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Colonialism did the wicked work of stripping us of our language then forcing their own on us. The fact that i was made to learn two colonisers' languages in school (HAD pass dem to graduate) and not my own is testament to the education system's complicity with colonialism tings.
Here are some Garifuna language resources i have found online and which i use and have been very helpful.
@GarifunaMarket Garifuna "word of the day". Trust me at year's end you have over 300+ new words. A golden resource. Thanks so much! The Garifuna Market has a store, pls purchase and support so that this amazing work can continue.
@RoatansFinest started an amazing space during during the quarantine in her instagram stories. Thanks to her i was able to hear and practise and even say greetings, introductions and other important stuff like "i love you" in Garifuna. She has merch you can buy also.
check amazing content here.
Ruben Reyes' Garifuna Institute, "Your online source to master the Garifuna Language" http://www.garifunainstitute.com/index.php?module=garifuna_dictionary&node=garifuna_dictionary_front&action=search
You can purchase his trilingual (Garifuna English Spanish) dictionary here http://www.garistore.com/index.php?module=webstore_biz&node=wbiz_front&action=get_product&category_id&item_id=1639&start=1&parent_id&parent_name&parent_code
while searching, found: https://twitter.com/jgarifuna/status/249959853022408704
i also found:
Ámuñegü by Andy Palacio (1960-2008) from his award winning album Watina. He asked about the survival of the Garifuna culture. i found a clip which has the translation to english by Patino Martinez
Please add Garifuna language resources to this thread. The decolonisation process, i believe, includes abandoning colonial languages and their intrinsic violence. Colonial languages all have discrimination deeply woven into their fibres.
i remember the first time i heard "trabajando como negra para vivir como blanca" as a regular and common and even inoffensive thing to say, even to me, as a negra myself.
in english, black is still tied to negative, that we have to tell you all that Black is Beautiful/Intelligent/Good, and some still scoff like we are telling them some kind of fiction. The fact that even as Black ppl we have to constantly reaffirm what language tries to diminish
