Re-educating Educated Ones: A Case Study on Chakma Language Revitalization in Chittagong Hill Tracts

TL;DR

This paper presents a community-centered ICT framework to support Chakma language revitalization in Bangladesh, addressing socio-economic challenges and emphasizing digital tools for cultural preservation.

Contribution

It introduces a culturally grounded, ICT-mediated framework tailored for indigenous language revitalization in the Global South, based on qualitative research.

Findings

Community resilience strategies identified

Need for digital tools highlighted

Framework emphasizes stakeholder involvement

Abstract

Indigenous languages face significant cultural oppression from official state languages, particularly in the Global South. We investigate the Bangladeshi Chakma language revitalization movement, a community grappling with language liquidity and amalgamation into the dominant Bengali language. Our six-month-long qualitative study involving interviews and focus group discussions with Chakma language learning stakeholders uncovered existing community socio-economic challenges and resilience strategies. We noted the need for culturally grounded digital tools and resources. We propose an ICT-mediated community-centric framework for Indigenous language revitalization in the Global South, emphasizing the integration of historical identity elements, stakeholder-defined requirements, and effective digital engagement strategies to empower communities in preserving their linguistic and cultural heritage.