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A review by cassandrat
The Language Warrior's Manifesto: How to Keep Our Languages Alive No Matter the Odds by Anton Treuer
4.0
This book is written for a wide variety of people, but especially aimed at those looking to develop their own language revitalization programs in indigenous communities. It's clear reading this book that Anton Treuer has had to resolve a lot of value conflicts and engage in a lot of meta thinking to build successful programs and relationships. He has a lot of experience and aims to share most of those conclusions and best practices in this book. It discusses how to start from nothing, focus on continually connecting to values and building foundations first (funding can come later - start now), understanding the many types of oppression (many of which are internalized in communities), and much more.
My favorite part was his description of working with elders to develop new books and stories in Ojibwe for teaching cultural values (translating Harry Potter doesn't connect the language and cultural values). They used the elders' own personal family stories to inspire and storyboard. It was amazing.
My second favorite part was his description of working with elders for lexical expansion (creating new Ojibwe terms based in Ojibwe language thinking for modern concepts). I especially loved the stories about how they got started translating curriculum, mathematics and natural sciences, into Ojibwe - and the realization of how many words for types of condensation they have.
I was hoping for more discussion of how Anton Treuer learned Ojibwe, but it comes down to - being earnest and committed to culture, earning trust, and studying constantly. I am inspired to watch and read many of the books and documentaries he mentioned, especially about the Hawaiian programs.
Very cool.
My favorite part was his description of working with elders to develop new books and stories in Ojibwe for teaching cultural values (translating Harry Potter doesn't connect the language and cultural values). They used the elders' own personal family stories to inspire and storyboard. It was amazing.
My second favorite part was his description of working with elders for lexical expansion (creating new Ojibwe terms based in Ojibwe language thinking for modern concepts). I especially loved the stories about how they got started translating curriculum, mathematics and natural sciences, into Ojibwe - and the realization of how many words for types of condensation they have.
I was hoping for more discussion of how Anton Treuer learned Ojibwe, but it comes down to - being earnest and committed to culture, earning trust, and studying constantly. I am inspired to watch and read many of the books and documentaries he mentioned, especially about the Hawaiian programs.
Very cool.