Anthropology’s Mark Turin has co-authored a scoping review that examines the links between between the vitality of Indigenous languages and health or wellness in four English-speaking settler colonial countries.
Indigenous languages in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States are endangered due to colonial policies which promote English language dominance. While Indigenous communities know the importance of language for their wellbeing, this topic has only recently received attention in scholarship and public policy.
“This scoping review has been many years in the making ... it makes one question how we might harness the potential healing effects of language...”
This multidisciplinary collaboration with students, UBC library staff and Indigenous scholars reviewed more than 10,000 records of which 262 met their inclusion criteria – 70 % academic and 30 % gray literature. They found that the most significant aspects of health reported to be positively related to language are outcomes from health care, education and promotion initiatives; overall health, wellness, resilience and healing; and mental, cognitive, and psychological health and development.
This scoping review has been many years in the making and highlights the importance of increasing support for language programs, delivering linguistically tailored health care, and advancing knowledge through community-engaged research and education.
