WORLD WE IMAGINE Part 1
A world I dare to imagine.
In 1952, a Russian linguist named Yuri Knorozov was able to crack the indecipherable Mayan glyphs, the Mayan writing system that was used by ancient Mayans for centuries. There was debate as to what the glyphs read and how one should read them. Sir John Eric Sidney Thompson, a British archaeologist and leading Mayan scholar at the time, had a staunch view on the Mayan glyphs and nobody dared to contradict his hypothesis, as he was seen as the authority in this scholarly field. Yuri, being behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War, was not greatly influenced by Sir John and didn't care about his authoritative ideas, he was in search of the truth. Yuri dared to go based on his intuition and came up with his own hypothesis on how to read the Mayan glyphs, one that was correct and is still used today.
Why am I saying this? I think it's great that we are becoming an ever connected world, one where trade and mutual cooperation is fostered. However, more often than not, the voices of the poor, the people from lesser economically developed countries, their voices get silenced by the main dominant voice, whether they are right or wrong. The cost of this interconnected world is an ever changing world where we are all converging into one singular person, the person that we believe the main dominant voice will approve of.
The world I dare to imagine is one where nobody is ashamed to speak Mayan or Navajo or Nahuatl, where having this cultural identity and wisdom is not shamed or berated, but rather exalted and recognized for its value. There is cultural and ancient wisdom stored in these languages and the pursuit of this interconnected world, I hypothesis, is what's causing us to lose these languages, these wisdoms. Did you know that all rubber comes from a native indigenous tree from the Amazon? Now it's grown worldwide (or attempted to), but it was the native amazonians that knew about this tree and its benefits before anybody else did. It took years to learn this about these properties of the trees whereas the indigenous people have known this for centuries. Imagine if that cultural knowledge was lost?
The world I dare to imagine is a world where we rebuilt the Library of Alexandria. One where we dedicate time to translate the scrolls from the Sakya Monastery in Tibet. One where we restore the House of Wisdom in Baghdad. Knowledge and language has been lost and the world I dare to imagine is one where we respect every peoples cultural knowledge and language and instead of destroying it, attempt to learn from it and preserve it.
I love the glimpse of historical context you provided. This is such an interesting and insightful idea and it seems like you're very passionate about it. My question is how you'd actually plan to achieve these goals and what do you envision the outcome would be?
ReplyDeleteWow, you really were able to paint a full picture with your storytelling!The way you connected Yuri Knorozov’s story to the broader issue of cultural erasure was incredibly thoughtful and powerful. I’m curious, if you were to take this vision one step further, what kind of initiative would you start as a stepping stool for preserving endangered languages and cultural knowledge?
ReplyDeleteThis is such a unique idea that I would have never thought of. I love how personal it was as well and the story you were able to tell us. I think connecting with the native people would be a great first step and ask them how they would like this to be done, learning from Jacqueline Novogratz's mistake.
ReplyDelete