Preserving the Cultural Legacy: Indigenous Youth Fellows Revitalizing Their Native Linguistics
Language and Culture Revival by Indigenous Youth
Embrace the roots of culture through language! Language isn't merely a jumble of words - it carries our worldviews, identities, and wisdom systems. Nurturing and preserving these language systems, especially among the youth, ensures a vibrant cultural future. This month's fellowship highlights accounts of Indigenous Youth Fellows who, with Cultural Survival's Indigenous Youth Fellowship Program, made a significant impact on their communities through language and cultural preservation projects. Utilizing music, theater, technology, and other creative means, they documented and safeguarded traditional knowledge and focused on the active participation of local youth in the process.
Tashi Lhazom documenting Limi language and songs
Tashi Lhazom (Limi) and the Limi Youth Society in Nepal
Nestled in the heart of the Himalayas, the remote Limi Valley faces several challenges, including lack of basic healthcare, educational access, and political representation. Due to Nepal's government policies and a massive Tibetan migration, the local Limi community faces an identity crisis. Youth have limited opportunities to learn their native language in government schools, and existing teaching materials are scarce.
Youth Fellow Tashi Lhazom and the Limi Youth Society fought back by initiating "Going Back to Go Forward Through Language" - a project aimed at creating a digital reference for the Limi language and traditional songs. They hoped this project would help prevent the loss of Limi culture, while also educating local youth about their heritage.
After the successful completion of the project, a digital dictionary and song compilation were born. Tashi discovered a surprising situation in which younger people still connected deeply with tradition, spoke their native language fluently, and maintained strong community ties. This project not only enriched her understanding of the Limi language and culture but also boosted her skills in teamwork, collaboration, and leadership. You can explore the created materials at Digital Dictionary and Folks Songs Compilation, and follow the Limi Youth Society's work via their Instagram.
Digital compilation of Limi language songs
Bielka Miguel Feliciano (Mayangna) from Nicaragua
Bielka Miguel Feliciano believes technology and Indigenous cultures and languages can go hand in hand, leading to an easier adaptation to social changes. As an Information Systems Engineering student, she wanted to make her hometown Santa Maria shine by utilizing her skills to develop a translation software that acts as a Google Chrome extension. Her goal was to ensure her people's origins and mother tongue wouldn't vanish by providing them with the means to navigate through media and information sources in their native language.
Collaborating with local Elders and language experts, Bielka built a database of terms in the Miskito and Panmahka languages. By the end of her Cultural Survival fellowship, she had created a prototype version of the software, with plans to expand to more Indigenous languages in the future.
Prototype translation software developed by Bielka Miguel Feliciano
Carmen Alicia Jansasoy (Inga) from Colombia
Carmen Alivia Jansasoy is convinced that art can play a vital role in cultural preservation. She motivated her local Indigenous community in Putumayo, Colombia, to engage in creative activities focused on teaching and learning that strengthened the Inga language. Her vision included music and theater workshops for children and youth, aiming to breed a new wave of Inga pride through language learning.
By interacting with local Elders and knowledge holders, Jansasoy gathered rich intergenerational exchanges, resulting in a compilation of Inga cultural stories, myths, and traditions. Subsequent workshops focused on teaching youngsters singing, theatrical expression, and playing traditional instruments. The engaging workshops incited the youth's interest in their culture and ancestral knowledge.
Artistic workshops organized by Carmen Alivia Jansasoy
Quetzaly Quintas Arista and Lucero Quiroz Zaragoza (Zapoteca) from Mexico
The Zapotec community of Santa María Guienagati in Oaxaca, Mexico, is home to 810 Indigenous speakers, many of whom are elderly and at risk of taking their native language, Dadi'idznu, to the grave. Seeking to reverse this trend, Indigenous youth Quetzaly Arista and Lucero Zaragoza teamed up to develop an online platform for the revitalization of Dadi'idznu. The project includes the collection, creation, and dissemination of text and audiovisual materials, ultimately forming a free and accessible virtual space for language consultation and dissemination.
By collaborating with speakers, academics, teachers, municipal authorities, and the wider community, Arista and Zaragoza are building a website that will eventually host a bilingual Zapotec-Spanish vocabulary search engine, a variety of educational articles, stories, and poems, and video recordings featuring local tales in the Zapotec language. Their groundbreaking initiative aims to support teachers and inspire younger generations, ensuring the vitality and longevity of Dadi'idznu.
Creating Dadi'idznu content with community members
- Tashi Lhazom and the Limi Youth Society fostered personal growth and learning through their project "Going Back to Go Forward Through Language," aimed at preserving the Limi language and traditional songs, which ultimately boosted Tashi's skills in teamwork, collaboration, and leadership.
- Quetzaly Quintas Arista and Lucero Quiroz Zaragoza, leveraging education-and-self-development techniques, started an online platform to revitalize the Dadi'idznu language, bringing together the Zapotec community and ensuring the vitality and longevity of their native tongue.
