Blackwell Reference Online

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One of the distinctive features of North American anthropology is that the study of language has been seen as central to the enterprise for nearly a century. And the study of American Indian languages has been a central focus, both in the early years when Franz Boas and his students undertook a project of “salvage” ethnography and linguistics, and in recent years when a substantial portion of grammatical description, language pedagogy, and literacy training has occurred under the rubric of “endangered languages.” This project of describing traditional languages and cultures for science, or, more recently, in alliance with Indian peoples wanting to save their traditional languages, has generated a massive amount of research and publication. As critics have noted of anthropology more generally ( Clifford and Marcus, 1986 ), this research tradition on language has been characterized by scientific condescension, as well as a laudable concern to understand and document forms of life stigmatized in the general society; an avoidance of recognition of (colonial) politics and history, coupled with a liberal desire to “help Indians”; and an unreflective relation to its own research practice, despite some notable individual exceptions. This scholarly legacy will not, however, be my focus in this chapter, for purposes of either exposition or criticism (those interested should consult the edited ... log in or subscribe to read full text