Daghida: Cold Lake First Nation Works Towards (original) (raw)
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Daghida: Cold Lake first nation works towards Dene language revitalization
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The Daghida Project is a research alliance between the community of Cold Lake First Nations and the University of Alberta sponsored by the Social Sci-ences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. As is the case in many First Nations communities in North America (Blair & ...
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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.
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Many Indigenous languages in Canada are facing the threat of extinction. While some languages remain in good health, others have already been lost completely. Immediate action must be taken to prevent further language loss. Throughout Canada’s unacceptable history of expunging First Nations’ ways of life, systemic methods such as residential schools attempted to eradicate Indigenous cultures and languages. These efforts were not entirely successful but Indigenous language and culture suffered greatly. For Indigenous communities, language loss impaired intergenerational knowledge transfer and compromised their personal identity. Additionally, the cumulative effects of assimilation have contributed to poor mental and physical health outcomes amongst Indigenous people. However, language reclamation has been found to improve well-being and sense of community. To this objective, this paper explores the historical context of this dilemma, the lasting effects of assimilation, and how this ...
2009
The first steps taken by me to learn my tribal language took place in l983. They were reluctant and tentative, akin to a schoolboy distraction on a beautiful summer day. In retrospect, the language embraced me and whenever I experienced an apostasy revealed its power to me. My Blackfoot language is thousands of years old, the conduit of uncountable years of interaction between my people and the Creator. It is not composed of mere words, but instead embodies everything about us to the beginning of Blackfoot time. Today, I am content with the knowledge, insights and privileges it has provided to me. I have become friends with countless people I may have never met otherwise because of it. Knowing people contributing to revitalization of tribal languages blesses my memories, and enlightens my heart. Today is an example of the beauty of sharing our mutual love for our tribal languages. I greet you, honor you and embrace you in the fellowship of our cause. Today my wish is to encourage th...
The Cultures of Native North American Language Documentation and Revitalization
The reviewed books comprise an emerging ethnographic literature on endangered language documentation and revitalization in Native North America. Language loss and preservation are pressing concerns for tribal communities, galvanizing activists and researchers to develop classroom curricula and literacy traditions in hopes of producing new speakers. While the reviewed books show that this goal often goes unrealized, we nevertheless read them as grounds for optimism. Even if language revitalization rarely increases the everyday use of particular lexical and grammatical codes, it may succeed in accomplishing another important goal: facilitating indigenous communities’ efforts to create for themselves more meaningful contemporary cultures.
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In this brief essay it is my intent to address some of the key issues involving language and identity in North American indigenous communities. For this purpose I will employ the term North American indigenous communities to refer to groups generally known in the United States of America as Native Americans (excluding, however, Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders) and in Canada as First Nations. Although ways will be discussed in which indigenous attitudes towards language and identity have been changing in the entire region over the last hundred years, the primary examples will be taken from the Algonquian area, involving communities from Northeast Canada (Cree) to Northern Mexico (Kickapoo). For many illustrative examples of these trends I will draw on my fieldwork (Whittaker 1996) among the Sauk communities of Central Oklahoma and the NebraskaKansas border area, two groups officially known as the Sac & Fox Nation of Oklahoma and the Missouri.