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From this perspective I could understand that the linguistic bond [the
Portuguese as official language] that at first gathered the network of this
project in a very naïve perspective, has been historically overestimated, and, as
PEREIRA (2009, 155) says, “became a monument of the complicity between
colonized and colonizer, complicity which does not guarantee the end of the
reproduction of the colonizer–colonized [...]” violence. One possible question
here is what language bonds cover, silence, pasteurize, and what can be done in
terms of promoting inclusive societies in such ambiance.
2.2. Post Colonial and Peripheral Perspectives
At school we learned about indigenous groups as part of the discovery of
Brazil by the Portuguese in 1500, what immediately made them become
creatures of the past. And what a surprise it is to find out that these
communities survived and that they are alive in 2012, some of them with
internet, wikis, blogs, some (the great majority in fact) needing help to get
on digital world and to access information.
Indigenous societies in Brazil are not studied in Sociology or History. Of
course there are indigenous languages studies, but unfortunately they live
apart from linguistics (western linguistics), language and literature groups. It
is a very specific field, called in seminars linguistics of non-western languages,
ethnic-linguistics, anthropological linguistics, etc. So it is not part of the
general culture about our country or identity, for as Brazilians we are officially
part of the western civilization, we are monolingual, and they are not.
Talking to some indigenists in Brazil I figured out that they made a choice
during the dictatorship to stay in national ground to work with these
communities, learn their languages etc., and although it has propitiated a
strong bond of the researcher with the local communities, it has left them
no opportunities to participate in international debates. This is not a
specific historical issue in Brazil, it happened in general in Latin America.
If we look for organizations, academies or networks concerned with
Multilingualism in this region, we will find a blank to be filled. More than
that, if we look for funding, support, infrastructure, museums, collections,
libraries, observatories on Multilingualism in our region... basically it is for
our generation to build them.
Our scope to comprehend Multilingualism in this project is quite open: in
Latin America, Africa and Asia we have very different regional and historical
aspects, but we have in common the link to Portugal, that somehow
establishes patterns for silencing local cultures. To guide us in Multilingual
issues we have clear policies of silence, policies for censorships, considering
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