Language documentation and revitalization among the Siona of the Putumayo, Colombia: the potential of digitization for the social life of ethnographic material

This paper discusses an ongoing project of documentation and language revitalization among the Siona of the Putumayo, Colombia, and evaluates the potential of the return of audio recordings from the 1970s in digital format. Recognition of the potential of this material has been mixed and raises comp...

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Main Author: Esther Jean Langdon
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Société des américanistes 2020-12-01
Series:Journal de la Société des Américanistes
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/jsa/18933
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author Esther Jean Langdon
author_facet Esther Jean Langdon
author_sort Esther Jean Langdon
collection DOAJ
description This paper discusses an ongoing project of documentation and language revitalization among the Siona of the Putumayo, Colombia, and evaluates the potential of the return of audio recordings from the 1970s in digital format. Recognition of the potential of this material has been mixed and raises complex questions about the limits and benefits of modern technology to preserve the social life of oral literature. Local social and political organization and the politics of cultural survival determine how the material is perceived and possibilities of collaboration. Finally, the paper examines the differences between indigenous expectations of audio recordings and those of the anthropologist, indicating that digitization fixes, decontextualizes and recontextualizes oral literature within the current political context in which indigenous peoples seek to identify cultural patrimony in defense of their rights.
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series Journal de la Société des Américanistes
spelling doaj-art-87da02cab5ef48229d424d457aa815472025-02-05T15:54:43ZengSociété des américanistesJournal de la Société des Américanistes0037-91741957-78422020-12-01106212915010.4000/jsa.18933Language documentation and revitalization among the Siona of the Putumayo, Colombia: the potential of digitization for the social life of ethnographic materialEsther Jean LangdonThis paper discusses an ongoing project of documentation and language revitalization among the Siona of the Putumayo, Colombia, and evaluates the potential of the return of audio recordings from the 1970s in digital format. Recognition of the potential of this material has been mixed and raises complex questions about the limits and benefits of modern technology to preserve the social life of oral literature. Local social and political organization and the politics of cultural survival determine how the material is perceived and possibilities of collaboration. Finally, the paper examines the differences between indigenous expectations of audio recordings and those of the anthropologist, indicating that digitization fixes, decontextualizes and recontextualizes oral literature within the current political context in which indigenous peoples seek to identify cultural patrimony in defense of their rights.https://journals.openedition.org/jsa/18933patrimonyoral literaturedigitizationSiona Indianscultural revitalization
spellingShingle Esther Jean Langdon
Language documentation and revitalization among the Siona of the Putumayo, Colombia: the potential of digitization for the social life of ethnographic material
Journal de la Société des Américanistes
patrimony
oral literature
digitization
Siona Indians
cultural revitalization
title Language documentation and revitalization among the Siona of the Putumayo, Colombia: the potential of digitization for the social life of ethnographic material
title_full Language documentation and revitalization among the Siona of the Putumayo, Colombia: the potential of digitization for the social life of ethnographic material
title_fullStr Language documentation and revitalization among the Siona of the Putumayo, Colombia: the potential of digitization for the social life of ethnographic material
title_full_unstemmed Language documentation and revitalization among the Siona of the Putumayo, Colombia: the potential of digitization for the social life of ethnographic material
title_short Language documentation and revitalization among the Siona of the Putumayo, Colombia: the potential of digitization for the social life of ethnographic material
title_sort language documentation and revitalization among the siona of the putumayo colombia the potential of digitization for the social life of ethnographic material
topic patrimony
oral literature
digitization
Siona Indians
cultural revitalization
url https://journals.openedition.org/jsa/18933
work_keys_str_mv AT estherjeanlangdon languagedocumentationandrevitalizationamongthesionaoftheputumayocolombiathepotentialofdigitizationforthesociallifeofethnographicmaterial