Indigenous Language Recovery

On every continent of this planet, aboriginal languages and cultures are threatened and in many cases obliterated by the assimilatory practices of colonial cultures. Due to accelerated and dominant culture-oriented social change, unplanned growth in socio-economic and technological power, and a belief in the primitivism of indigenous peoples, first nations the world over have been marginalized, forcing a choice between retreating into geographical isolation or absorption into the dominant culture.

However, the geographical buffer for those choosing retreat is decreasing exponentially as the greed of colonial economies seeks further non-renewable resources to exploit for ongoing short term economic growth. This threatens the integrity of the few indigenous languages and cultures that have managed to remain in tact.

But hope exists in recent language maintenance and recovery programs employed with success by indigenous communities throughout the world. Although indigenous cultural survival is often equated with intergenerational continuity, these creative programs have demonstrated that the recovery of "dead" languages and maintenance of threatened languages can actually help in rebuilding shattered community structures. This aspect of community development is now being built into language program models.

All over the world, indigenous communities can now employ, modify and build upon the successes of language maintenance and recovery programs of other indigenous organisations, with a view to extending work beyond cultural recovery into the development and renewal of indigenous knowledges contributing to greater world understanding and development of sustainable futures both socially and ecologically.

My most recent work in this area has been with Wangkumarra, Ngemba and Gamilaraay languages in New South Wales, Australia. I can testify personally to the amazing effect Aboriginal language programs have on Indigenous communities when created with this strong focus on community cultural development and social futures.