Microsoft and the Mapuche
This is kind of an oldish story already, but I’m too lazy to wade through blog entries from Thanksgiving break to see who wrote about what, so here you go. Chile’s Mapuche Indians are suing Microsoft for translating its Windows software into Mapuzugan, the local language spoken by about 400,000 people (this language isn’t listed inEthnologue; I assume that what Ethnologue calls Mapudungun is the same or related - it is listed as spoken by Mapuches - but in that case, Ethnologue estimates its speaker base to be even smaller, FYI).
At the launch [of Windows] in the southern town of Los Sauces, Microsoft said it wanted to help Mapuches embrace the digital age and “open a window so that the rest of the world can access the cultural riches of this indigenous people.” But Mapuche tribal leaders have accused the U.S. company of violating their cultural and collective heritage by translating the software into Mapuzugun without their permission.
They even sent a letter to Microsoft founder Bill Gates accusing his company of “intellectual piracy.”
“We feel like Microsoft and the Chilean Education Ministry have overlooked us by deciding to set up a committee (to study the issue) without our consent, our participation and without the slightest consultation,” said Aucan Huilcaman, one of the Mapuche leaders behind the legal action. “This is not the right road to go down.”
The article (from CNN) frames the issue in terms of who “owns” a language, and such a debate is not new. There are lots of examples in the endangered languages literature of indigenous language groups who don’t want literacy introduced in their communities, who don’t want online language courses or external dissemination of written linguistic materials. But it’s hard to argue that anyone has “intellectual property” rights to a language, even if it is their community’s language - it’s not something anyone created, its use by those who use it is largely a matter of coincidence, it is neither an object nor idea, etc. Nonetheless, I sympathize with the local community’s surprise and/or outrage: did anyone (any non-missionaries or non-linguists or non-activists, I mean) care about Mapuzugun before they wanted to introduce its speakers to Windows? And is there really any reason that someone would want to introduce Windows to the Mapuche other than because they want the Mapuche to buy things from them and participate in a globalized economy that will probably further erode whatever community traditions they have that are already being eroded? (note: I know nothing in specific about the Mapuche, but this is an argument that often gets made regarding indigenous languages/communities.)
On the other hand, the claim below seems misguided:
“If they rule against us we will go to the Supreme Court and if they rule against us there we will take our case to a court of human rights,” said Lautaro Loncon, a Mapuche activist and coordinator of the Indigenous Network, an umbrella group for several ethnic groups in Chile.
Huilcaman said the Chilean government, which supported Microsoft’s project, should concentrate on making Mapuzugun an official state language, alongside Spanish.
“If not, we fear it runs the risk of following the same destiny as Latin, spoken only in universities,” he said.
At first this seems ridiculous: of course if the tribe has computer access in its own language, that’s going to help that language survive in daily use. However, when you consider that most information online (the article doesn’t mention internet access, but I assume it’s implicit somewhere) is still in English, or on the Chilean interwebs in Spanish, it’s more of a threat: the more access people have to these other resources that are offered in more dominant languages, actually the less motivation to keep the local language alive. Whether making it official or not would actually make a difference is pretty sketchy, but the point isn’t nonsense.
Also, the article doesn’t mention specifically WHAT the motivations are for the community’s upset, other than that the language is THEIRS, which is probably something of a mischaracterization of their feeling. I found another article that gives more quotes from the Mapuche leader:
“We sent a letter to Bill Gates expressing our concern about this situation since we believe it is an act of intellectual piracy. We are the natural heirs of the Mapuche language and it is up to us to decide what we do with it. The Chilean government and Microsoft did not ask for our opinion on how to implement the Windows version, they just went ahead and did it,” said Huilcaman.
The elders of the Mapuche Nation carried out a ceremony called “Kimkeche Nutramkan” (gathering of Wise Men and Custodians of the Mapuche Culture) after which they agreed on sending the letter to Bill Gates that included the following paragraphs:
“Mapundungun is a fundamental part of our culture and it is our right as an indigenous nation to preserve and develop our cultural heritage… Your decision to implement Windows in Mapundungun may be a good contribution to its technical-linguistic development, but the way it has been done has shown a total disrespect and lack of consultation with the Mapuche Nation.”
…”I am not against Internet, I am only defending our Nation’s rights and culture. It is the speakers of Mapundungun that should decide whether our language is used in the Web or not,” said Huilcaman.
These claims are easier to empathize with than just “We own our language and you stole it” or something like that. Microsoft likely knows nothing about what language or Mapuzugun means internally to the community and its culture, and this is what’s at stake - and that isn’t expressed by a simplistic, objectifying characterization of “ownership.”
