More info, here

The United Nations declared 2019 as the International Year of Indigenous Languages and we are happy to join this commemoration. The Quechua program at the University of Pennsylvania continues its mission to strengthen the interdisciplinary network of scholars working in the promotion and research of Indigenous Languages.

The Symposium “Indigenous Languages Today” aims to provide a space to discuss research on Indigenous Languages of the Americas and current initiatives to promote them. We hope to engage with scholars and indigenous language advocates. This interdisciplinary symposium will be held as part of the University of Pennsylvania’s Week Celebration of Indigenous Languages.
 

Call for Papers: deadline for proposals August 11th, 2019

Presentations may be in English, Spanish and Indigenous Languages of the Americas (Quechua, Nahuatl, Zapotec, Dine, etc). Abstract submissions from any perspective and examining the Indigenous Languages of the Americas are welcome in English or Spanish, including but not restricted to: cultural studies, literature, language planning and policy, digital humanities, bilingual education, decolonization, colonial studies, anthropology, sociology, cultural heritage, linguistics, media studies, ethnomusicology, and history. Ideally, presentations shall engage with contemporary relevance of Indigenous Languages.

Please submit a document with a paper title, institution/organization affiliation, and 200-250 words abstract to Prof. Américo Mendoza-Mori at americo@sas.upenn.edu by August 11th, 2019. Responses will be made available by  to all who submitted on August 25th, 2019.
 

*The symposium is unable to offer travel funding or accommodations. 
More info, here

Debbie Rabinovich (C’19), Quechua student at Penn, was featured in this article about Less Commonly Taught languages. 

Check out The Daily Pennsylvanian's 34th Street Magazine website to learn about why Debbie decided to take Quechua, explore her heritage, and celebrate Indigenous knowledges.

"But Debbie also sees her Quechua class as part of a larger task of personal remembrance. When Mendoza–Mori took them to see the quipus at the Penn Museum, she remembers their guide talking about about their destruction by the Inquisition in the 16th century—about how the Spanish knew their value, and thus burned them. Since then, no one has been able to decipher their meaning. Debbie felt a heaviness as she looked at the knots. “My ancestors had their stories erased,” she says, and pauses. “And for me taking Quechua is a part of ... reclaiming indigeneity. Making that part of my heritage visible.”

Read the complete article, here:  https://bit.ly/2E2pisk