One Woman's Garifuna Roots Stem Centuries
Ruthline Ellis Locario’s Garifuna heritage and lineage shapes her outlook on the world more than she could have ever anticipated. And during Garifuna Settlement Day festivities, she is even more aware of where she comes from.
Her grandfather, Pantaleon Hernandez, was one of the founders of Garifuna Settlement Day.
“It’s more than just a day of celebration, it’s a way of life,” says Locario.
Although her grandfather cofounded the Garifuna holiday, Locario’s first language is Spanish since she was born in Honduras. She lived in the United States for 43 years and says her children were not raised in the Garifuna way of life.
“It’s one of my biggest regrets that I didn’t teach them to speak Garifuna,” said Locario.
After her children grew up, however, Locario met and later married a Garifuna man who rekindled her relationship with her family’s culture and language. As a result, Locario has a few words of advice for any married Garinagu with families.
“I am encouraging people, especially two Garifuna people who happen to have children to speak Garifuna so that their children can learn the language.”
Locario considers being in the United States a deterrent to speaking Garifuna because it is “a lot harder to practice it on a daily basis” when speakers are scarce.
Teaching and learning Garifuna is also easier in a living situation instead of in a traditional classroom setting, says Locario.
“For example, if a child is ready to brush her teeth and you hand her the toothpaste or the toothbrush and you say [it] in Garifuna, that child knows it has something to do with the toothbrush.”
Most of all, Locario still has hope for the Garifuna language and culture.
“It’s what I’m passionate about; the preservation of the Garifuna language. And everyday I try to find somebody to speak Garifuna to so that I won’t lose it.”
Revamping The Garifuna Language
Adapting this ancient culture to reflect modern times is just one step in reviving the Garifuna way of life
Ruthline Ellis Locario rekindled her love of her Garifuna heritage and language after marrying a Garifuna man.
Her husband’s commitment to the Garifuna way of life inspires her to advocate for the preservation of this endangered language, as recognized by the United Nations.
The Garifuna people, the plural of which is Garinagu, originate from Central America and are the descendants of Carib and Arawak peoples, as well as African captives that escaped slavery after a shipwreck along the coast of St. Vincent.
“I take with me his preservation of the Garifuna language, which is one of my biggest concerns because we might lose it if we don’t practice it and find people whom we can communicate it with,” says Locario.
Some local organizations in Los Angeles had a similar fear and as a result, began highlighting their indigenous roots in an effort to showcase their culture in the community.
The Garifuna American Heritage Foundation United began the Garifuna Language and Culture Academy in 2009 after people in the community requested programs to immerse themselves in the Garifuna way of life.
“In the near future, the language will disappear. That fear gave people the idea to keep the language alive,” says vice president and co-founder Rony Figueroa.
The organization received a $7,500 grant to develop its first year of classes from Alliance for California Traditional Arts. Each lesson is composed of three sections focusing on the Garifuna language, dance and drumming.
Figueroa says the group advertises on social media and via email to promote its classes and programs, disproving the view of the Garifuna as antiquated or stuck in the past.
“The Garifuna language, just like any other language, is dynamic,” says Figueroa. He understands how “people living in their own environment here in the United States have incorporated their own language” into the traditional Garifuna tongue.
The Garifuna word for computer, lafanseha-dimurei, means to compute words when translated verbatim and is an example of a language adapting with the times.
A common concern some have for the future of the indigenous group is first generation American Garinagu not learning the language, even with Garifuna reflecting 21-century concepts.
“We also face the issues of losing our identity, losing our culture, our language,” said Ruben Reyes, President of Garifuna Hope Foundation. He added, “We all have united together to face these issues and be able to do something about it.”
Organizations like the Garifuna Hope Foundation and Garifuna Heritage Foundation host cultural preservation events and other activities to keep the younger members of the Garifuna community involved.
But Buck Ciego, a coordinator a local Garifuna event, said preserving the Garifuna culture cannot be left to the youth alone.
“We have to adapt because that’s what’s going on in the world today. And if we want to keep up, we have to make sure that we get involved in that kind of stuff, “ said Ciego referring to material items like massive ”TVs” and “iPods” in a culture that appreciates the “simple life” of fewer possessions.
Even with the uncertainty the group faces about its future, Reyes believes in one thing for sure.
“The world has the obligation to make sure that Garifuna preserves its right to exist.”
Tok Thompson is an Associate Professor of Teaching in the Anthropology Department at the University of Southern California, who specializes in minority languages.
Thompson says the accelerated rate at which society is losing some of “humanity’s greatest creations” is “unprecedented.”
“Languages take thousands of years to develop and they not only incorporate a different way to say a different word, but they incorporate different philosophical structures about how the world works,” said Thompson.
He views languages are living aspects of culture that have to be updated in order to subsist over time.
“You have to get the kids to want to use them. You have to be able to describe the contemporary situation of computers and downloads and broadband and Wi-Fi,” said Thompson. “There has to be a way of engaging the contemporary world for languages to make sense, for these languages to have a future.”
And with the increasing powers of the Internet and technology, deciding which languages to document via artificial intelligence brings up additional questions.
“Aren’t we limiting ourselves if we only have one or two languages that we use to build artificial intelligence,” he says. “Wouldn’t be great if computers could think in all sorts of languages and language families?”
Thompson parallels revitalizing indigenous and minority languages to agriculture and seed banks, which store plants since “many are also going extinct.”
“The idea is we don’t quite know what these plants are good for, but may be good for something in the future. And if we lose them, we lose them,” says Thompson.
The same goes for languages.
“We may benefit greatly from them even if we don’t really know [now].”
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