PROJECT LANGUSIK is an investment in human capital. It is an investment in future generations, through increases in neurological development, socio-emotional learning, combating pediatric malnutrition, maximization of individual autonomy, and cultural grounding. 

 

        When Senegalese musician and ethnomusicologist, Gabi-Ba, and American musician and biologist Ricardo Jimenez began this project while teaching music together in Senegal in January of 2023, they started by asking themselves three fundamental questions. What connects us? What grounds us? What gives us the autonomy to navigate the varying intersections of life on a daily basis? We found two answers; Language and Music. 

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         Based on our past research, we quickly realized the power music has to transform the lives and minds of the next generation. We found this came in three major forms; biological, cultural, and intrapersonal. This comes in the form of social-emotional learning from the act of creating, dancing, listening, and making music with others, to the increase in brain development and inter-hemispheric communication from birth through adolescence. 

           During our time in Senegal, we worked intensively in Special Education and found that music had the potential to increase a child's language capacity but also give neurodivergent children the much-needed space to be and feel inclusion. This led to our partnering with psychologist Dr. Ibrahima Giroux, director of GEC-BELDO, who brought a deeper layer to the program, encouraging us to begin our program at childbirth given that the first 1000 days of life are the most crucial for brain development. He believes that standard education misses vital windows in children's development and that there is a need for such a program to give the next generation a running start. 

              While his work primarily focuses on a child's ability to contextualize their surroundings, which he poses as the main cause of the disjunction neurodivergent children feel, Dr. Giroux also opened the possibility for music to help fight malnutrition. Suppose children are in an environment in which they feel attention, love, and care. In that case, they are more likely to develop more sustainable associations with food which fights malnutrition in the long term. After much discussion, we all agreed that music provides the structure and framework that develop the ability to contextualize, and therefore, increase, for all children, their potential to navigate and excel in the world around them. 

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             Cultural appreciation, understanding, and autonomy provide individuals with the freedom and the confidence to navigate the different interactions of daily life and to become global citizens. We believe that when we see and experience prejudices, whether they come in the form of racism, xenophobia, anti-semitism, islamophobia, etc… these are manifestations of reactions based on fear, insecurity, and misunderstanding.

              We focused on insecurity. Fear and anger are the innate fears that come when confronted with the unfamiliar and unknown, but also from that which we don’t understand. How does culture play into this? We came to the consensus, that in order for one to embrace another culture with an open mind and acceptance, one must first understand and appreciate one's own culture; it is through this “cultural grounding” as we call it, that individuals have the “cultural security” to experience different ideas, individuals, and ways of life from a position that does not default to fear and uncertainty. Those with understanding fear not that which is not yet understood. This reclamation of cultural autonomy is fundamental to “Decolonize Your Mind.” 

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             The focus intrapersonal focus came from co-founder Ricardo Jimenez while on his Watson Fellowship around the world. He asked himself the question “What gives people the ability to navigate the various intersections we encounter on a daily basis?” For him, the answer was music. Being a second-generation Puerto Rican born in the United States, he found himself in a no-man land between two worlds, having roots in both yet belonging fully to neither. Music allowed him to navigate the intersection of his two identities to deepen his understanding of himself and in turn of those around him. 

            The power of sound, even language, and music was proven to him time and time again throughout his trip. Music also gives us the ability to communicate who we are to and with others in a language that transcends the barriers of everyday speech and the borders they reside. For us to know and understand others, we have to first know and understand ourselves. 

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When our team came together, we quickly realized our focus extended far beyond the borders of Senegal and West Africa. This mission is a global one. The investment we make in the next generation will single-handedly determine the level of prosperity we as people will be able to reach. This investment in ourselves, our culture, our language, and our music, is one that all people from all walks of live will benefit from. It is a modular program whose skeletal structure can be applied to any culture, language, and people. The more fluent we become in the language of music, the more fluent we become in understanding each other. 

 

The world needs a human awakening. 

 

The world needs Langusik. 

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