Persistence in Indigenous language work during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Through the COVID-19 pandemic, Indigenous communities have persisted in Indigenous language revitalization and reclamation efforts. This research utilized a scan of social media, a survey, and interviews, conducted in the summer and fall of 2020 and primarily focused on Canada, to explore: What shifts to support Indigenous language work occurred during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic? and What were the impacts of these shifts on Indigenous language revitalization and reclamation? This article discusses six cross-cutting themes: (a) shifting and adapting language work to ensure community health and safety, (b) building capacity to make necessary shifts and adaptations, (c) facing challenges in shifting online, (d) promoting Indigenous languages online and in community, (e) creating and sharing language resources as alternative or increased activity, and (f) (re-)envisioning language education and pedagogy in a pandemic time. These themes exemplify Indigenous persistence in Indigenous language revitalization and reclamation work during the pandemic.

Across the Cyberwaves: Twitter Campaigns forGaeilge

“…begins, during which production capability and digital activism have been identified as key to language revitalization (UNESCO, 2019, 2021). Again, however, we must be cautious as each indigenous language occupies a unique historical, political, and sociolinguistic context; online participation in a given language may therefore occur for different reasons and with different consequences (e.g., Chew, 2021). While interaction with a hashtag reflects a significant achievement in terms of campaign coordination and implementation, as well as a strong sense of identification with the aims of the campaign, how and whether this contributes to language maintenance and revitalization in a more general sense is unclear.…”

Filling Information Gap on Covid-19 Pandemic Using Proverbs and Figurative Language: Lilaphalapha Facebook Page Lesotho

“…The government purposely created this initiative to educate people early about the virus because ill-knowledge could have strangled an already suffering health systems in the country. We argue that the use of indigenous language during this time was relevant, as this initiative strives for indigenous languages revitalization and reclamation (Chew et al, 2022). During this period, social media users exponentially resorted to social media platforms to share and acquire knowledge about this novel viral disease.…”