The Linguapax Institute, located in Barcelona, Spain, is a nongovernmental organization affiliated with UNESCO. Linguapax Asia, associate of the Linguapax Institute, carries out the objectives of the institute and of UNESCO's Linguapax Project, with a special focus on Asia and the Pacific Rim. The objectives cover issues ranging over multilingual education and international understanding, linguistic diversity, heritage and endangered languages, and links between language, identity, human rights and peace.
Frances Fister-Stoga, lecturer at Tokyo University, is director of Linguapax Asia. Her aim is to alert people to the Linguapax Institute and to UNESCO's Linguapax Project. She is largely responsible for Linguapax Asia's third international symposium, scheduled for next Saturday, Oct. 7, at the Komaba Campus of Tokyo University. The theme for discussion throughout the day will be "Who Owns Language?"
Born in Baltimore, Fister-Stoga grew up aware of multilingual families in her neighborhood. "The idea at that time in the USA was the melting-pot theory -- everyone should speak only English," she said. Her father, however, occasionally spoke Slovenian with her, as his parents were immigrants who carried much of their old culture with them. The child realized she had a cultural and linguistic heritage from Slovenia and Austria, and grew proud of it.