The notion of reclaiming in the field of linguistic revitalization: considerations based on the Ethnology of indigenous peoples in Brazil

• Grant number: 25/00664-3
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Visiting Researcher Grant - Brazil
• Start date: March 01, 2025
• End date: November 30, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Anthropology - Indigenous Ethnology
• Principal Investigator: Danilo Paiva Ramos
• Grantee: Danilo Paiva Ramos
• Visiting researcher: Evandro de Sousa Bonfim
• Visiting researcher institution: Museu Nacional/Mn/Ufrj, Brazil
• Host Institution: Centro de Educação e Ciências Humanas (CECH). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

By means of a theoretical analysis of the notion of indigenous language reclaiming, this project aims to contribute to the consolidation of the field of linguistic revitalization studies in Brazil. We will approach the category reclaiming, currently used by several indigenous groups in the process of reaffirming and revitalizing their languages, as a broad concept that primarily encompasses work with indigenous languages ¿¿whose intergenerational transmission has been interrupted. In general, such interruptions are due to the colonial impact of Brazilian state monolingualism, which since the catechetical missions has managed ethnic and linguistic difference through political centralization in a single, monolingual nation-state, with different strategies for decreasing linguistic diversity. Based on a typological exercise, we will understand how the revival of indigenous languages ¿¿also corresponds to contemporary processes of ethnic and territorial revival, in which revitalization is linked to an ethnic reassertion historically questioned by the colonial administration. (AU)