Bob Holman - Endangered Language Alliance

Endangered Language Alliance

In 2010, in cooperation with linguists Daniel Kaufman and Juliette Blevins, Holman founded the Endangered Language Alliance. The work, he says, comprises a mission: “We are so in awe of the power of the book that we've forgotten the power of sound and the magic of sense nested in sound. Everybody's fighting for the preservation of species, but who's fighting for the preservation of languages, which are in fact the souls…of culture itself?” The project has so far generated ”On the Road With Bob Holman: A Poet’s Journey Into Global Cultures and Languages,” a three-part documentary DVD focused on West Africa and Israel. Holman is currently in production on “Word Up! Language Matters with Bob Holman,” a 90-minute endangered languages special produced by David Grubin for PBS. Bob Holman features on Welsh artist Gai Toms' 2012 album Bethel, on which he performs an improvised scat

Read more about this topic:  Bob Holman

Famous quotes containing the words endangered, language and/or alliance:

    Government ... thought [it] could transform the country through massive national programs, but often the programs did not work. Too often they only made things worse. In our rush to accomplish great deeds quickly, we trampled on sound principles of restraint and endangered the rights of individuals.
    Gerald R. Ford (b. 1913)

    ...I ... believe that words can help us move or keep us paralyzed, and that our choices of language and verbal tone have something—a great deal—to do with how we live our lives and whom we end up speaking with and hearing; and that we can deflect words, by trivialization, of course, but also by ritualized respect, or we can let them enter our souls and mix with the juices of our minds.
    Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)

    From his childhood onwards this boy will be surrounded by sycophants and flatterers.... In due course, following the precedent which has already been set, he will be sent on a tour of the world and probably rumours of a morganatic marriage alliance will follow, and the end of it will be the country will be called upon to pay the bill.
    James Keir Hardie (1856–1915)