On the latest episode of the Wikimedia Community Ireland Podcast, we spoke to language activist Lucy Chinyeaka Iwuala about protecting and revitalising the Igbo language. In this new podcast episode, Lucy explains how the online space is a global village and presents a vital opportunity for minority language advocacy and digital preservation. She also provides insight into how the language contains cultural identities, history and is dynamic and ever-changing.
Rising Voices is a Global Voices outreach project that supports underrepresented communities who want to tell their own stories using digital media. By offering training, resources, microgrants, and mentoring, the initiative helps these communities, especially those speaking endangered or indigenous languages, join the global conversation and share their perspectives online.
Wikimedia Community Ireland recently joined their campaign that brings together a diverse group of Wikimedia Affiliate Groups to co-organise local workshops focused on digital activism for Indigenous, minoritised, or low-resource languages.
These workshops will incorporate elements of the Rising Voices – UNESCO toolkit project “Digital Initiatives for Indigenous Languages,” which has been adapted to a number of virtual and in-person workshops over the past several years.
In this episode, we talk to Lucy, a member of the Igbo Wikimedians User Group who is taking part in the initiative. We learn more about her unique and diverse language community, the challenges they face and the importance of initiatives like Rising Voices in strengthening their language in the digital space.
Read more aboout our collaboration with Rising Voices here.
About Our Guest
Lucy Chinyeaka Iwuala is a Wikimedian, language professional, and cultural heritage advocate dedicated to bridging digital gaps for African languages. With a focus on Igbo and other indigenous African languages, she works to expand online content, empower women contributors, and leverage technology for linguistic preservation. Her initiatives combine digital literacy training with community-driven projects to ensure underrepresented voices take part in shaping the digital narrative of Africa’s cultural heritage.
About the Igbo Language
Igbo language is one of the most spoken ethnic languages in Nigeria and is spoken by the Igbo people who are native to the present-day South Eastern Nigeria with an estimated population of 34 million (2016 est.), excluding Igbo people in the diaspora. Small ethnic Igbo populations are also found in Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea.
The aim of the Igbo Wikimedians User Group is to leverage this huge number of people who speak the Igbo language to ensure that content production and consumption in the various Igbo Language platforms of Wikimedia is given front row focus.
Resources and Books mentioned:
- ÌGBÒ: A beginner’s guide to learn how to read, understand, speak and write the Ìgbò language by Amarachi Attamah-Ugwu
- Omenka App
- ‘Things Fall Apart’, a novel by Chinua Achebe
- Global Voices Website: https://rising.globalvoices.org/
- UNESCO toolkit “Digital Initiatives for Indigenous Languages”: https://rising.globalvoices.org/digital-initiatives-for-indigenous-languages/
Igbo Wikimedians User Group promoting SDGs, Iwuala Lucy, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
