Preserving Diversity to Create Unity: Saving Indigenous Languages in Modern Times

The tolls of globalization have hit indigenous communities harder than any other. After surviving literal extermination at the hands of European colonialists, native cultures around the world now face a more symbolic eradication as the world shrinks smaller and increasingly homogeneous. National Geographic anthropologist Wade Davis sees the extinction of language as one of the most vital factors in the loss of culture and ethnicity: "language isn't just a body of vocabulary, it's a flash of the human spirit...the vehicle through which the soul of each culture comes into the material world." He says that every two weeks a language dies. Today, of the 6,000 linguistic groups still alive in the world, some are spoken by such minuscule numbers of people that less than 0.2% of the world's population speaks half of our languages. The loss of traditional communication is a slippery slope toward the assimilation, acculturation, and possibly eventual annihilation of indigenous peoples.

Ten years ago, the phenomenon of language loss was largely regarded as an inevitable consequence of modernization. Davis notes that traditional societies were often seen as failed attempts at modernity, best to be left in history. The threats to local languages arise from discrimination by government and majority populations, which led indigenous citizens - especially the younger members - to choose mainstream assimilation in order to advance socio-economically. This led to a generational divide where elders were no longer passing language down to their youth. But culture is not static, no matter how ancient it is, and in recent years a new force for the preservation of languages has emerged and strengthened. Largely through the widespread facility of telecommunication, indigenous groups from around the world began to converse and realize that they face the same threats from Australia to Peru to North America. These commonalities have led to the unity amongst threatened communities and a global struggle to adapt technology to their reality. Today this movement has become full-force, and even the United Nations has taken notice by declaring 2008 the "International Year of Languages."

With this recognition that multi-lingualism is an important part of our society, many tools have emerged to preserve endangered languages. Using simple digital recording, local communities can record conversations, stories and songs to then send via e-mail or upload online. One of the biggest tasks in making the internet a more inclusive tool has been to translate browsers into minority languages. This has been especially important in Africa, where the inequality that has increased with globalization is so visible. By making the web more accessible, and therefore more democratic, education is improved by allowing more people to master basic computer skills which then spurs them to continue to enhance local language content, increasing the diversity of voices expressed online. This also has implications for traditional cultures that were historically held in low-esteem and seen as contrary to development. Enlace Quiche is an organization that is creating information communication technologies (ICTs) to train intercultural and bilingual educators in Guatemala. They have developed an online vocabulary in the local language, K'iche', and have found that when children use computers in their native language, "the lessons learned go far beyond mastering basic computer skills. Students are learning that their indigenous language and culture are a vital part of their society."

With the growth of esteem within native communities, the rising generation has sought out ways to merge their grandparents' traditions with the universal youth culture that they are surrounded by. One format that has lent itself with facility to indigenous youth is hip hop, which is all the more easily accessible and transmittable with new forms of global telecommunications on the web. In Africa, there was a period where hip hop thrived merely imitating American gangsta rap, using English slang and profanities. Today we see the emergence of hip hop that relates more to the realities of Africans, and with this the expanding use of local languages in the music. Often the fusion of native dialects with English and French creates wholly new vocabularies, which also has the effect of reviving and incorporating older, dying languages into modern society. In similar vein, Local Noise is a site funded by the Australian Research Council that focuses on Australian hip hop. They found that the storytelling aspects and multicultural roots of hip hop give it particular strength to be adapted to the aboriginal context. In "Indigenising Hip-Hop," one female MC talks about the ease in relating the four essential elements of hip hop to her Fijian traditions: DJing is like alali drumming; graffiti like cave painting; MCing is like her grandfather's public speaking around the kava bowl; and breakdancing is like traditional Fijian dance. Today there are numerous blogs, record labels, festivals and competitions dedicated to promoting native hip hop and cultural exchange. While often times the listeners cannot understand the language that the musician is rapping in, they comprehend the subject because they too have lived through such experiences.

As the International Year of Languages comes to a close, the evolving inclusiveness of the web and the capitalization of this trend by native communities is hopeful. While it remains to be seen if this will stem the disappearance of languages, the mere global concentration on preservation seems to be reversing the trend. With the rising recognition that encouraging the development of multi-cultural, multi-lingual citizens is beneficial for not only traditional communities but also for overall progress of the nation-state, the youngest generation around the world is in the perfect situation to pursue this potential. They no longer need to choose between modernization and the customs of their ancestors, between globalization and traditions. By beginning to view cultures as a dynamic, progressive entity we can promote preservation of endangered societies rather than leaving them to the history books.

Democratizing Knowledge: A List of Online Resources for Young Activists

Using search tools on the internet can sometimes feel like hunting for a needle in a haystack. The plethora of information can be daunting, and it is often difficult to know whether a site has academic authority, biases, or hidden motives. With this in mind, I decided to create a list of online resources to supplement my posts. I focused on sites created by and for young people, and the sheer number of pages that I sorted through (and their overall quality and diversity) is inspiring. I ended up with the following list by applying Webby and IMSA criteria to judge each blog or site based on content, functionality, interactivity, navigation and visual design, keeping in mind that many of these sites are geared toward the young technological generation. I have added all of the links to my linkroll (on the left) and will also discuss them here.

I would like to begin with a site that I often use for my own research and whose content really cannot be beat. Global Voices Online is a non-profit founded at Harvard University that features blogs and articles written by credible authors around the world who are normally marginalized from mainstream media, and utilizes a network of volunteers to translate dozens of languages daily. The site is easy to use, with articles sorted by region and topic. It does not have many graphics or tools that may distract from the great content, although this also limits reader interaction with the site. Another, more specialized news source is WireTap Online Magazine, which is created by and for youth on national news and culture. WireTap has well-researched, diverse content using videos, blogs and stories. The graphics are complementary to the content, and even the advertisements on the sidebars are for youth voting organizations!

As the premier organization in the international community, the UN created Youth and The United Nations, which contains information on all of their programs that focus on youth, lists internships, ways to get involved, and relevant links from every region in the world. It is straightforward and simple, but important nonetheless. Two of the United Nations topic-specific programs also have sites geared toward kids, the UN Environmental Program's Tunza initiative and UNICEF's Voices of Youth. Both represent the UN's long-term strategy to engage children and contain information on what the UN and people around the world are doing. While both are quite basic, UNICEF's "e-consultation" is particularly noteworthy by giving young visitors a much needed voice on many issues. Another influential non-profit is the International Youth Foundation, which focuses on the holistic development of the world's rising generation. Like the UN sites, IYF has a lot of information from the field, but mostly publicizes its own programs. Mercy Corps' extremely well-designed page on their global engagement initiatives also has a wealth of information for those interested in global development (see image above of their Global Envision Online Magazine). All of these sites are important in the intellectual and policy circles, but may not appeal to young people simply because they appear to have been created by adults. However, there are many organizations run by young people. One example is the Global Youth Partnership for Africa, which was founded by a 22 year-old American and a 31 year-old Ugandan with the mission to foster understanding between rising American and African leaders through engagement. While largely self-promotional, this web page contains many ways to get involved for budding activists. Another organization, The Freechild Project, strives to aid and celebrate change led by young people around the world. It has pages with lists of resources that represent "guerilla research" that grows out of the community. While this site is more "grassroots," it lacks interaction and excitement with its basic layout and few graphics.

Western universities have been the leaders in the link between technology, media, and social change. One initiative is MIT's Center for Future Civic Media, which is essentially a blog whose posts present innovations in the field of media and technology. Yet its plain white background and lack of graphics reveal its academic origins and make it pretty dry. A much more interactive site in the US is GenerationEngage, a non-partisan initiative that seeks to give young Americans information to engage them in the political process. They do this through video-conferences and informative videos that are posted online and which you can download onto your iPod. The site is at the forefront of technology, but its primary target audience, young people who are not attending college and tend to be less engaged, may have a hard time navigating through such a complex site. Video-conferences are an example of the rise in global telecommunications, which has also facilitated the creation of social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook. The youth culture associated with these sites tends to have a negative connotation, but the socially-conscious networks I found illustrate an active response to such criticisms. One example, YouthNoise, claims to be a MySpace for those with "deeper interests than Paris Hilton's wardrobe." Its cluttered format may make the site difficult to navigate for those over-18, also a problem on The Global Youth Fund. GYF improves by providing interactive tools such as polls and an "idea bank." The site's advanced level of graphics is seen in its beautiful YouTube promo video. In similar vein, Taking IT Global is a networking site that is easier to tap into, and with membership you get access to IT tools, discussion boards, and lists of global events. Its legitimacy is derived from partnerships with the UN, NGOs and corporations.

One of the most striking characteristics of social activism online is the sheer creativity in the ways that people are creating change. Inspired by the politically-conscious rap in Senegal, undergrad Ben Herson created the Nomadic Wax Global Hip-Hop Blog, full of cutting-edge graphics (see image on left), that focuses on hip-hop from the Palestine to Laos and Brazil. The Global Action Project also promotes arts and social change around the world, and supports itself by selling exceptional videos created by its young members on the site. Even the short clips are worth a visit. While not focusing explicitly on youth, National Geographic's All Roads Film Project promotes documentary filmmaking as a medium to enhance indigenous culture. I Buy Different is an environmentally-focused site that teaches young consumers how to make a difference just by buying differently. Like all of these youth-led sites, it is especially interactive with striking design. MobileActive.org focuses on the cell-phone and its 3 billion users worldwide to create social impact. It is a basic blog, but puts into focus another innovative topic that is below the radar of mainstream media.

I would like to end with one of the best examples of young people using technology for social change. MidEast Youth is a student-owned, unfunded network that promotes constructive dialogue within the Middle East and Northern Africa. It is homegrown, and uses freedom of expression to create social change in a region were speech is often censored, stereotypes abound, and minority voices are suppressed. Its simplicity gives an air of academia to a blog created by youth, which has given it credibility in the international community. The components of the site and overall content relate to different issues that the authors face, from interfaith to sex to comics. It is one of the best and most inspiring examples that I found that shows the true potential of youth putting technology to good use.

From Woodstock to Worldstock: International Music Festivals and their Effect on the Global Youth Culture

This Sunday at sunset, the Santa Monica beach just south of the pier was taken over by a Brazilian priestess praising the ocean in Yoruba followed by women in white throwing offerings of flowers into the sea and West African drummers keeping the beat. It was the culmination of the two-week long Los Angeles World Festival of Sacred Music. Anyone who happened to stumble across it would have a hard time processing the stark contrasts between the bikini-clad tourists snapping photos and the sanctity of these Brazilian elder women honoring the age-old fisherman's tradition of offering gifts to Iemenja, the revered goddess of the

sea (see image at right) . The festival's vision states that music is a way to transcend borders of all kinds: linguistic, national, religious, ideological, racial and cultural. Indeed, music can be considered the most universal agent of globalization, as telecommunication techniques have increased our ability to share music with peers around the world. Despite such positive aspects of globalization, the scene I saw on the beach in Santa Monica also made me think about the deeper consequences of the global exchange of traditions and musical manifestations. Through international music festivals, the Western ability to import "exotic" and often enlightening art mediums from abroad is assymetrically balanced by our export of the MTV and rap cultures. Indeed, blogger Andrew Woolford of the Phuzion Magazine blog was quite baffled by the violence that American hip hop apparently inspired on the island of Trinidad as well as the influence that our hip hop culture has on the diamond industry in Western Africa.

Inspired by the impact that the World Festival of Sacred Music had on me, I decided to scour the blogosphere for the opinions of other young bloggers on international music festivals and open dialogue with them by commenting on their posts. The first post that interested me is on a blog called al Maktabah. It is written by a young Muslim on the reactions in Morocco to the ever-increasing international music festivals. It is an example of how some youth abroad may feel about the export of Western music (and culture). The second blog I commented on is from the perspective of young American hip hop afficionados on the site Flight 808, a blog that focuses on branching out from the local hip hop scene to broaden perspectives on the "diversity and talent amongst foreign hip hop artists." The article, on an international hip hop festival at Trinity University in Hartford, Connecticut, is a good example of the influences that global music-in this case mostly African hip hop-has on American youth. Both of these posts captured my attention becuase they revolve around transnational communication between young people through the mediums of music and culture. I have included my comments below.

"Bread and circuses versus the class of ignorance; Moroccan state's promotion of cultural festivals hangs from a political skeleton"

Comment:

I would like to thank you for your fair, objective reporting on the music festivals in the Middle East. I have also noticed a growing occurrence of such international music festivals here in the United States, and have often wondered about the social effects they leave in other parts of the world.

It seems as though global music festivals in the West increasingly have positive themes of peace and global activism, leaving the young people who attend them with a more open, worldly, and enlightened perspective. I was curious if the Moroccan government has made any effort to include musicians from around the world with positive messages. I often worry that the negative aspects of Western culture are perpetrated through mainstream media, so I hope that a focus on positive messages from global musicians could off-set the negative image created by such aspects of American culture.

In regard to religious backlash against the festivals, do you believe that there is anything that the government could do to stem these criticisms? For example, you mention that the budget of just one such festival is $3.18 million, and that is contrasted with the sprawling slums as background to the festival and the high unemployment amongst Morocco's youth. Is the amount of money spent on such cultural activities further marginalizing Morocco's poor, more traditionally Islamic groups? Is there a way that they could incorporate a donation or service component to the festivals that would heighten concert-goers attention to the country's social issues?

My final question regards the participation of young citizens in organizing music festivals. It is clear that in Morocco, the governmental elite are the sole organizers leaving little room for suggestions from the main consumers, the youth themselves. On MideastYouth.com, I read an article about an underground Iranian music festival that is disseminated through the internet. Because the event is organized through grassroots youth movements, it seems to have a lot of legitimacy amongst Iranian youth and to be creating a new social movement. In response to the government authority over the music festivals in Morocco and Jordan, have the young people searched for alternative forms of expression and legitimacy in regards to music? Maybe something that goes beyond just fun and relates back to their day-to-day lives and issues?

Again, thank you for such a well-researched post on a rarely-reported topic.

"African Hip Hop, Represent"

Comment:

I would like to commend you all on a well-rounded, informative website on global hip hop, a phenomenon that is rapidly seeping into youth cultural spheres around the world.

I have been researching global music festivals, in particular with regards to the exportation of American music to the rest of the world. I agree with you when you say that the American influence of their money sex, and violence ethos has perpetuated around the globe (see the photo on the left that shows an African man wearing a t-shirt with the image of rapper 50 Cent holding a gun), and I was glad to see that young hip hop lovers have come up to a response to such a culture. I hope that learning about the African tendency to focus of social and political activism in their hip hop will now influence young Americans to begin to change the image of hip hop culture, while at the same time supporting global artists in their national struggles advanced through music.

Around the world, people are taking notice of the power of youth culture and music. The United Nations has established an African Hip Hop Summit, acknowledging the belief that music speaks louder than words and the youths role in shaping their country's future.

In response to your post about the festival and the overall focus of this blog, I was curious what you recommend young Americans in the music community do to change our image abroad. It seems as though mainstream Western culture is increasingly marginalizing traditional communities and creating antipathy toward American citizens as well. Seeing as there is such an extensive underground network of young Americans supporting socially responsible music, how can we use the telecommunications mediums that we have access to to even the playing field amongst our peers across the globe?

Again, thank you for your post and your efforts in the field.