Workshop – Mapping Language
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03.04.2025
Max Yust
The Mapping Language workshop will begin with a presentation about language diversity, the causes of language loss and the ways in which people around the world are working to maintain endangered languages.
TALK
As roughly 90% of the languages spoken around the world are at risk of endangerment and loss, this is a crisis which holds many similarities to the loss of biodiversity. Throughout the history of the past couple centuries, diversity in languages and ecology have both been heavily affected by violent colonial processes which continue today. The presentation will link these topics to map-making as a way to create a sense of power and belonging to a place – to build a greater understanding of the multilingual environments we live in and discuss our own relations to language.
WORKSHOP
Afterwards, there will be a workshop in which everyone will be invited to participate in mapping the languages which have influenced them throughout their lives (whether these are languages they speak or not). The mapping can be done in any language and can range from geographical to mind mapping and everything in between. The importance of map-making in a group and by hand is its ability to engage people in discussion as drawing together can be a way to feel more at ease and open up. Doing it all together on the same piece of paper allows a group to visually “connect the dots” of each of their maps.