Cultural Survival Quarterly Magazine
The Last Word
This issue of Cultural Survival Quarterly focuses on one of the most critical yet little-known problems in the United States today: the rapid and catastrophic disappearance of Native American languages.Solidarity as Strong as Silk
The island nation of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean has a fomba, or proverb, that roughly translates, “While one silk thread is strong, many woven together are stronger.”Indigenous Rock Star Wins Lawsuit Against Aveda
Robby Romero, an Apache rock musician and indigenous rights activist whose band, Red Thunder, is a mainstay on MTV, has won a lawsuit against the cosmetics company Aveda. In the suit, Romero claimed that Aveda failed to compensate him for its “Indigenous” product line, which Romero developed as a means to raise funds to support grassroots Native American organizations.Declaration Held Hostage by African States
The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is being held hostage by a group of African states that do not want to recognize that there are indigenous peoples in Africa.‘Aha Pūnana Leo
I ka ‘ōlelo nō ke ola, i ka ‘ōlelo nō ka make. In language there is life, in language there is death.Documentation or Implementation
When it comes to saving native languages, linguists and small native communities would seem to be natural partners. But beneath the surface, the demands of the academy and the needs of the community constitute separate agendas.Small Talk
Even though there are clear methods to revive an endangered language, they can’t always readily be applied. Unfortunately, the tribes with the most severely endangered languages are often the ones least able to implement rescue efforts.The Heart of the Matter
In the 1800s the U.S. government designated what is now Oklahoma as Indian Territory and began moving tribes from other areas to the territory to make way for white expansion. That history gives the state a unique position: it has more Indian tribes than any other state and thus more languages at risk.On the Brink
An overview of the disappearance of America’s first languages: how it happened and what we need to do about it.Language Advocates Seek $10 Million in Federal Appropriations
Native Americans from across the country gathered in Washington, D.C., on June 4 and 5, 2007, to lobby Congress to appropriate $10 million for the Esther Martinez Native American Language Preservation Act, which was unanimously passed by the House and Senate in December.A Language Out of Time
Five hundred years ago, the Wampanoag people received a prophecy. It said that the Wampanoag would not be able to keep their language, but that a group of Wampanoag people would leave southern New England taking with them a pipe containing the spirit of language. One day, according to the prophecy, a woman in the East would welcome the language home.