Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Kunjba wardan baki kunjba jingkal ngambalangi munji munji





That title translates as 'Karrwa bush foods and medicines' - karrwa language you ask? A group of Borroloola women produced this book to share their knowledge of karrwa bush foods and the Karrwa language with others.

When researching yesterday for a Homage blog post on a wonderful new book I'd heard about on Radio National I came across the publisher Batchelor Press and was intrigued to notice how many different languages they are producing material in for their indigenous language speakers.
Here I have featured posters for teaching aids.  These 4 themes remind me of the extraordinary wealth of language, scientific knowledge and also mythological readings exist for these elemental aspects of the natural world that are part of the enormous legacy we have from the indigenous people of this continent.
I remember finding the language that was from the people in the location I grew up years ago and being very touched to read some of the vocabulary - I found a word for being in love that translated to"becoming soft" - I was left to wonder about the people who had inhabited the land where I grew up... the language was a way in and I was sad to think at school we never got anywhere near thinking about any of this.







Batchelor Press is the publishing arm of the Specialised Publications and Academic Resource Centre (SPARC) at Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education, Northern Territory, Australia.
The teaching and learning resources developed at Batchelor Institute are produced primarily for Indigenous Australian students living in remote communities, the majority of whom have English as a second or third language. The content of these resources has been developed by community elders, students and teaching staff with many years experience in ESL, distance learning and curriculum development.







This poster is available in a range of Indigenous languages

No comments: