The Power & Limits of Language: Linguistic Reclamation as a Driver of Taíno Identity in Borikén Lucia Faria 2T1 Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Faculty of Social Sciences, Msc. International Politics The story of the Taíno people has been historically told from the narrative perspective of the dominant colonial viewpoint, which has been continuously employed as a tool to reinforce the idea of the Taíno community’s “extinction” or nonexistence. This paper outlines the role of the Taíno people as a key element within Caribbean indigeneity and demonstrates the central ways in which Taíno culture has been reinterpreted and carried forward in modernity. To this end, it assesses the lasting impact of language within the cultural landscape of Taíno nationhood. A B S T R A C T Keywords: Borikén, language reclamation, Taíno, Jíbaro-Borícua B I O Lucia Faria is a Brazilian-American graduate student passionate about Latin American affairs and politics, with a regional focus on the southern cone. She has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto and is currently pursuing a Master of Science at the University of Leuven in Brussels, Belgium. In her spare time, she writes opinion articles and commentary. © 2021 Lucia Faria Caribbean Studies Students’ Union, Canada - https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/cquilt/ This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution- ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ 11 Source: Lorianne DiSabato, “Taíno Mural,” June 21, 2013. (January 20, 2022 / 09:38:40) 122864-1b_CaribbeanQuilt_Vol7_rev.pdf .11 12 ����$OYDUH]�1D]DULR��0DQXHO��������$UTXHRORJtÕD�/LQJXtVWLFD��(VWXGLRV�0RGHUQRV�'LULJLGRV�$O�5HVFDWH�<�5HFRQVWUXFFLyQ� 'HO�$UDKXDFR�7DtÕQR��6DQ�-XDQ��(GLWRULDO�GH�OD�8QLYHUVLGDG�GH�3XHUWR�5LFR� ����)HOLFLDQRဨ6DQWRV��6KHULQD��³+RZ�'R�