The term Cultural Revitalization implies that at some point previously the culture must have been diminishing but did vanish. Prior to European contact the Aboriginal people of Turtle Island had extremely diverse languages, customs and ways of living; however, as indigenous peoples, they also had great similarities at a spiritual level and how to live with the land. Globally indigenous peoples are those who had an intimate relationship with the land that Creator put them on. There was no exploitation or abuse of natural resources.
Obviously, after European contact and hundreds of years of colonization, the Aboriginal ways of living with the land have been strained. Thousands of years of cultural knowledge has disappeared at an alarming rate with the death of each elder. If things continued the way that they have been, only then can we be considered conquered people, and be presumed extinct. This will not be the case.
Cultural revitalization can take place in many ways. More and more people are learning to sing, drum, dance as well as learn about Aboriginal traditional environmental knowledge, stories and Aboriginal history. The sources of Aboriginal knowledge and customs are found in people, at ceremonies, socials and other gatherings. Some people are gifted or at a particular level of awareness can also help tap into sources through visions and dreams as well as the land and animals themselves.
One of the most important indicators of a distinct society is a distinct language. The revitalization of Aboriginal languages is crucial in retaining and reclaiming Aboriginal cultures and identity. The challenge to every aboriginal person is to learn their own language (provided it still exists) and to teach it to others.
Our first language as human beings is singing (From a baby’s cry). A crying baby is communicating to you the only way he/she knows how. We all spoke this universal first language, and then we learned our next language according to the culture we were born into. It is this concept of collective unconscious that will unite all of mankind. We all have the abilities to escape the confines of our learned culture and to briefly and temporarily put ourselves in another’s culture. The challenge to every non-Aboriginal person, who is studying Aboriginal culture, is to allow themselves to enter the realm of the collective unconscious and see the world from an Aboriginal perspective.
References Dick, Jimmy. ABS 331S lecture. Wed, Jan 17 2001, University of Toronto