There are many cultures around the world that are suppressed by majoritarianism. They have to face challenges like forced assimilation, language discrimination and refusal to acknowledgement of their unique identity. In fact, many cultures have been identified by UNESCO, that will soon cease to exist - either that they’re vulnerable, or completely extinct. How do you, as a minority, feel, knowing that your entire identity will cease to exist in a few decades? Do you have a sense of camaraderie towards other minorities from other parts of the world, say, the Ainu people, or the Brahui pastoralist?
I’m not sure if this even counts but I’m from Cornwall, which at one point was a separate and distinct culture from England, but hasn’t been for hundreds of years. But once it had it’s own language, and has been recognised as being culturally distinct by the UK government and the EU.
It doesn’t really impact me in any big way, especially since I don’t even live in the UK anymore. I know a handful of words and phrases in Cornish and there’s been a bit of a movement in the last few years to revive it somewhat (it’s on some road signs and things like that), but generally the rest of the UK doesn’t care, and if you talk about it to anyone outside of Cornwall they’ll usually just make fun of you.
I’m more of the “99% assimilated” kind, interested in learning what didn’t go down to me in more natural way.
Well, my paternal line ancestors are from a group of <ethnicity and religion> villages, naturally wiped out in <year>, the amount of people with roots from the same place on the whole planet is maybe just a bit more than the amount of <“titular” nation> living there.
The dialect is dead (there are some traits of it and examples documented).
Every time I abstractly or not talk about that with most people, I encounter “international law” bullshit, something about “recognized borders” and “rule of law” or simply approval of how it is and general attitude as if I were the problem and not <“titular” nation’s state>.
Yes, of course that place doesn’t belong to that state and any kind of violence is justified against it and its supporters, anytime, anyplace. A lot of people having nothing to do with that state feel indignation hearing\reading about that, towards me.
Or my <another ethnicity> side, which is supposedly doing not so bad at preserving its culture, which has its own state, only that state sucks and most of the organizations about that ethnicity suck, because they serve that state.
So I almost feel as if that state and its works replacing the perception of that culture I like were a continuation of genocide sometimes.
Well, I’m just from a west euporean village, but I still feel like I could answer your question a little.
Our parents decided not to teach us the local dialect. So now I don’t understand a lot of people in my village, including my grandparents. Also I feel things like shanties are a dying breed.
I’ve been thinking of buying a book that was written in my local dialect in order to get closer to my roots.
I feel like our parents decided to look forward and made us a part of that.
People from the cities still comment on my accent. And to me they sound like they have a stuffed nose.
Personally I think that this is how culture works, and we are currently living in an exciting one, and that’s ok. I also believe a higher power still has access to all those forgotten people, so it doesn’t bother me. After all isn’t time just an illusion?
