LANGUAGE AND ORAL TRADITIONS & EDUCATION AND LITERACY
(text contributed by Dr. Gwen Nunez Gonzalez; Andony Perez Castillo; Cheryl Noralez of GAHFU ; TGHF)
“Garifuna belongs to the Arawakan language family, one of the largest languages families in America, extending from Bolivia through most of northern South America (Brazil, Peru, Colombia Guyana, French Guyana, Surinam, Colombia, and Venezuela) and reaching as far north as Belize in Upper Central America; this family includes approximately 40 living languages (cf. Aikhenvald 1999: 65). Speakers of Arawakan languages peopled the Antilles in Pre-Columbian times; in today’s St. Vincent there lived the Eyeri (alternatively pronounced Iñeri), said to have arrived there between the 8th and 10th Centuries A.D. Around 1200A.D. they were invaded by groups of Cariban affiliation, coming from the mainland and referred to in the literature as Kalina, ancestors of present-day Kariña (Cariban, Venezuela). The [exile] of the Garifuna people represents the expansion of the Arawakan language family beyond South America, thus becoming the only Arawakan language spoken in Central America. According to Taylor and Rouse (1955: 105), Garifuna continued to be spoken on both St. Vincent and Dominica until around 1920, when it became extinct there.” ( J. Diego Quesada)
The Garifuna grammar is quite complex and very different from Western Languages. Nouns, verbs, adjectives, pre-positions, and even adverbs, may include person and number designations, usually as a suffix, but sometimes as an affix. For nouns, this is translated as the possessive, but it seems that the meaning reflects an emphasis upon relationship rather than possession.
Gender is distinguished by the affix, T (feminine) or I (masculine). A woman speaking would say foolishness with a masculine gender and a man would express the same meaning in the feminine gender. (Adopted from writing of Mr. E. Roy Cayetano in Walagante Marcella (1994) and People’s Garifuna Dictionary (1993/2005))
Is Garifuna still widely spoken in central america and if so, where?
As a transnational community, they initially settled in Honduras and subsequently migrated to Guatemala, Belize, and Nicaragua between 1802 and 1819. They also emigrated to the United States of America between 1938 and 1940. The Garifuna indigenous people reside along the Atlantic coast, spanning over 70 communities across the Central American Caribbean. Their presence extends from Hopkins in Belize, through Livingston in Guatemala, along the entire Honduran coastline, and up to Orinoco in Nicaragua. (Castillo, 2024), (UNESCO, 2024).
Garifuna is still spoken in Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, United States and other parts where Garinagu live. The communities are challenged with the upkeep of the spoken word because of urbanization, colonial rules as it relates to school policies expecting students to speak the English Language or Spanish; deculturalization, dominance of other languages and other reasons. The musical legacy attached to the song is far more vibrant than the spoken because many Garinagu can sing the traditional and secular songs in Garifuna, even if they do not understand the lyrics.
The richness of the orality of the Garifunas has diverse expressions, one of them are the stories known as uragas, whose texts are living memory of the stories and traditional knowledge about cultural practices associated with the means of subsistence (crops, fishing) also to the elaboration of material culture objects such as the manufacture of canoes and the construction of clay houses, among many others. The melodies that accompany the stories contain Amerindian and African elements. The dances and varied repertoires of musical expressions that constitute in themselves an entire universe of artistic expressions, are closely related to an essential component and it is “the deeply rooted view that deceased ancestors interfere in the daily lives of their descendants (Castillo, 2024).
Is Garifuna language taught in school and if so where?
According to the UNESCO case study led by the Garifuna anthropologist Andoni Castillo Perez “Garifuna language taught in Honduras, Guatemala, Belize and Nicaragua, United States, but has experienced a severe decline in recent decades, mainly due to cultural assimilation, as new generations are being more and more encouraged in life and school to learn and speak dominant national languages in their everyday life, notably Spanish and English. The gradual loss of the Garifuna language is experienced in the countries of Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Belize, it is a phenomenon that has been a cause of concern in recent decades. The intergenerational transmission of the language has been affected, since many Families have stopped teaching the language to their children as a result of the acculturation to which they have been historically subjected, resulting in a decrease in the number of speakers and loss of fluency in the language”. (Castillo, 2024), (UNESCO, 2024).
BELIZE:
The National Garifuna Council of Belize has embarked on a mission since 2007 to teach Garifuna in the formal school system daily. Gulisi Community Primary School is the leading institution in Belize to teach Garifuna Language, Culture and traditional music and dances. This year, 2024, The Garifuna Language Commission has selected 8 schools to introduce the teaching of Garifuna. These primary schools are receiving ongoing support in orthography of the Garifuna Language, Pedagogy for the teaching of the Language, and other forms of support to enhance the teaching of the Language.
The Garifuna Language was also taught at a high school in Belize City, Belize. Honduras also has a bilingual program, where books and other resources were developed to support the teaching of the Garifuna Language. There are also other individuals and organizations who have online and face to face classes to teach Garifuna.
GUATEMALA:
Through Legislation No. 83-96, established on September 25, 1996, the Government of Guatemala recognizes the Garinagu as an Indigenous people and urges them to safeguard their cultural heritage and promote and preserve the language, art, and culture and declared November 26th as the “National Garifuna Day. The Bilingual Intercultural Education program began in 1985 and is in force in the classrooms of the schools of the Garinagu communities, but it has not given efficient results, since the loss of the Garifuna language is increasingly seriously (UNESCO, 2024).
What programs are in place or so proposed to teach garifuna to children and or adults?
BELIZE:
A part from the National Garifuna Council and the Garifuna Language Commission, there are organizations like The Yurumein Project and Furendei Garifuna that have programs in place to teach Garifuna to adults and children. A regional gathering through the group Garifuna tidan Ligilisi Katolika (Garifuna in the Catholic Church) has also been involved in teaching of Garifuna through prayers. The University of Belize has joined the efforts to teach Garifuna online with its first cohort in June 2024. The University of Guyana open campus will also embark on a similar program for a few indigenous languages, including Garifuna.
A group of like-minded scholars who teach and promote the Garifuna Language has met over the years to standardize the writing and reading of Garifuna. Some of the members of this group are Dr. Jorge Bernardez- Chair, Dr. Gwen Nunez Gonzalez, Mr. E. Roy Cayetano, Mr. Julio Morales Martinez. All have contributed and continue to contribute to the regional effort of promoting the teaching of Garifuna.
GUATEMALA:
Organizations such as Iseri Ibagari and Academia Garifuna, are teaching the Garifuna language and culture to girls and boys for its rescue and safeguarding, however, during the period 2020-2021 new materials have been developed for teaching the mother tongue. Teachers in coordination with leaders make multiple efforts to teach the Garifuna language in various spaces, whether through dance and music in schools and cultural centres.
In Guatemala (Livingston) Intercultural Bilingual education is current in the classrooms of schools in the Garífuna community, but it has not given efficient results, since each time the loss of the Garífuna language is serious, therefore, organizations such as Iseri Ibágari and Academia Garífuna, are teaching the language and Garifuna culture to girls and boys for rescue and safeguarding.
HONDURAS:
In 2002, the National Congress of Honduras decreed the “African Heritage Month”, preceded by the declaration of April 12 as the “National Garifuna Day”. However, since 1994, Honduras has promoted the Indigenous Education Program, which has developed a bilingual intercultural educational model and adapted the national basic curriculum for its effective application in schools. In 2007, educational materials were developed by Garinagu linguistics, leaders and teachers make enormous efforts to keep the program alive, and it is currently taught in schools combining methodologies between dance, music, drama and stories, but they demand an update of the educational materials (Castillo, 2024), (UNESCO, 2024).
In recent years, the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH) has demanded greater attention from the State and has created the Garifuna Education Council (CONEGA) through which they will manage Garifuna education program in the country in coordination with the Secretary of Education. However, it is worth highlighting the efforts of some institutions that have promoted Garifuna language teaching programs, such as: the Garifuna Cultural Centre of Honduras, the National Autonomous University of Honduras, the National Pedagogical University, the Community Development Organization (ODECO) and some other Garifuna cultural centres and museums in the communities, but solid and sustained institutional support is still needed.
In the city of La Ceiba, ODECO has for many years been organising Garifuna promotional programmes including Dance and language training as well as general community development activities. This includes leadership training and Institutional development.
Nicaragua: Garifuna culture was declared Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Nation in 2014. This recognition aims to promote and preserve the language, art, culture and values of the indigenous Garifuna people. In addition, the Congress of Nicaragua has declared November 19 as the “National Garifuna Day.” Significant progress has been made in the implementation of Bilingual Intercultural Education program at the preschool and primary levels, through the management of the Garifuna Organization of Nicaragua (AGANI). An example is the program in the Garifuna community of Orinoco, unanimously the Government has expressed the desire to revitalize the Garifuna language and it is currently taught in primary schools. However, there are major challenges to the sustainability of the program, particularly in updating teaching materials and training new teachers (Castillo,2024), (UNESCO, 2024). On the other hand, Bluefields Indian & Caribbean University (BICU) and the Autonomous University of Nicaraguan Caribbean Region (URACAN) have specific programs that contribute to the revitalization of their language and dance.
UNITED STATES
The Garinagu began their early immigration to the United States, especially to New York City (UNESCO 2024), and as the population increased, they began to organize themselves to be visible to the authorities. In 2015 the government and the mayor of the State of New York recognized the presence of the Garinagu community and its contribution to art and multiculturalism. Consequently, they have been included in the national census, thus ensuring that they have the necessary conditions to participate fully in the political life of the city. This recognition represents an important step in the recognition of the role and influence of the Garinagu people in American society (Castillo, 2024).
The Garinagu are already visible in New York and have Casa Yurumein founded by the Garifuna leader Mirtha Colon, a cultural center where they develop their cultural practices and also have a program for teaching the Garifuna language. On the other hand in Los Angeles, California, the Garifuna linguist founded in 2011 the “Garifuna Museum of Los Angeles” the museum not only serves to learn about the glories and sufferings of our ancestors, but also functions as a space for teaching the Garifuna language. Rubén Reyes also translated the Honduran national anthem into the Garifuna language in 1991, the Guatemalan national anthem in 1994, and the United States national anthem in 2009, and in 2012 launched a 430-page trilingual dictionary.
The Clifford J. Palacio Garifuna Language & Culture Academy of Los Angeles is a concept started by GAHFU, Inc. The school was established in 2005 and it was first held at Maabatuwa Cultural Center of Los Angeles. After Maabatuwa, GAHFU saw the need to establish a more permanent school where families could attend and learn. The purpose of this project is to preserve the Garifuna language spoken and written which is the lifeline of the Garifuna people. Those who are fluent in Garifuna can improve their vocabulary and learn how to read and write the Garifuna language following the standardized rules accorded in the last convention by the Garifuna Nation scholars..
Are online programs effective for teaching the garifuna language?
There are many efforts to build platforms for teaching the Garifuna language by taking advantage of technological tools. For example, artists with their songs available online contribute greatly to this effort. Currently, a proposal is being built to promote the Comprehensive Project for the Safeguarding of the Garifuna Language, in which the countries of the Garifuna diaspora will participate, and one of the objectives is the teaching of the Garifuna language online to facilitate learning and access to children and adults from various places.
The online programs are effective in teaching the Garifuna Language because it has allowed for the use of technology to enhance learning. The different platforms and games have contributed to ignite interest in learning the language for all those interested. One of the challenges is the deprivation of the rich exchange in a physical space. The face to face is always more interactive and meaningful.
Despite the very complex history and the mixed roots of the population, the Garifuna language shows no signs of creolization and is among the most morphologically and syntactically complex of the Northern Arawak languages. It is the last living indigenous language of the Caribbean islands.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines:
The situation in St. Vincent and the Grenadines is that there are no native speakers of the Garifuna language remaining. There have been for several years now initiatives launched to teach the language to children and young people during summer programmes and whilst this is a slow process, there has been an increased awareness among Vincentians that the language is a unique and valuable part of our legacy. Further to this, statements of intent have been made by various Government officials over the years to support and encourage the establishment of Language training programmes in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The Garifuna Heritage Foundation, which is one of the main promoters of the Garifuna Heritage and Culture in St. Vincent and the Grenadines has been instrumental in sourcing facilitators for some of these training initiatives. These efforts have been well endorsed and supported by the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Education of the Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. In recent years the Regional Integration and Diaspora Unit (RIDU) has been involved in these initiatives.
National Anthem in Garifuna
Yurumein ma Lubuidun
Ruwamuti wabagari bun
Afiyenti wa buagu
Wagein daguba buagu
wabureme
Yurumein (Hairouna) ma lubuidun
Iyunti harumati biwubun
Wageira lau sun dice wama
Wesien bahari wageira le
Sun ubowju lidan wageira
Undara wamu lida Isieni
Luagu barana, luagu beta
Magu muchubei legemechun
Weyu
Chorus
Kaba lanuga haruga
Wawan seru uba
Lau Isieni wabadinagua
Lau lubafu
