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Community Corner

It's Not Just the Rainforest: Endangered Languages in the Brazilian Amazon

Fr. Ron MacDonell, Ph.D., is a Scarboro Missions priest based in Toronto, Canada, where he currently serves as Vicar General of his institute. He was born in Nova Scotia, Canada, and joined Scarboro Missions as a lay missionary in 1980, working for two years among the Tzotzil people of Chiapas, Mexico. He was ordained a priest in 1986 and assigned to parish work in the Brazilian Amazon.

For the last twenty years, Fr. Ron has lived among the Makushi people of Roraima State in northern Brazil, sharing life and studying their language. He obtained formal linguistic training (MA in Phonology, Ph.D. in Sociolinguistics at Université Laval, Québec, Canada) and as his principal ministry, Fr. Ron has concentrated on language revitalization in Makushi communities, helping teachers and leaders to publish books (dictionaries, school workbooks, collections of legends) and to produce short radio programs. Fr. Ron has also accompanied other indigenous peoples (Wapichana, Yanomami, Kokama, Nheengatu, Tukano) throughout the Amazon region in the revitalization of their languages. He will discuss his work at Seton Hall University on Nov. 21, 2013 from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. in Arts and Sciences Hall 107. All are invited to attend.

For more information please contact:
Judith Stark
(973) 275-1242
judith.stark@shu.edu

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