The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy

/pdf/language-attitudes-in-a-primary-school-a-bottom-up-approach-39buecbzjk.pdf

Language attitudes in a primary school : a bottom-up approach to language education policy in Mozambique

In the preface to this passionately argued text, the author makes the political aspects of the
 work quite clear. She states that she hopes readers will “become angry, desperate,
 frustrated, as well as reflective, optimistic and eager to join me and others in demanding,
 suggesting, creating, and implementing change” (p. xv). This statement sets the tone for
 the entire book: a mixture of self-professed utopian thinking (p. 600) and clear-sighted accounts
 of actually existing conditions. Recognizing that a simple call for justice is not enough in a world
 dominated by transnational capitalism and marked by institutionalized inequities in power, the
 author admits that a human rights approach to linguistic issues will only work if there is also a
 redistribution of the world's resources. The book is thus a call to action on a variety of
 fronts.

Linguistic genocide in education – Or worldwide diversity and human rights? Tove Skutnabb-Kangas. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 2000. Pp. 785.

Black Athena Writes Back

Linguicide is a government act that illegalizes the use of a language. In Colombia, indigenous languages were illegalized in all but the most remote regions until 1991. While all indigenous languages were seriously affected, the Pijao language disappeared completely. In the generations that followed, the Pijao suffered an immediate change to their social identity as indigenous people and their recognition as an indigenous people. This study examines the nature of indigenous identity and language loss in the Pijao community in Natagaima. This investigation, through focus groups, examined the relationship between language loss and current Pijao indigenous identity in addition to current language use and the perceived causes of the linguicide. What was discovered is that indigenous identity is dependent on being othered in relation to colonist identity and that language is the most powerful tool of this othering. In removing language as a tool of othering and fore/backgrounding, the indigenous community suffers an immediate change in its social identity and a progressive weakening in the generations that follow the linguicide. Additionally, it created the largest list to date of Pijao and provides an analysis of current Natagaima Pijao speech. Finally, it examines the Pijao linguicide and examines the conclusion that the creation of the official Pijao reserves may have influenced in the disappearance of the Pijao language.

The Pijao of Natagaima: Post-Linguicide Indigenous Identity and Language

Media racism: Beyond modernity and postmodernity

This paper starts from the assumption that linguistic diversity, and more generally, cultural diversity, are intrinsically good. I will look at their opposites, linguistic and cultural poverty, and the current tendencies towards the latter within the globalization process. I will also briefly explore the relationship between human rights and cultural diversity, which may be viewed as somewhat problematic, but the emphasis will be on what I consider the essential aspect of that relationship, namely, the mutually reinforcing relationship be-tween rights and diversity, and between their opposites, human rights violations and cultural uniformity (cultural poverty). In this context, the issue of legislative protection and promotion of cultural diversity will be investigated from a global perspective. Finally, I wish to assess the roles of Africa and of Africanicity with regard to these issues.

/pdf/rights-versus-diversity-the-accelerated-extinction-of-35alofa8lg.pdf

Rights versus Diversity? The Accelerated Extinction of Languages and Cultures as an Aspect of Current Globalization Trends

Values and norms for communication expressed in the ancient Egyptian treatise, The Teachings of Ptahhotep, are compared to current regulatory communication standards, especially the IFJ Declaration...

Do we still adhere to the norms of ancient Egypt? A comparison of Ptahhotep’s communication ethics with current regulatory principles:

\n With a media anthropological-philosophical approach to ICT, four convergent developmental stages are distinguished and defined: pictography, ethography, phonography, and prography. They are invented/acquired in this sequence by human individuals as well as the human genus in general. Pictograms were first invented in forager cultures, ethograms in permanently settled village communities, phonograms in the early cities and civilizations of southwest Asia and northeast Africa, and electronic programs in a globalized society under North Atlantic domination. Print is considered as a corollary to phonography. Anthropological contextualization of technologies and institutions and the socio-politico-economic inclusivity and exclusivity of media are highlighted. Since the ‘agricultural revolution’, exclusive as well as inclusive media have accompanied humanity. Lately, inclusive potential has grown again through the accessibility, ubiquity, and convergent depth of prography. However, new challenges to inclusivity, including new forms of surveillance, weaponization of the media and widening wealth disparities, have materialized in the same context.

Developmental Stages of Information and Communication Technology

The eight largest global, non-governmental freedom of expression organisations are described and compared. They are: Article 19 — The International Centre Against Censorship; The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ); The International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX); Index on Censorship; The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ); The International Press Institute (IPI); Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) and the World Association of Newspapers (WAN). Each one has a unique approach to safe-guarding and promoting the freedom of expression, which may be seen as advantageous to the cause. They differ through partly diverging aims and goals as well as methods, organisational structure and publication and research. They are also constantly interconnected and co-ordinate their activities in various ways.

Anthony Löwstedt

Papers

Media racism: Beyond modernity and postmodernity

Rights versus Diversity? The Accelerated Extinction of Languages and Cultures as an Aspect of Current Globalization Trends

Do we still adhere to the norms of ancient Egypt? A comparison of Ptahhotep’s communication ethics with current regulatory principles:

Developmental Stages of Information and Communication Technology

Global Guardians of The Freedom of Expression