Criticisms
SIL's website states that it "limits its focus of service to language development work does not engage in proselytism, establish churches or publish Scriptures." The organization has been criticized, however, by linguists including Patience Epps, who accuses SIL of functioning as a missionary organization and exacerbating the problems causing language endangerment and death in Brazil.
SIL has also been criticized by indigenous groups in South America. At a conference of the Inter-American Indian Institute in Mérida, Yucatán, in November 1980, delegates denounced the Summer Institute of Linguistics, charging that it was using a scientific name to conceal its Protestant agenda and an alleged capitalist view that was alien to indigenous traditions.
In 1979, SIL's agreement with the Mexican government was officially terminated, but it continued to be active in that country. The same happened in 1980 in Ecuador, although a token presence remained. In the early 1990s, the newly-formed organisation of indigenous people of Ecuador CONAIE once more demanded the expulsion of SIL from the country. According to Cleary and Steigenga, SIL was expelled from Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico and Panama, and restricted in Colombia and Peru. However, SIL currently operates in many of those countries.
Read more about this topic: SIL International
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