FIGHTING TO PRESERVE LANGUAGE AND CULTURAL IDENTITY
Many Indigenous peoples are fighting to keep their languages alive. In Sápmi, as in Australia, people speak of the so-called “third-generation syndrome.” The first generation was forbidden to speak their language. The second grew up with parents who didn’t pass it on—often in an effort to protect their children from racism. The third generation lacks the language or has only limited skills in it, simply because no one was able to teach them properly.
But a language is so much more than simply a tool for communication: it carries a people’s collective experience, knowledge, traditions, culture, and connection to the land.
In Sápmi, there are more than ten distinct Sámi languages; in Australia, over 400 Aboriginal ones. In addition to the technical challenges of organizing education, there is the ongoing struggle against racism—the lingering effects of colonialism. How can these languages not only survive, but thrive?
This discussion brings together Ben Bowen, CEO of the Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF), Harald Gaski, professor of Sámi literature, and Patricia Fjellgren, who has worked to revitalize Sámi languages in a variety of roles.
Moderator: Johan Sandberg McGuinne, Sámi language teacher and director of the Sámi author center Tjállegoahte.
FIGHTING TO PRESERVE LANGUAGE AND CULTURAL IDENTITY
Many Indigenous peoples are fighting to keep their languages alive. In Sápmi, as in Australia, people speak of the so-called “third-generation syndrome.” The first generation was forbidden to speak their language. The second grew up with parents who didn’t pass it on—often in an effort to protect their children from racism. The third generation lacks the language or has only limited skills in it, simply because no one was able to teach them properly.
But a language is so much more than simply a tool for communication: it carries a people’s collective experience, knowledge, traditions, culture, and connection to the land.
In Sápmi, there are more than ten distinct Sámi languages; in Australia, over 400 Aboriginal ones. In addition to the technical challenges of organizing education, there is the ongoing struggle against racism—the lingering effects of colonialism. How can these languages not only survive, but thrive?
This discussion brings together Ben Bowen, CEO of the Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF), Harald Gaski, professor of Sámi literature, and Patricia Fjellgren, who has worked to revitalize Sámi languages in a variety of roles.
Moderator: Johan Sandberg McGuinne, Sámi language teacher and director of the Sámi author center Tjállegoahte.
Contributors
