Open AccessPower & Limits of Language: Linguistic Reclamation as a Driver of Taíno Identity in Borikén
Author(s) -
Lucia Faria
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
caribbean quilt
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1929-235X
pISSN - 1925-5829
DOI - 10.33137/cq.v6i2.35962
Subject(s) - perspective (graphical) , narrative , modernity , identity (music) , colonialism , power (physics) , land reclamation , sociology , element (criminal law) , linguistics , aesthetics , history , gender studies , political science , art , archaeology , visual arts , philosophy , law , physics , quantum mechanics
The story of the Taíno people has been historically told from the narrative perspective of the dominant colonial viewpoint, which has been continuously employed as a tool to reinforce the idea of the Taíno community’s “extinction” or nonexistence. This paper outlines the role of the Taíno people as a key element within Caribbean indigeneity and demonstrates the central ways in which Taíno culture has been reinterpreted and carried forward in modernity. To this end, it assesses the lasting impact of language within the cultural landscape of Taíno nationhood.