The languages ​​of the colonies and indigenous peoples..a cultural movement to revive the ancient languages ​​of Latin America

Spoken languages ​​are not only a way to communicate, but express multiple ways of seeing the world, and despite the presence of more than 7,000 living languages ​​in the world, the dangers of the disappearance and extinction of nearly half of these languages ​​at the end of this century - according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) - threatens Through the loss of different and distinct worldviews, as well as the loss of human knowledge contained in those ancient languages.

Despite the growing awareness of Indigenous issues around the world, few still regard the wealth of knowledge of Indigenous peoples with respect and appreciation for much of their culture, including their languages ​​and sciences, since the era of geographical exploration and colonization of the "New World" in the Americas, Australia and New Zealand.

The Atlas of World Languages ​​in Danger of Disappearance, issued by the United Nations, reveals that a language becomes extinct every two weeks, and this means that 25 languages ​​become extinct annually, and although the future and fate of these languages, as well as the fate of hundreds of others, seems bleak, specialized linguists and language lovers around the world are making efforts to preserve these languages. Languages ​​that struggle to survive in human speech.

Latin America

Across Latin America, millions of people speak indigenous languages, which the United Nations classifies as endangered.

Amerigo Mendoza Mori, an academic and lecturer in Latin studies in the United States, seeks to help these peoples revive their indigenous cultures and languages, away from marginalization or ready-made stereotypes.

Writer Nikki Rojas says, in a report published by the Harvard Gazette, the official newspaper of the prestigious American Harvard University, that Mendoza Mori's activity in the field of Latin culture in the United States and in the life of Latin communities in this country made him notice the lack of business Academic and research papers have been completed on indigenous languages ​​that still depend mainly on oral tradition.

This researcher became particularly interested in the Quechua language, which was spoken by the Inca civilization and is still spoken by 8 million people in the Andes mountain range on the west coast of South America.

The Inca civilization ruled the western coast of South America since the beginning of the 12th century AD and for hundreds of years controlled the vast lands stretching from Columba to Chile. The Incas are known as a mysterious empire that was the most developed society in the Americas before the arrival of the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus in 1492 AD

Morey says, "There is a social movement for speakers of this language who not only seek to preserve it because it is threatened with extinction, but seek to build a complete cultural movement to revive it, and this movement is not only in the Andes, but also among the various spectra of Latin communities on the territory of the United States."

Mendoza Mori hopes that universities and research centers will devote more attention to indigenous languages, so that there will be additional opportunities for researchers and students interested in this field, and awareness of these peoples will increase.

"We understand that not many people can attend the lessons of the Quechua language or the culture of the indigenous peoples, but we strive for this to be as natural as attending lessons in other fields of knowledge," he continues.

Colonial languages

"Indigenous studies and their languages ​​must be made part of the academic infrastructure, just as the languages ​​of the colonizers were made a tool for the production of knowledge in the past. There is good reason why speakers of these indigenous languages ​​detest the languages ​​and culture of the colonizers, they felt that their ancestral culture was undermining," Mendoza adds. .

Mendoza Mori points out that academia still carries a colonial legacy, and is based on a specific organizational structure, which sends negative messages to many cultures and communities.

He adds that most academics treated indigenous cultures as a thing of the past, instead of focusing on the current success of these peoples in resisting changes, achieving prosperity despite the surrounding circumstances, and seeking to engage in contemporary dialogues at the national and global levels.

Indigenous cultures

The writer points out that these indigenous peoples have finally received an important boost in the arena of social networks and digital technologies, in a way that denies that these cultures are limited to history books.

For example, the famous “Tik Tok” entertainment platform has spread content makers who know the culture and languages ​​of the indigenous peoples, by relying on the “#Native_tik_tok” hashtag, which has gained billions of views.

Mendoza Mori believes that academic institutions and international organizations such as the United Nations can play an important role in providing a platform for these languages, customs and traditions so that they obtain the necessary recognition.

For example, this Peruvian activist and researcher points out that the United Nations declared 2019 the year of the international celebration of indigenous languages ​​and decided to make 2022 the beginning of the decade of indigenous languages, and these two designations represent an opportunity to raise awareness of these cultures.

Mendoza Mori's work is not limited to these languages, but also examines the complex nature of the cultural identities of the various components of the Latino community in the American lands, and the inequality and injustice they may suffer in the United States.

In this context, he presents a lesson on the Latin indigenous peoples, focusing on races, immigration, rights, and stereotypical ideas about Latinos, which put them all in one basket, regardless of their races, languages, and legal status in American lands.

Mendoza Mori says, "There is an idea that has begun to spread in South and North America, that Latinos have mixed with each other and have one stereotyped identity. But in fact the issue is more complicated, as the Latin heritage is diverse, and reducing it to one model leads to an underestimation of its value, which is the same mistake that African culture in the United States has been exposed to it."

As an example of such ready-made stereotypes, "Central American immigrants, who are descendants of the Mayan civilization, are referred to as Latin or Hispanic (cultures historically associated with Spain) even though they do not speak Spanish at all."

Mendoza Mori hopes that these lectures and research on Latin studies in the United States will enable Harvard University to participate in contemporary dialogues on cultural diversity, and encourage the display and celebration of this diversity.