Empowering indigenous communities through linguistics: What, Why, and How

Description

The masterclass will present the current status of various indigenous communities in some parts of the world in terms of social and political issues. It will then focus on specific indigenous peoples (IPs) and examine critically their situation with special attention to their identity, language, and culture. We will explore what have been done to revitalize the languages of these indigenous communities highlighting on how language has become a tool in their empowerment. Core questions in this masterclass include: How do the IPs perceive their language as a crucial part of their identity and culture? In what ways have they contributed in the preservation or revitalisation of their language? What initiatives have been carried out in preserving the indigenous knowledge and culture? How important is their language to them and to the future generations? Why do we need to know their situation? How can we contribute to the empowerment of these communities?

Bionote

Shirley N. Dita is Associate Professor in Applied Linguistics at De La Salle University, the Philippines. Over the years, Shirley has been involved in the corpus building and documentation of various Philippine languages. She works closely with her PhD students in documenting and revitalizing indigenous languages in the country and is a strong advocate of the Mother Tongue Based – Multilingual Education (MTBMLE). She is currently doing a project on revitalizing the oral language traditions and cultural practices of some indigenous Philippine languages.