That word, right on the tip of my tongue

A talk about linguistic imperialism and the community efforts of language revival, including a collective mind mapping session where participants are free to discuss and reflect on all of their language frustrations.

Longer description: native tongues defiant started as a BA graduation project exploring language activism in circles of indigenous groups and ethnic minorities from russia and took a form of a zine with interviews of language activists and popularizers. The conversations included thoughts on language endangerment and the threat of extinction, how communities and grassroots organizations attempt to preserve the languages even in immigration, and how language carries cultural memory and the sense of one’s identity and belonging.

Now the project continues as a series of talks and discussions aimed at connecting other minority language speakers, people from the communities that suffered from linguistic imperialism, immigrants, refugees and anyone else interested in languages with the hope of motivating people to reconnect to their heritage languages and/or starting more grassroots initiatives dedicated to preserving and transferring languages.