test-scores and rigorous academic lifestyle, what does one imagine, stereotypically speaking? For many Americans, Confucian Heritage Culture (CHC) nations like Japan, China, and Taiwan come to mind. One of the most common stereotypes of Asian Americans involves their supposed painfully rigorous study and work habits, an attribute instilled by their demanding parents. Just as Socrates is thought to have created the rudiments of the style of education prevalent in the Occidental region, countries whose cultural, societal, and political systems are greatly impacted by Confucius are coined as having an educational ethic to match. Confucius was born in 551 BCE and his real name, Qui Kong, was Latinized much later in the sixteenth century. He was raised on feudalistic ethic during a time in China where the overthrow of a traditional slave-owning system caused social, economic, and political instability. Having great respect for the philosophy of his fore fathers, He was inspired to help reform his country’s chaotic state with a traditional approach to society, government, and culture. He applied his personal values to receiving his education and later, his teaching methods. He taught this whole life, instructing about 3000 disciples throughout the span of his profession. His thought greatly emphasizes the importance of “lifelong learning”; a concept that ties the education one receives to their individual development as a virtuous and balanced human being, as well as their societal and economic roles in relation to others. In other words, to gain academic knowledge is to step “the stepping stone to the state of humanity”. The Confucian approach to education advocates quiet diligence in studying and devotion to the teacher. In his analects; “Study without thought is labor lost; thought without study is dangerous”, he expresses that one can gain knowledge only by assessing and observing personally the information provided. The teacher is the wiser, and therefore the student must imitate the teacher in order to achieve sagacity his or herself. History lesson aside, it is recognized today that contemporary education is greatly impacted by Confucius’ philosophy. As he questions in his analects, “Is it not pleasant to learn with a constant perseverance and application?” Confucius is therefore thought of as the respective founder to East Asian education, while Socrates is of Western education. There is highly analytical debate amongst today’s scholars over which system is “better”. Western critics of Confucian education say that it prevents students from reaching their full potential as profound, analytical human beings. In a study held by Wenzao Ursuline College of Languages in Taiwan, forty-three third year students were encouraged to participate in active student discussion within the classroom as well as in an online course. Observations conclude that just a third of the students participated online, while two volunteered to do so in the face-to-face classroom setting. The students had difficulty “checking the credibility and validity of the evidence, not on one’s favored stance, but when challenged for an unfavored stance, comparing and contrasting the stances of different sources of information”, and reaching conclusion based on logical reasoning. Of the students who remained silent, the researcher described three variations: the student who did not speak due to not knowing what to think or how to respond, the students who did not speak because they were deep in thought, and the students who remained silent in order to avoid conflict. The western instructional approach clearly did not coincide with the methods in which the Taiwanese students were used to, and this illustrates the influence of Confucian educational philosophy. Critical thinking is not assessed without a critical eye, however. An article by scholar Donald L. Hatcher of Baker University titled “A Critique of Critical Thinking” addresses the potential faults of assumed backbone to Western education. He emphasizes the ambiguity and relativism of critical thinking, questioning the merit of a learning system based on philosophy rather than fact. Hatcher elaborates: “The interest may be an indication that educators are attempting to spare society from another generation of graduates who have so endorsed the relativistic view of truth and values that, in the name of tolerance, they cannot distinguish between a belief which is reasonable and one which is not. From the student's relativist perspective all beliefs are of equal merit, and hence the very idea of critically evaluating one's own or another's beliefs and values is moot” (Hatcher) In an essay by scholars of Australia’s Monash University and The University of Hong Kong titled “False Dichotomy? ‘Western’ and ‘Confucian’ Concepts of Scholarship and Learning”, the authors note that both terms are “fuzzy”, suggesting vague concepts that ultimately create further division between Western and CHC societies. Students from a CHC who come to study in Australia often have difficulty because of the curriculum’s negligence in adapting to their academic ethic. The CHC students are separated from the Australian students by terms of philosophy, and are seen as passive, meek, and submissive in the classroom. Perhaps this is an example of conflict theory, as it seems too difficult to claim one system better than the other. Though Western and CHC students share the same learning capacity as human beings, it is important to recognize that culture shapes human beings. Education is an important part of culture, and therefore these differences are to be accepted and understood as equally effective methods.
The Dying and Preservation of Native American Languages
Prior to the first arrival of Europeans upon the New World during the 15th century, there existed nearly 1,000 different Native American languages. A sadly common misconception that many hold even today is a result of ignorance towards the diversity of language systems among the Native American tribes. These did not have a writing system, but were grammatically very complex to the degree of Latin or Russian. (2005). As we are well familiar, once European settlers began to claim land, resources, and authority, the cultural and societal strength of the indigenous inhabitants began to suffer. The warfare, enslavement, extermination, and disease transmission that occurred between the 16th and 19th centuries not only decimated their populations but robbed the Native Americans of their right to comfortably practice customs and speak their mother tongues as well. This paper review seeks to discuss the state of American indigenous languages, in particular that of North America. Language comprises a major and essential aspect of culture. Therefore, damage to culture brought on by efforts like Americanization, the assimilation of Native Americans from enforcing European values and customs headed by George Washington in 1790, numerous oppressive laws regarding Native Americans throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, and contemporary diffusion have deeply affect the upholding of language. According to an article by University of Indiana titled “Native American Languages”, Native American populations have decreased to the present 2 million from 20 million, and “only 8 indigenous languages of the area of the continental United States currently have a population of speakers in the U.S. and Canada large enough to populate a medium-sized town” (2005). Today, the eight major indigenous languages are Navajo, Cree, Ojibwa, Cherokee, Dakota, Apache, Blackfoot, and Choctaw. The language of the Navajo, as the largest remaining population of Native peoples, is of the Athabaskan linguistic family. The Navajo language is spoken by 148,530 persons. Today, members of the Navajo tribe live predominately in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. The language of the Cree is spoken by 60,000 persons. Both Cree and Ojibwa belong to the Algic linguistic family, and live in Montana and Canada. Cree is next largest to Ojibwa, who maintains 51,000 speakers. The language of the Cherokee is spoken by 22,000 members who live mainly in Oklahoma and North Carolina, and is of the Iroquoian linguistic family. 20,000 persons speak Dakota, Apache; 15,000, Blackfoot; 10,000, and Chocotaw; 9,211. The above languages have endured and are thriving, but many more are reaching dangerously close to extinction. According to an article posted on the blog “Short Sharp Science”, the last speaker of the Alaskan Eyak tribe, Chief Marie, passed away on January 20th of 2009, marking the death of her language. Official Native American assimilation laws have long since been abandoned—the days of young English-only rule violator having their mouths washed out with soap at the boarding schools of the 19th and early 20th century—but diffusion of youth as a result of suppression, disinterest in personal heritage and attraction to American mainstream culture affects the future of tribal cultural strength. A language dies when the children of said group do not speak it. It would be a great tragedy if our “melting-pot” nation lost significantly more of its original inhabitant’s rich cultural and linguistic diversity. Fortunately, a substantial amount of organizations have stepped forward to help preserve the Native American linguistic traditions. The American Indian Languages Development Institute is an annual training institute that holds sessions during the summer for indigenous language activists and teachers. The Institute for the Preservation of the Endangered Languages of the Americas collaborates personally with indigenous communities to revitalize and continue their languages. The Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas conducts scientific linguistic research.
