Paper short abstract:

Based on our experience in Mexico and Latin America we are going to talk about how from the academic field we can unravel contradictions about LR ideologies and how we are testing our collaborations as a sociopolitical practice and not only interesting subject to academic research.

Paper long abstract:

Language Revitalization (LR) is a project that has gained an important place in both academic and indigenous political movements. For over two decades in Latin America LR has been developing projects, academic programs and community-based strategies to achieve these languages continue to be used and transmitted by its speakers. However, LR as a topic arises largely from academic groups, and many social organizations and movements have agreed to implement academic support actions in favor of their languages. This academic presence, although it has been an important element to display the importance of linguistic diversity has created some contradictions about how to conceive of LR, which co-participatory methodologies to develop, how to train LR agents, which materials produce and, above all, why revitalize a language and/or a linguistic variety. In this paper, based on our experience in Mexico, and other Latin American experiences we know, we want to talk about how, from the academic/research field, we can unravel these contradictions and how we tried to bring certain changings to our research praxis. Since the exposure of certain language ideologies around the LR, our aim is not to answer the questions set but rather try to show how we have been testing our collaborations and how it has arisen interest in start watching the LR as a sociopolitical practice and not just as a interesting subject for academic research. We believe is not enough to have ideologies in favor of LR but we need the development of long-term revitalization processes.