# data[].attributes.headline
Western scholars as "saviours" of endangered languages?

# data[].attributes.subject
Western scholars as "saviours" of endangered languages?

# data[].attributes.body
During my fieldwork in remote places (Pacific, Australia's Top End, Papua), I sometimes wonder why it is usually the Western scholars who care about endangered languages, while the local people are often not aware of the possible extinction of their language because they do not raise their kids in the local languages anymore. What can we do to engage more local people in linguistic research so that it doesn't always feel like "Westerners" as fieldworkers vs. "locals" as consultants?

# data[].attributes.body
Can decolonization happen when academic spaces continue to be numerically dominated by people with “colonizer” backgrounds?

# data[].attributes.body
Since schools were introduced by colonisers, how does the building or the contribution of constructing new schools constitute decolonisation?

# data[].attributes.body
Do you have concrete recommendations for when starting a research project involving indigenous people, in order to make sure it is done sustainably and without colonial patterns?

# data[].attributes.body
A roundtable like this is a good start, but what else can the SLE do as an organization to help decolonize linguistics and help its members with their paths towards decolonization on an ongoing basis?

# data[].attributes.body
Does decolonisation mean a need to re-define the key goal of language documentation, i.e. describing as many languages as possible? If so, what should the goals for the discipline be, and how should they be set?

# data[].attributes.headline
How will decolonization of linguistics help linguistics grow as an academic discipline?

# data[].attributes.subject
How will decolonization of linguistics help linguistics grow as an academic discipline?

# data[].attributes.body
How can we move towards a decolonial approach to Open Science, apart from following the adage of “open as possible, closed as necessary”? For example, how does this affect the reuse of data or how we should attribute or cite data (collections)?

# data[].attributes.headline
More time, training and funding for activism

# data[].attributes.subject
More time, training and funding for activism

# data[].attributes.body
How do we support revitalisation of the languages we study without dominating the space? How not to rush these initiatives in the short time we spend in the field?

# data[].attributes.body
As a Western linguist working with indigenous communities in Papua New Guinea, I see a huge problem in how academic funding is organised relating to capacity building and sustainability or long-term relationships with the language communities. Often, linguists are employed on short-term projects with little possibility of renewal, and no prospects of continued employment in academia. What happens then to the rapport (often very personal) that has been built with the communities by those researchers? With no funding, and no academic job, there will be little possibility for them to visit the communities again. And very little possibility to build capacities in such short projects. Yes, there are social media, telephone, and WhatsApp - but I question the ethics of the current model, even though I wouldn't know how to improve it.

# data[].attributes.body
Instead of perhaps putting all the burden on the field linguists alone, wouldn't it be better to lobby more against grant agencies, peer reviewers and the whole academic career system? After all, field linguists have to jump through a bunch of loops in order to get some time to travel somewhere to study a language, knowing that just publishing "field data, descriptive grammars or building a corpus of recordings will hardly get any recognition (because publishing papers and having to come up with sexy theoretical implications for data are what counts when applying for jobs and promotion).

# data[].attributes.body
Within the constraints of the current academic system, what can we realistically do to pressure funding agencies/universities to finance more equitable research?

# data[].attributes.body
Aren't the majority of scientific careers built on exploiting some other communitites, people, living and non-living things? We're not blaming, say, geologists for having a prominent career because of their cutting up a bunch of stones. I'm not saying that we can be shitty people, obviously it is important to stay respectful and grateful for the data that is shared with us, train in people skills and ethics etc etc. But I can't help but feel a bit offended that -- even though the general goal is the same, to describe and better understand the world around us -- linguists feel the blame and geologists don't. (No offence to geologists, just an example)

# data[].attributes.body
Do you believe the anthropologic community has already made bigger steps toward decolonization of anthropology? Can linguists take a leaf out of their book?

# data[].attributes.body
Is there currently any realistic way for a white European linguist to work with language data from a disenfranchised speaker community without exploiting that community?

# data[].attributes.body
We should think more about "where am I needed?" than "what do I want to do".

# data[].attributes.body
what do you consider proper compensation?

# data[].attributes.headline
Indigenous languages of Russia and decolonization of linguistics?

# data[].attributes.subject
Indigenous languages of Russia and decolonization of linguistics?

# data[].attributes.body
How do you see decolonization of linguistics in the contexts of the indigenous languages of Russia and the history or Russian colonialism?

# data[].attributes.body
Are (or why are) Western scholars perceived negatively?

# data[].attributes.headline
How do we decolonize the decolonization of linguistics?

# data[].attributes.subject
How do we decolonize the decolonization of linguistics?

# data[].attributes.body
The debate about decolonization and linguistics is dominated by ideas that mostly come from a few parts of the world. Most notably ideas originate in Anglo-Saxon countries like the USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and, perhaps to a somewhat lesser extent, Latin American countries. Very importantly and refreshingly, the debate is shaped by the perspective of indigenous scholars and language activists in these countries. However, different parts of the world have had different colonial histories and currently have different attitudes and situations. [...] In other words, with decolonization we address inequalities within a specific country/community, but is it at least as important to address inequalities between different regions of the world.

# data[].attributes.body
Would you have some advice or tips, some message to a typologist working on hundreds of languages in a comparative perspective?

# data[].attributes.body
I fully subscribe to efforts of decolonizing linguistics. Often, however, I find it unclear what the right or best conduct is because paradoxical situations abound in my field experience. For example, I collaborated with a community member intensively on a language description, which is reflected in both of our names featuring as publication authors. My collaborator, however, has not learned to read or write. Thus, his name is on a publication whose contents he cannot verify. Because of it being written and also because of the academic lingo and analysis. I feel that it is to a certain degree transgressive to attribute sth to him that he cannot verify or understand. Still, it would be (much) worse, I feel, to not render his essential contribution visible. And importantly, it is his wish to be named, so the decision is clear. However, this does not resolve the power hierarchy relating to our research outcomes.

I would appreciate discussion not just around abstract goals or principles, but around complex situations like the one I described above. Such complicated situations arise all the time in my experience and lack ready answers. Even if a certain conduct seems preferable, actually overcoming asymmetries can remain an almost or actually elusive goal.

# data[].attributes.body
I am not convinced by the metaphor of "extraction". Gold, diamonds, or logs, can only be at one place at a given point in time, and people who acquire them can take them with them when they leave.

This is different for information/data. If you give me data, you still have the data, which is different from me taking your gold.

If you look at the etymology of ex-tract, you find the idea of "taking away", which I cannot make any sense of in the context of, say, compiling morphological paradigms.

I find this metaphor to be misleading, and it should be replaced by something else which more appropriately describes the relation between Westerners and colonialized people (which can still be problematic)

# data[].attributes.body
There are some communities who have lost or nearly lost their heritage language. For them, access to records of their language may be a vital step in revitalising their language. However, this access is not always allowed. Restitution of language data should become part of the larger reconstitution dialogue/debate.