Yakalo Collective is a 501(c)(3) organization that was founded in 2020 with the specific purpose of

• increasing public understanding of, and communication about, different cultures and languages of human-animal-land relationships within and beyond the United States of America.

Our name represents the intersectional interests of modern language communities and cultural communities, many of whom find themselves far removed from the lands their ancestors called home. A yakalo is a cross between a yak and a buffalo, representing the dual identities that so many of us hold thanks to our cross-cultural heritages and experience. A collective, in our view, is a coming-together of many people to create something greater than they could accomplish through their isolated efforts alone.

For the past few years, we have been building partnerships and focusing our efforts on technological innovation for the benefit of local and international language communities through our flagship project, Dito, an online language documentation, conservation, learning, and collaboration app designed for spoken languages and dialects. Many human-animal-land relationships (yes, including plants!) develop on a daily basis, and standardized written languages do not keep up with the constantly evolving parlance of those relationships. As technology, based largely on written language, claims more of people’s time and attention in the modern age, Dito will serve as a bridge for knowledge sharing between literate communities and communities who remain committed to their oral traditions and spoken forms of knowledge.

Stay tuned for more about Dito!