“Research” is probably one of the dirtiest words in the indigenous world’s
vocabulary
This great quote is used in this very enlightening essay on research methodologies being used when examining Indigenous issues. Written from a New Zealand perspective, this short book review, the author attempts to help us remove our conventional sense of how to view and frame any academic investigation of indigenous issues. One of the central ideas mentioned is that there is a great need for more research done by indigenous peoples who can provide great insight into the area being examine. Failing that, it is important that researchers look upon their subject without a western lens but rather with a more open minded approach to their thinking. A very provocative read.
The Gift of Language and Culture Project website was created in collaboration by four Bands in Saskatchewan. In 2005 a language curriculum was created for students from PreK to grade 9. There is a core curriculum and an immersion curriculum as well as resources for teaching First Nations languages.
The curriculum is well laid out and easy to follow. It would be beneficial for any teacher of Cree students however it could also serve as a starting point for teachers whose students speak a different language.
I am more and more interested in language preservation. I know there are things going on in Saskatchewan to aid in language preservation but I had no idea that there were opportunities to learn FN languages online.
The website below is the Saskatchewan First Nation Speaking Project. It has free material for teachers on FN languages and it has more than 800 audio files so people can listen and learn online.
The Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Centre is committed to helping maintain the languages and cultures of First Nations people. Their website has information on the various First Nations in Saskatchewan as well as a section on how to respect Elders. The website has information that could easily be used with students.
This article, Native Americans Fight to Save Endangered Languages. was found in LiveScience , February 2012. The author, Clara Moskowitz, discusses the possible disappearnace of many Native languages, and the methods used to try to revive the languages before they become extinct. Moskowitz introduces Alfred Lane, the sole fluent speaker of the Native American language Siletz Dee-ni. In response to the decline of this language, a group started teaching it in school twice a week. It may yet survive, but the future is uncertain.
Molowitz also talks of a online talking dictionary sponsored by National Geographic’s Enduring Voices project and the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages, This dictionary is a collection of the many endangered languages.
“As native peoples assimilate more and more into the dominant cultures around them, and as younger generations grow up speaking dominant languages like English in school and with their peers, fewer and fewer people are becoming fluent in native tongues.” With the loss of the native language, follows a loss of culture and a knowledge base of animals and plants.
Margaret Noori, a professor at the University of Michigan offers a suggestion to keep a language alive. She says that we must create in it . She teaches Ashininaabemowin language through the use of technology. She has websites about the language, and she uses social media, like Facebook, and Twitter, to spread the word. The survival of the language is dependent on the younger generation taking up the cause, following the language and the culture.
Marie Smith knows that her language – the Alaskan tongue of Eyak – will die with her. And she mourns its passing.
On June 13, 2004 Dennis O’Brien , for the Baltimore Sun, wrote Ancient tongues fade away: Languages: As roads, technology and the global economy reach once-isolated areas, old ways of communicating are dying off. This article explores the disappearance of languages and possible reasons. “Krauss and other linguists blame the losses on economic and social trends, politics, improved transportation and the global reach of telecommunications.” Global economics pull people from the smaller isolated areas. And for those who don’t leave, the internet and WWW reach into their homes. O’Brien relates that over half the world’s population communicate using only 15 languages. Thus many other languages are only spoken by handfuls (or less) of people.
“Krauss says that about half of the 200 languages native to North America will probably die out over the next century because so few children are picking up them up” As the language dies , so too does part of the culture. “The fight to save other dying languages is more of an uphill battle. Critics argue that it’s a waste of time and money if cultural trends dictate their eventual demise.” Yet some languages are being saved. With great, effort people are recording and transcribing. While others are passing along the sounds and nuances to younger generations.
“Linguists say that a society’s culture and history die out when its language expires” After all, language is connected to culture.
Speaking of saving languages, here is a new article dated Sept, 2013. It tells of “Dr. Marguerite MacKenzie and her team are finalists for the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight Award in recognition of their groundbreaking work on the preservation of the Innu language.” The group created an online dictionary to translate from English to the Innu language. All is not lost.
“The world loses a language every two weeks” – Wade Davis
The IRCA (Indigenious Remote Communications Association) “is the peak body that represents and advocates for the media and communications interests of remote and very remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Australia.” This site discusses the importance of maintaining and strengthening the languages of aboriginal groups. Languages hold a key to the tranmission of culture, ideas, values, etc and often some information can not be translated into nother language, say English, wihout losing the importance of the information. Therefore, it is imperative that the languages of aboriginal peoples be maintained.
IRCA “believes that strong language and culture are fundamental to strengthening Indigenous identity and culture.”
Languages contain complex understandings of a person’s culture, their identity and their connection with their land. Language enables the transference of culture and cultural knowledge across generations. Languages are a source of pride and strength.
The site goes on to list several key reasons for languages. These include 1) Culture 2) Health, Education, Employment 3) Heritage 4) Economics 5) Science and Sustainability 6) Reconciliation. IRCA also offers many documents and reports that support indigenious languages.
Combining two of the themes from my previous post (language and ecotourism in Tofino) is the Long Beach Radio Web Log, Tofino and Ucluelet’s Local Radio. I found it incredibly interesting that this radio station has a link on it’s website called “Local Language”. While this section is relatively new and doesn’t contain a ton of information, their note promises that the page will continue to grow as the program develops. They do have various links and sample audio so that you can become familiar with the Nuu Chah Nulth language.
In the interview of Dr. Lorna Williams that we watched in module 6, she spoke at length about language. Both about the systematic attempt to wipe out First Nations languages through residential schools and the attempts to reteach those languages through programs within her community. At one point she is speaking about creating these programs from scratch and identifies the challenge of what happens to a language when it becomes coded and static… when it shifts from an oral tradition to a literate one. Certainly one of those challenges is the constraints that are put on by the roman alphabet of the keyboard. A few of our readings have made reference to programs that you can download but I had yet to see one until I came across this site that allows you download fonts for a large number of First Nations in North America, including this page for the Haisla People how live near Kitamaat (they are among the First Nations who are standing against the Enbridge pipeline).
I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Dr. Lorna William’s podcast tonight. As I dug a bit deeper, I found that she, along with Dr. Nancy Turner, also works for UVic.
Dr. William’s specialty remains with linguistics and the revitalization of indigenous languages. The last 5 minutes of her podcast really captured how I feel about technology in a nutshell; if I feel it is useful for my students and myself, I will use it.
To quote from her podcast:
“So what about technology during that period? We always tried whatever technology was around. If it worked we kept it and used it. If it didn’t work, we didn’t. So the question always is, “What part of technology do you use?” Because you could spend a lot of time on technologies that just take your energy and your time away from what you are actually supposed to do. The question is, “What do you want to happen and how can technology support the work that you do?
And also, “What are the limitations of the technologies?” So for example, if you look at the writing systems of people around BC, if you look at people’s orthographies, they are combinations of the international phonetics alphabet and the Roman alphabet…modified, but a lot of that came because we were developing these during the times of the IBM Selectric typewriter. We found somebody in Hawaii who could modify the Selectric IBM ball and put characters on that ball that we needed. So, that’s why, that’s how what was available technology-wise resulted in what we have.
In retrospect, she makes the observation that through the use of technology, limitations are placed on culture, specifically language, in the conversion of an oral means of communication to a literate means of communication. Technology helps “create the context of the orthography of the language.”
I like how she also recognizes that a lot of time, energy, and money is spent trying to learn new technologies, when we could be actually doing the work we set out to accomplish. In our district, BCESIS is a prime example of software that many teachers were forced to use. This technology (a “gradebook” application) was very difficult for most to learn and couldn’t effectively accomplish that which it was designed to do, but because the decision was made “top down” to roll out its implementation, it cost taxpayers of BC approximately $100 million, only to be dropped 6 years after its adoption. This was, in my view, a colossal waste of time and money.
