Lips' Inking: Cree and Cree-Metis Authors' Writing of the Oral and What They Might Tell Educators (original) (raw)

Cree language use in contemporary children’s literature

Book 2.0, 2019

An increasing number of children’s books are being written, illustrated and published in Indigenous languages, responding to the urgent need for children to be exposed to their ancestral languages to further the goals of language revitalization across all ages and restore intergenerational language transmission. Such publications range in style from instructional language-learning books that feature a picture alongside associated text – helping children to learn words in a manner similar to using flashcards – to fully developed storybooks written entirely in an Indigenous language or in a bilingual format, with an Indigenous language and an official, national or colonial language sharing the same page. This article focuses on three recent books that have adopted the final approach outlined above – using English as the primary medium with Cree woven into the text throughout the book: Nimoshom and His Bus (Thomas 2017); Stolen Words (Florence 2017); and Awâsis and the World-Famous Bannock (Hunt 2019).

Being Cree in the 21st Century Through Language, Literacy, and Culture: Iyiniwoskinîkiskwewak (Young Women) Take on the Challenges

2013

In the 21st century in western Canada, the Cree Language faces the risk of obsolescence (Canada, 1996, 2002). Few children learn the language as their mother tongue; some schools offer Cree classes but primarily as a core second-language class, and children are not becoming fluent speakers. The development of immersion models is central to the retention of the Cree language if it is to survive through this century. This study is about Iyiniwoskinikiskwewak (young women) who are taking on their own journeys as language warriors (Alfred, 2005) with the assistance of Elders and fluent speakers at the Alliance Pipeline’s Young Women’s Circle of Leadership (APYWCL) summer camp. In this short eight-day program at the University of Alberta, young Aboriginal women explore the Cree language, traditional values, women’s roles and leadership, and contemporary skills, such as in drama and digital technology. In this paper we will illustrate how this summer program and the women who work in it a...

A future for Indigenous Language

Of all the Indigenous Languages that existed in the land that we call Canada, only three are expected to survive into the future: Inuktitut, Anishinabemowin, and Cree. Focusing on the Algonquian languages of Cree and Anishinabemowin, this paper will question why these languages have fared so well. It will also explore the importance of storytelling to Indigenous culture, the effects of translation, and the role of youth in language reclamation. Finally it will discuss why the reclamation of language is pivotal to Indigenous self determination.

Preparing Indigenous Language Advocates, Teachers, and Researchers in Western Canada

2000

As is evident in this statement, the Indigenous peoples of Canada recognize the value of their languages and have been concerned for some time about the possibility of the loss of this resource. Our intentions in this paper are to discuss the context of Indigenous language education in Western Canada, the hope of language revitalization, and the role of the

The Niichii Project: Revitalizing Indigenous Language in Northern Canada

TESOL in Context

Two Anishnabek kindergarten teachers discuss four principles of Indigenous pedagogies in a project with a university researcher that created a context for children to engage in activities to learn their Anishnabek language and culture, and create positive identities. The university researcher sent a rabbit puppet named Niichii (Friend), who was assigned the role of an Anishnaabek child whose family was from their Indigenous community but had moved away. Taking the role of Niichii’s Kokum (Grandmother), the university researcher asked the child to teach Niichii the community’s language and traditional ways. The teachers describe and interpret the learning activities of the Niichii project in terms of four elements of Indigenous pedagogies: intergenerational learning; experiential learning; spiritual learning involving interconnections with the land; and learning about relationality. Implications for other bilingual and multilingual contexts include creating role play contexts where c...

Exchanges Between Two Rivers: Possibilities for Teaching Writing in the Northwest Territories

In this paper, I reflect upon an action research investigation with experienced Non-Aboriginal teachers from the Northwest Territories into place-conscious writing practices. I focus on what the teachers said about the ongoing influences of Indigenous oral traditions on their writing pedagogies, using my own experiences as a Non-Aboriginal teacher in a Dene community as a heuristic. Finally, I consider the possibility that multiliteracies might provide a more dynamic conception of literacy that invites Northern student engagement through multimodal connections opening up spaces for Indigenous ways of knowing and being in approaches to teaching writing.

Indigeneity in Dialogue: Indigenous Literary Expression Across Linguistic Divides L’autochtonie en dialogue: l’expression littéraire autochtone au-delà des barrières linguistiques

Studies in Canadian Literature Etudes En Litterature Canadienne, 2010

his special section emerged from conversations between Michèle Lacombe and Heather Macfarlane at a conference entitled Littératures autochtones émergentes: Canada, Afrique du Nord, Océanie francophone, organized by Université Laval and held at Wendake 9-11 Sept 2008; the proceedings, edited by Maurizio Gatti and Louis-Jacques Dorais, are published with Montreal's Mémoire d'encrier press. Editors, writers, and scholars from three continents, all interested in French-language Indigenous literatures of the world (including Canada and Quebec), came together at this historic conference. Native writers and scholars in attendance shared many cultural values, despite national differences. Indigenous world views, experiences of European colonialisms, patterns of resistance, and interest in how oral literatures relate to writing dominated group discussions. The conference was inspiring and extremely enlightening, and led to dialogue between First Peoples across the globe.

‘Cree-English’: the Creative Word in the Poetry of Louise Halfe

Le Simplegadi, 2013

Per le popolazioni aborigene, la lingua non è solamente un veicolo di comunicazione, ma anche espressione della vera essenza della natura umana, simbolo di identità e mezzo per trasmettere gli insegnamenti del passato. Essa possiede una qualità spirituale che emana direttamente dalla Madre Terra e la stretta interdipendenza fra gli esseri umani, la terra e la lingua è al centro della filosofia culturale nativa. Con questo contributo si intende concentrare l'attenzione sulla creatività della parola indigena nell'opera di Louise Halfe, "Skydancer" e sull'uso del 'Cree-English', ibridazione linguistica che riflette il popolo e la cultura Cree.