VOVA Updates and Milestones

Indigenous languages are indeed the oldest languages to have been maintained in tight connection to an original habitat and social organization. They are languages that are tied to the ecosystems occupied by their speakers, with no internal break from the values of ancestral traditions. They transmit knowledge of living organisms, of the interdependence of cohabited life systems, and of atmospheric tendencies and caprices: of such matters that modern mainstream languages refer to as scientific. These matters make up the everyday issues and activities of indigenous communities that inhabit biodiversity hotspots of our shared planet. Indigenous communities have lived in harmony with the environment and have enjoyed prosperity in nature's gifts. It is commonly acknowledged today that their voices carry urgent messages, seeking to protect the life-giving properties of Earth.

Indigenous lifestyles that have not been grossly disrupted by global market demands and constraints reflect histories that reach back to sustainable developments of community social practices. Practicing community-centered relationships and occupations, indigenous peoples connect with each other in meaningful ways that have been lost to the highly individuated, census-documented household dweller. Communities that practice the oral traditions of their ancestors transmit histories of their social organization, of technological developments, and of ethical codes, in addition to narratives of all types, to their children and grandchildren. Such transmission is carried out through formal and informal types of verbal discourse genres. Such practice of historical documentation includes honoring the voices of ancestry and reinforcing the tight bond of social connection that strengthens community life.

Lastly, but far from least, the practice of vocal and verbal art traditions is nothing less than a celebration of communication itself. Poetic expression in everyday social life as well as in ritual practice strengthens the human bond both spiritually and materially. It connects minds through the sounds and symbols of traditional meanings, while its fluid nature gives rise to collectively innovated meanings. As in all cultures, poetry is a practice of language that pays tribute to the very existence of language itself. It is a celebration of the mysterious properties of sound and metaphoric power that is at the root of linguistic experience within a community. In oral traditions, language is not disconnected from the breath of life, and it is not removed in time from the immediate social experience of communicating. It is anchored in social life itself.

The complexities of indigenous languages, cultures, and lifestyles cannot be reduced to the ritualized storing and transmission of knowledge, history, and poetry. Nor can mainstream languages, coinciding with techno-economic based cultures and lifestyles, be reduced to the institutionalized practices of science, documenting, and publishing. These phenomena, however, are very much a part of how we organize our societies on a micro- and micro-level. They are core matrices that serve to make us human. And it is in these matrices that we invest some of our most valuable resources.

Differing strategies for storing knowledge, history, and poetry are not in themselves oppositional. Moreover, they can be mutually beneficial. Science has much to learn from indigenous knowledge of living organisms and life processes as we all seek solutions to the climate crisis of our day. The technocrat also has much to learn from the spoken word of indigenous poetic practices. Indigenous peoples, likewise, have much to gain from mainstream languages and digitized data, both for documenting languages and cultures and for strengthening their voices for political representation.

Indigenous voices matter because they have survived the pressures and the violence of so much of what has led us to the environmental and economic crises that we face today. Indigenous voices call forth ancestral solutions based on longstanding values and practices as well as on sound historical narrative. Indigenous voices not only matter, they are essential to planetary sustainability. Not only for their ecological knowledge, their records of human history, and their anthologies of poetry, but also because they are an integral part of our one humanity. Our very connectedness is the starting point for implementing winning solutions for the future of our planet. If for no other reason, indigenous voices matter as an integral part of Earth's chorus that documents and celebrates our longstanding humanity.

Ces rencontres proposent, en abordant quelques exemples sur un territoire très vaste - se déployant de la Chine à l'Asie du Sud-Est continentale et insulaire - une réflexion anthropologique et comparative entre divers systèmes de pensée et d'esthétique liés à la construction de la mémoire.

Au cours de trois journées d'étude (1 journée/trimestre avec 5 intervenants par séance), seront abordées la description et l'analyse formelle de diverses activités mémorielles.

L'ethnologie, l'histoire, l'ethnographie de la parole, la pragmatique, la poétique, la muséographie, l'ethno-scénologie, le cinéma seront convoqués et permettront de faire apparaître les traits distinctifs, les codes, les structures et le sens de ces représentations dans les différentes cultures considérées.