Indigenous Idioms Research Articles

Local Fabric: Mid-Century Modernisms, Textile and Fashion Design, and the Northwest Coast, 1940–1967

In the mid-twentieth century, growing North American textile and ready-to-wear industries vigorously appropriated Native American aesthetics to cultivate a commercial and design identity apart from Europe. Most studies of the circulation of Indigenous idioms in these industries focus on Southwestern or South Pacific regionalisms, and scholarship on studio and commercial fabric and fashion design from the Northwest Coast in the twentieth century is limited. This paper contributes by raising Indigenous and non-Indigenous use of Northwest Coast design forms during the politically turbulent 1940s–1960s and analyzing the impact of this aesthetic vocabulary within broader North American textiles and fashion. Throughout, I engage with the approaches of critical fashion theory and multiple modernisms, considering the frictions of property and power relations within settler-colonial states, then and now. Drawing from study of objects, periodicals, and archival materials as well as first-person perspectives, I contextualize these representations within entangled art, museum, and design worlds in the Northwest Coast, New York City, and the Southwest. My examination illustrates that Northwest Coast artists and art ideas asserted a peripheral but locatable role in mid-century textiles and fashion, facilitating the development of today’s robust Indigenous fashion network on the Northwest Coast and its cultural politics.

A Pentecostal theology of radical sharing: Sam‐Ae and ubuntu as critical hermeneutics of engaged love

AbstractThe article argues that although Pentecostal churches in Africa have the potential to challenge and transform the reality of inequalities in Africa, instead, they are reproducing and perpetuating these inequalities by creating an inequality gap among themselves, especially, between the pastors and their fellow congregants. A closer look at some of these churches reveals that some of them are propagating social, political, and economic inequalities demonstrated in the gap that exists between the pastors and their ordinary members. In response, we construct a Pentecostal theology of radical sharing to argue for a balanced distribution of wealth between the rich and the poor to deal with the challenges of inequalities. It demonstrates that indigenous idioms such as sam‐ae (Korea) and ubuntu (Africa) are critical hermeneutics from the margins for interpretative translation/contextualization of the Christian faith into a theology of radical sharing in the fight against inequalities within African Indigenous Pentecostalism.

Languages of Minority Ethnic Groups of Southern Siberia: Status-Discursive Representation in the Socio-Cultural Context

The paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the status-discursive representation of the indigenous languages on the example of the Republics of Southern Siberia with the involvement of empirical sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic material. The presence of zones of social consensus in the conditions of the trilingual communicative space of the republics, which is organized according to a single model “two state languages (Russian and titular) + language/languages of the respective indigenous ethnic groups”, is revealed. They are due to the common legal support of indigenous nations and their languages in the international and Russian official discourse, as well as the positive perception of minority ethnic groups in associative portrayal by speakers of the respective republican state languages. The prospects for minimizing the exclusion zones of contacting peoples refer to the inclusion of measures of more active support of the indigenous idioms in the relevant legal acts of the republican level. Certain zones of problematizing of socio-cultural mutual understanding in the Altai Republic are associated with a higher level of adherence of the Chelkans to their native idiom compared to loyalty to the second state language of their republic (Altai), which may be due to the actualization of their need for a correlation of ethnic and linguistic status, which is absent among Shors and Tuvan Todzhans.

From the Editor

From the Editor

Authority, Deference, and Disregard in Catholic Liturgical Music in Central Cameroon

Abstract This article examines Catholic liturgical music in indigenous idioms in central Cameroon, focusing on a Sanctus by composer Jean André Yebnoun Ngann. We consider how musicians enact deference and authority through the sounding materials of music, discussions of music, and social interactions that allow music-making to occur, proposing that all of these might usefully be analyzed with the help of the linguistic concept of deixis. Study of four different performances of the Sanctus reveals how contemporary music-making elaborates forms of deference shaped not only by colonialism and Catholicism but also by older ways of leading and following.

EFFECTS OF APPROPRIATING LUHYIA MUSICAL STYLES TO THE AUTHENTICITY OF ANGLICAN HYMNS OF BUTERE DIOCESE, WESTERN KENYA

The Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) liturgical hymns have been greatly influenced by African indigenous music traditions. Singing of the hymns with appropriated Luhyia musical styles has had a profound effect on its authenticity in terms of performance style, harmony, rhythm, texture, form and structure, yet no study has been done to assess the extent to which these musical elements are altered. By examining the liturgical singing of ACK hymns in Butere Diocese, this study sought to determine the effect of appropriating Luhyia musical styles on both structure and performance. The article is underpinned on Nzewi musical theory of change and continuity which states that, for change to occur and be determined, there has to be an established cultural frame of reference. The study entailed collection of qualitative data done through use of interview schedules, observation check-lists, field notebook and tape recorders. The collected data was then organized in topics of discussions, analyzed descriptively and presented thematically and by use of staff notation. The findings of the study revealed structural changes that causes divided congregational perception on the performance of appropriated ACK hymns with some congregants opposing the resultant dance movements invoked by instrumentation as lost Anglicanism, while others approving of this new style of hymnody. Therefore, in order to strike a balance between Anglicanism and forces of appropriation, the study recommends the ACK choir directors to regulate instrumentation in liturgical hymnody. It is the authors’ hope that findings of this study will encourage choir directors to compose ACK hymns within their diverse Kenyan indigenous idioms in order to localize their worship singing experiences more.

THE NATIVE HAS ARRIVED: LIFE ORIENTATION LESSONS THROUGH AKAN IDIOMS TO SECURE THE FUTURE AND MAINTAIN IDENTITY

 In struggling to make ends meet and to put food on the table most parents of today hardly spend time with their children, as in most cases they either live far away from home or leave at dawn and return at dusk. This socio-economic reality of contemporary life makes life orientation, in general, and guidance and counselling in particular, a crucial aspect of school education for the youth of today, who are the leaders of tomorrow. Most students in schools today face psycho-social problems, which may not only hinder their progress in their studies but can also negatively affect their adjustment to the school environment and the society at large. This justifies an intervention by the school through individual and group life orientation sessions. For a long time, guidance and counselling or life orientation in general have been an important subject in the school curriculum of Ghanaian schools, but this subject has always been based on Western assumptions, values and methods of child upbringing which might not necessarily be suitable for the African context. This article contends that there is no better time than this era of African renaissance for ‘the native to arrive’ in the education arena to provide guidance and counselling lessons to the African child through indigenous idioms to secure their future and maintain African identity. Akan indigenous knowledge in the form of idioms can play an important and effective role in guiding and counselling students for better adjustment to the school environment, in order to improve learner performance and enable them to make better career choices to reduce unemployment. Idioms are powerful social, cultural and moral expressions used in everyday speech in every home and community to guide and educate people. As a cultural artefact, idioms relate to life situations and can therefore, be an effective method for teaching life orientation to students since they may easily understand them. Using some existing guidance and counselling theory as its framework, this paper discusses selected Akan idioms that can be effective in life orientation lessons in the African classroom to address some of the major socio-cultural and psychological challenges facing many students in Ghanaian schools today.

A Theory and Typology of Possession in Ob-Yenissei Languages

The paper outlines the on-going study of possession in Ob-Yenissei languages. The languages of the project represent the endangered indigenous idioms belonging to diverse language families and united in the study by their areal affiliation with the posited linguistic area delimited by Ob and Yenissei river basins in Western Siberia. The analysis stems from extended original and legacy fieldwork data, and addresses the key morphosyntactic and semantic features of possession within a contemporary theoretical and methodological framework, functional-cognitive grammar. The study pursues to integrate data and analysis into modern debates regarding possession from areal Siberian, genetic Uralic and wider typological perspective.

Use of Indigenous Cultural Idioms by Chinese Immigrant Relatives for Psychosis

Indigenous interpretations of mental illness might negatively impact treatment adherence. However, psychiatric "labeling" potentially leads to stigma among Chinese groups, thus encouraging the use of indigenous idioms. We examined how relatives' use of indigenous labeling varied with the consumers' experience of illness and whether indigenous labeling protected relatives from internalized and experienced forms of stigma. Forty-nine relatives of Chinese-immigrant consumers with psychosis were sampled. Although consumers had progressed to the middle stages of psychosis, 39% of relatives used indigenous idioms to label psychosis. Indigenous labeling decreased when illness duration increased and when visual hallucinations were present. Indigenous labeling further predicted lower internalized stigma among relatives. Relatives who used indigenous labeling also reported fewer indirect stigma experiences, although not after controlling for illness severity. The frequency of direct discrimination among relatives did not differ by labeling. These forms of felt stigma might be embedded into relatives' psychoeducation programs to mitigate adverse consequences of psychiatric labeling.

Patterns of Lexical Choices and Stylistic Function in J.P. Clark-Bekederemo’s Poetry

Previous studies on J.P. Clark-Bekederemo’s poetry have concentrated on literary and some linguistic features, highlighting the relation of theme and figuration in the works. However, such studies have paid little attention to the role lexical relations play in foregrounding stylistic functions, which is very crucial for a comprehensive interpretation and understanding of the poet’s idiolect. This study, therefore, investigates the stylistic value of sense relations, lexis and thematization, and indigenous idioms in the texts.Michael Halliday’s three metafunctions of language (i.e. ideational, interpersonal, and textual), within the broad discourse-stylistic theoretical framework, were used for the analysis, especially as they reflect the interface between form and function. Six volumes, which cut across the three distinctive phases of the poet’s creative career (i.e. early: 1958-1968, A Decade of Tongues; later: 1970-1988, Casualties, State of the Union, Mandela and other Poems; latest: 1999-date, Of Sleep and Old Age, Once Again a Child), were purposively selected for a detailed investigation.The textual metafunction has particularly facilitated the investigation of synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy, contradiction, lexis and thematization, and cultural idioms, as elements of signification and cohesion in the texts, in relation to their social and ideological context. The study reveals that, lexical patterns are deliberately deployed to convey aspects of meaning and achieve cohesion in the texts. Specifically, synonymy functions as an element of semantic unity; Antonymy, of semantic contrast; Hyponymy, of inclusive meaning; Contradiction, of paradoxical relations; Lexis, of thematization; and indigenous idioms, of cultural meaning. It also reveals that all these devices function as elements of cohesion and coherence in the texts. The study demonstrates that the choices a particular writer makes from alternative linguistic resources at his disposal, are determined by the subject matter and other social and contextual variables. It, therefore, enhances the understanding and interpretation of J.P. Clark-Bekederemo’s poetic idiolect in particular, and literary discourse in general.

Living in Religious Time and Space: Iraqi Refugees in Dearborn, Michigan

Mental health assessments of refugees during and after conflict have relied heavily on Western psychiatric constructs and standardized scales, despite the overwhelmingly non-Western backgrounds of most survivors of contemporary wars. A strict dependence on the paradigms and language of Western psychiatry risks inappropriately prioritizing syndromes, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, which, however important, are eclipsed by the concerns of local populations for whom indigenous idioms of distress may be more salient. Working in Dearborn, Michigan, home to the largest population of Iraqi refugees in the United States, 60 Iraqi refugee life stories were collected and analysed. These narratives provided rich data regarding the centrality of faith to the constructs of Iraqi identity, home, and future in the wake of political violence and exile. For these refugees, the description of the dislocation that results from uprooting is replaced by an alternative home that transcends time and space.

Indigenous Categories of Distress and Dysfunction in South African Xhosa Children and Adolescents as Described by Indigenous Healers

There is a paucity of information on indigenous idioms and categories of distress in children and adolescents in South Af rica. Indigenous healers were asked to provide descriptions of indigenous idioms and categories of distress in children and adolescents in a predominantly Xhosa speaking community. The healers identified five indigenous categories of distress, namely ukuphaphazela, isimnyama esikolweni ukuthwasa, ukuphambana, amafufunyana. These are compared with available descriptions in the literature and differences in presentation and understanding are discussed. The study confirmed that indig enous categories of distress not only affect adults, but also children and adolescents, and that 'brain fag' also occurs in South Africa. The results of this study indicate that indigenous categories of distress such as amafufunyana, ukuthwasa and ukuphambana require an emic approach and may be best un derstood at the individual level. Etic approaches, such as inclusion in psychiatric epidemiological studies are not suit able for these categories because symptoms are not prioritized. Categories such as isimnyama esikolweni and ukuphaphazela, which are associated with more discrete symptoms, could fea sibly be included in epidemiological investigations.