For this post, I selected Linguistic Anthropology as my topic of choice. The website I looked into was https://www.ssila.org/about/ .

This site is an informative tool that is run by the The Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas (SSILA)

Its focus, as the fairly “in your face” name of the organization suggests, is the study of indigenous languages within the Americas. As anthropology is quite frankly “the study of humans”, one of the most prominent aspects of humanity is our communication. Communication, whether its comprehensive or not, is a universal tool used by all sorts of things. In humans, our bodies communicate with us as individuals, and we communicate with others as members of the population. While this site does not fully attract my own personal interest due to its location/particular area of study. I do find that the overall goal and motives behind learning the indigenous languages are quite good.

The study of language is important to us because it helps us not only understand eachother, but it allows us to understand the past, and possibly the future. These things are all key aspects of anthropology, and they even tie in with the other areas of study. How else would we explain our research to eachother? how do we learn about ourselves, as humans, if we cant rationalize what our ancestors were witnessing or describing to one another? Think of the Greek and Chinese philosophers. By studying language and using that language to study their contemporary works, were able to tie in linguistic anthropology with fields such as archaeology, philosophy, etc. While language may not help us dive into the DNA and origins of our civilizations etc. It will help us interpret history, which is arguably the most important subject to learn.

This study of history and this analysis of the past allows us to better understand how we as humans interact with one another. It helps us explain the intentions of particular words and ideas. It grants us the ability to understand how particular social constructs have come into place and how more can replace them in the future.

If you are interested in Indigenous American languages or have an interest in Linguistics in general, then I recommend that you at least look into the site. While there is a membership barrier for some particular features, it is important to note that the study of Indigenous American language is actually a fairly prominent area of study in Linguistic Anthropology. There are several books, articles, and websites that feature the topic in depth. This allows you to even learn about particular areas from Alaska to Michigan, all the way down to Brazil. You can find an area that peaks your interest and then learn about the people that inhabit said area or vice versa.

To conclude this first blog post, it is key to understand the various subfields of Anthropology all serve their own particular purposes. While linguistic anthropology may not be as biologically focused as some of the other areas, it still is a fairly useful area of study. The subfield’s broad use of application and anthropology’s broad overall coverage of human study allow for some really fun and interesting reads.