In the visual ethnography, you will see the struggles the Lakota community face tod

ESSAY INSTRUCTIONS

Start by watching the visual ethnography, Rising Voices https://youtu.be/Wr-jackHWCw In the visual ethnography, you will see the struggles the Lakota community face today: poverty, addiction, and a loss of their language and their culture. The Lakota believe that the answer to all of these problems is to “actively wake up” their language. Why? How could language be that important? After all, many would argue that speaking English is “more useful” so why invest money and time in learning the language of the Lakota? The Lakota argue, and anthropologists strongly support and agree, that language is the essence our sense of self and identity; it is the glue that holds a community together; it is the lifeforce of a people. Language truly is a performance of our identities, so how can you feel whole if you do not have knowledge of your language? Having a sense of self and of belonging is powerful, and with it we perhaps find our humanity. We begin here because the efforts of the Lakota powerfully illutsrate just how importance language is and how language part of the fabric of culture and of one’s identity. 

Now you are ready to think like an anthropologist! Please write a short essay, that considers the following question:

PROMPT: Should the Lakota save their language and teach it to the next generation? What is gained from doing so?

• Your mini essay must include examples from Rising Voices and,
• it must consider how anthropologists view the connection between language and identity (Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis)
• it must include evidence from Chapter 4 Perspectives (free online textbook)

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis (the connection between language and culture)