By Bianca Hillier, The Weeek, 9 May, 2021 An organization called Ulum Dalska, based in a small Swedish town called Älvdalen, is on a mission. For decades, members have been working hard to help save a language called Elfdalian, a remnant of Old Norse. “We had our first meeting on the 1st of June in 1984,” …
A small town in Sweden fights to preserve a dying forest language Read More »
By Dan Hicks, The Guardian, 7 May, 2021. Let’s be open to the idea of returning stolen cultural objects, and remaking international relationships with honesty The dead don’t bury themselves. This is one of the first lessons that every student of archaeology must learn. A grave is never evidence of some Pompeii moment, a freeze-frame …
Decolonising museums isn’t part of a ‘culture war’. It’s about keeping them relevant Read More »
By Aja Romano, Vox, 5 May, 2021. How the concept has evolved to mean different things to different people. “Cancel culture,” as a concept, feels inescapable. The phrase is all over the news, tossed around in casual social media conversation; it’s been linked to everything from free speech debates to Mr. Potato Head. It sometimes seems all-encompassing, as …
By Hongling Zhang, SupChina, 9 april, 2021. Wang Xiaobo’s translator writes about the enduring cult status of this important Chinese writer, who still remains obscure outside his home country. In some ways, Wang is more necessary now than ever. Considered one of the most important literary and intellectual figures of 20th-century China, Wáng Xiǎobō …
The yin and yang worlds of a Chinese literary outlier Read More »
By Donavyn Coffey, Wired, 28, April 2021. Te Hiku Media gathered huge swathes of Māori language data. Corporates are now trying to get the rights to it In March 2018, Peter-Lucas Jones and the ten other staff at Te Hiku Media, a small non-profit radio station nestled just below New Zealand’s most northern tip, …
Māori are trying to save their language from Big Tech Read More »
By Dr. Rakesh Sihna, The Indian Express, April 16, 2021. RSS has not allowed itself to be a closed institution, which is why its quest for commonalities brings it closer to even those who disregarded and disagreed with it. The newly elected general secretary of the RSS, Dattatreya Hosabale, said something that indicates a …
An Indianness about shared values and culture as a mode of resistance Read More »
By Dr. David Schmidtchen The collective response of the Australian Public Service (APS) to the COVID-19 pandemic was managerially, structurally, and collectively comprehensive. The threat was immediate and tangible, and the response was quick and decisive. APS leaders drew deeply from the well of workplace culture for the resilience to respond quickly to changing circumstances. But …
The hybrid workplace raises the question of culture Read More »
By Louis Menand A brave band of scholars set out to save us from racism and sexism. What happened? Not that long ago, Margaret Mead was one of the most widely known intellectuals in America. Her first book, “Coming of Age in Samoa,” published in 1928, when she was twenty-six, was a best-seller, and for …
A group of Inuit women gather around a table over cups of coffee and speak to each other in a language that is expected to vanish over the next two generations. The women live in Cambridge Bay in western Nunavut. They’re speaking Inuinnaqtun, a dialect of Inuktut, while recording a podcast for the Kitikmeot Heritage …
‘It’s a part of who we are’: Inuit work to revitalize endangered dialect Read More »
Les robots aspirateurs, les tasers des forces de l’ordre ou encore Skype: tout cela, Henry De Gorsse l’avait imaginé il y a un siècle! Vous vous êtes peut-être déjà demandé comment on imaginait le futur -et en l’occurrence le monde d’aujourd’hui- il y a un siècle? “En l’an 2020 ou la merveilleuse aventure de Benjamin Pirouette” nous …
Cette pièce de théâtre qui imaginait 2020 il y a 100 ans était vraiment visionnaire Read More »
