Tag Archives: Indigenous Language revitalization

MODULE 4-ENTRY 5: Revitalizing Indigenous languages is key to reconciliation

Revitalizing Indigenous languages is key to reconciliation

This article points out in many ways why Canadian indegenous languages are disappearing. Based on these reflections and checks, the government is preparing various legal policies to revitalize indigenous languages at the government level as well as calling for reconsideration of the current government’s approach to legislation and policy thinking. The article emphasizes that Prime Minister Trudeau should faithfully fulfill his commitment to financial support for the revitalization of indigenous languages.

 

M4-P3 KAKWITENE VR- Language Revival and Retention

MoniGarr is an Onkwehone XR producer (amongst other titles) who asks a very important question: “As we decolonize, how do we teach and learn Kawkwitene language in a way that can minimize colonial values placed in our language?”

MoniGarr uses Ancient Intelligence (not Artificial Intelligence) to create a virtual garden embeded in the Kakwitene language.  The bright colours and flora are meant to replicate the “bright summer garden environment inspired by Iroquois Woodlands Raised Beadwork” (MoniGarr). The user enters the platform and has free navigation, there are no goals or quests to complete (like what can be found in more Western examples of gaming). Instead, one fly’s around almost like an insect onto “colorful pollen spores, which when flown into play audio recordings of Mohawk words. Users can repeat these words back to the VR system and improve their pronunciation” (MoniGarr). Users can repeat the words back through the head piece to work on pronunciation. What is interesting about this project is MoniGarr believe that language revival leads to a healthy way to “heal, overcome negative bias, and share a strong respectful message to All of Creation about each of our identities, values, and connections to our ancestors and homelands since time immemorial” (MoniGarr).

MoniGarr also conducted a small survey and concluded that new language learners were speaking with confidence within 3-7 minutes pers session. MoniGarr hopes that “our Onkwehonwehneha tactics, our source code, and software templates can be re-used by anyone working on similar projects” (MonGarr).

References 

MoniGarr. (2020). Kakwitene VR – First Person Scholar. http://www.firstpersonscholar.com/kakwitene-vr/

Greenwood, M.North Country at Work: Akwesasne’s Monica Peters designs virtual worlds. Retrieved from https://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/39534/20190918/north-country-at-work-akwesasne-s-monica-peters-designs-virtual-worlds

 

 

 

M2 P3: The Language of Wellness

I share this link to several hour long webinars from the First Nations Health Authority (FNHA) on the expression of language as a vehicle towards not only cultural preservation, but to wellness and healing as well.  These were forwarded to me through one of my colleagues at work, and it really goes along with my topic of Indigenous nursing students and the relationship between the current health care system and Indigenous peoples.  The length of the videos can be a little daunting, as some are over 1 hour in length, but they clearly demonstrate the need to preserve culture, language and Indigenous ways of knowing as a path to wellness, using modern technology to disseminate the teaching to as broad an audience as possible.  This was shared in the context of health care, but can apply to many different areas of interest.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDKOxTJMuk__vbbZpJtvQnSiHobUQxCLR

 

First Peoples’ Cultural Council [fnhealthcouncil]. (2021, June 9). The language of wellness [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/69w9f3aqzU8

Zimmerman, L. J., Zimmerman, K. P., & Bruguier, L. R. (2000). Cyberspace smoke signals: New technologies and Native American ethnicity. In C. Smith & G. K. Ward (Eds.), Indigenous cultures in an interconnected world (pp. 69–86). Amsterdam University Press. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com