Talk story about enriching indigenous languages, cultures and identities

Telling our stories from the past, reclaiming our past, giving testimony to the injustices of the past are all strategies which are commonly employed by indigenous peoples struggling for justice. On the international scene it is extremely rare and unusual when indigenous accounts are accepted and acknowledged as valid interpretations of what has taken place. And yet, the need to tell our stories remains the powerful imperative of a powerful form of resistance. .Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples This paper explores a variety of issues relevant to indigenous peoples who wish to preserve and enrich their languages and cultures. It is based on a cooperative project between the Department of Education on the island of Kosrae in the Federated States of Micronesia and Shonan Institute of Technology in Fujisawa, Japan. Kosrae has a population of approximately 8,000 living on island and another 2,000 living and working on Guam, in Hawaii and the US mainland, as well as serving in the US armed forces. The people of Kosrae wish to preserve and build upon their language and culture, but with a limited educational budget and virtually all textbooks imported from the US mainland, it is difficult to produce sufficient materials in the first language. The issues addressed in this paper include (1) the responsibility of former colonizing powers (Spain, Germany, Japan and the US in the case of Kosrae), in preserving indigenous cultures; (2) the role of local people in overcoming the legacy of colonialism, and where funding should come from; (3) the kinds of decolonizing methodologies that can be used to recreate ones culture, history and traditions, and (4) how Pacific Island and other indigenous peoples can interact with exploited workers from First World nations in this process (particularly given the fact that many islanders are now included in these numbers as migrant laborers). Finally, this paper is written in the Pacific Island oral tradition of a "talk story" in order to give greater voice to indigenous beliefs, values and forms of communication.Telling our stories from the past, reclaiming our past, giving testimony to the injustices of the past are all strategies which are commonly employed by indigenous peoples struggling for justice. On the international scene it is extremely rare and unusual when indigenous accounts are accepted and acknowledged as valid interpretations of what has taken place. And yet, the need to tell our stories remains the powerful imperative of a powerful form of resistance. .Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples This paper explores a variety of issues relevant to indigenous peoples who wish to preserve and enrich their languages and cultures. It is based on a cooperative project between the Department of Education on the island of Kosrae in the Federated States of Micronesia and Shonan Institute of Technology in Fujisawa, Japan. Kosrae has a population of approximately 8,000 living on island and another 2,000 living and working on Guam, in Hawaii and the US mainland, as well as serving in the US armed forces. The people of Kosrae wish to preserve and build upon their language and culture, but with a limited educational budget and virtually all textbooks imported from the US mainland, it is difficult to produce sufficient materials in the first language. The issues addressed in this paper include (1) the responsibility of former colonizing powers (Spain, Germany, Japan and the US in the case of Kosrae), in preserving indigenous cultures; (2) the role of local people in overcoming the legacy of colonialism, and where funding should come from; (3) the kinds of decolonizing methodologies that can be used to recreate ones culture, history and traditions, and (4) how Pacific Island and other indigenous peoples can interact with exploited workers from First World nations in this process (particularly given the fact that many islanders are now included in these numbers as migrant laborers). Finally, this paper is written in the Pacific Island oral tradition of a "talk story" in order to give greater voice to indigenous beliefs, values and forms of communication