Building up a global and intercultural society
During 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic brought us many challenges, which until now have changed our life dynamics. At the same time, interesting opportunities appeared. Among them, I got a lovely invitation to prepare a TED Talk about the relevance of Quechua and Indigenous Languages. It was July 2020 when I recorded, and then the talk was presented at a virtual event one month later. The video is now available on Youtube and the TED website.
Following the event guidelines, I tried to focus the one a key point: that Indigenous Languages (and therefore, their cultures and speakers) don’t belong only to the past; instead we can cooperate to make sure that they remain an important component for our future. Specially now, since many educators and language activists are using social and digital platforms to teach and use the language.
After the video was published, I have received very warm messages from college and high-school students. Here are some quotes:
“I was very inspired listening to your TedTalk and am very interested in learning more about my Quechua roots and helping to keep the language and culture alive”.
“I watched your TED talk and felt even more inspired to pursue work in preserving the Quechua language and culture”.
It was exciting to find out that the talk promoted conversations on other people, so thanks so much to everyone who watch it and/or share it. For now, the video is only available in Spanish (the event was hosted in Perú), but Youtube offers the option of auto-translate.
Tupananchiskama! See you!
Americo Mendoza-Mori 