Last month, there were just four people left on earth who could speak a language from the Great Andamanic family, which hails from the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal. On April 4, one of those speakers—a woman named Licho—passed away from tuberculosis and heart disease. She was the last woman alive to speak

Re-Storying Biocultural Diversity: Wisdom from Young Indigenous Leaders Langscape Magazine Volume 8, Special Double Issue Summer/ Winter 2019 . Bringing the Past into the Future by Luisa Maffi and David Harmon . “We, the Indigenous Peoples, walk to the future in the footprints of our ancestors.” So begins the Kari-Oca Declaration and Indigenous Peoples’ Earth

Khadry Okotetto (Nenets, Russian Federation), interviewed by Galya Morrell I was born in the tundra and grew up with the animals. My first language was the language of reindeer and of Arctic birds. I was raised by my grandparents, like everybody else here. I was a lucky guy. As an artist, I see my main mission

by Lisba Yesudas & Johnson Jament (Mukkuvar, India) Marine biodiversity and cultural diversity are deeply interwoven in the coastal fishing communities of Trivandrum, Kerala, South India. This is the story of our ancestors, the story of our fellow community members; it is the story of our life! It is about our connection with the sea,

Story by Eusebia (Chevy) Flores, age 36, Yaqui (Mexico)   I am a founding member of the Indigenous Yaqui and Comcaac film collective, La Marabunta Filmadora, practicing participatory video (PV) across Mexico and beyond. Since learning PV from InsightShare in 2010, we have been using it to preserve our culture and territories. Our name, translated

Story by SX̱EDŦELISIYE (Renee Sampson, W̱SÁNEĆ, age 37), with an introduction by Luisa Maffi, Editor of Langscape Magazine, Co-founder and Director, Terralingua . Luisa Maffi, 2019 It was one of those stubbornly-not-yet-summer early June days on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, on the west coast of Canada, eight years ago. The sky was overcast and

Interview by Luisa Maffi, Editor of Langscape Magazine, Co-founder and Director, Terralingua In June of 2019, I was very fortunate to attend a unique event: the HELISET TŦE SḰÁL “Let the Languages Live” conference in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada (June 24–26, 2019). Organized by the First Peoples’ Cultural Council and the First Peoples’ Cultural Foundation,

Story by Hellen Losapicho, age 34, El Molo (Kenya), and Magella Hassan Lenatiyama, age 35, El Molo (Kenya) The last fluent speaker of our language, El Molo, died in 1999, and it is now one of the most endangered languages in the world. When the Samburu people moved into our territories after an outbreak of

Interview by Luisa Maffi, Editor of Langscape Magazine, Co-founder and Director, Terralingua In June of 2019, I was very fortunate to attend a unique event: the HELISET TŦE SḰÁL “Let the Languages Live” conference in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada (June 24–26, 2019). Organized by the First Peoples’ Cultural Council and the First Peoples’ Cultural Foundation,

Story by Abraham Ofori-Henaku, age 21, Akan (Ghana) . It’s been quite a long journey growing up in a society that very much holds on to its rich way of life — something that I always took for granted. And now, it’s all coming back to me in regret. Oh! Pardon me! Where are my manners? Hi there!