Tag Archives: Native Languages

Tribal Libraries, Archives, and Museums – Spring 2012

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Week 1 – Welcome!

We are kicking off the new semester with the opening class of TLAM.  Seated around the beautiful wood circle table of 4246, ten classmates introduced themselves and the interests they are pursuing while enrolled in SLIS. Travis, Phillip, Rachel, Robin, Dorothy, Dawn, Jeanetta, and Tammy are all eager to begin what is sure to be an exciting, informative and inspirational semester.  Jeanetta will be our intrepid photographer for the semester, coaxing smiles from the unwilling, documenting guest lecturers, and preserving forever the record of our interaction with Wisconsin tribal communities.  Omar gave us an overview of the upcoming semester, the history of TLAM and updated everyone on the project partnerships.

Week 2 – Native Languages and Storytelling

This week TLAM focused on Wisconsin’s Native languages and storytelling.  Through an interactive online guide, we learned of the fragile state of Wisconsin’s Indigenous  languages.  Menominee elder John Teller has a long tradition of teaching his heritage language to Menominee students and is one of the storytellers participating in the 15th Annual Evening of American Indian Storytelling.  Andrew Thundercloud, a Ho-Chunk elder, is a first-language speaker who develops language curriculum for his tribe.  Lisa LaRonge is a second-language speaker of Ojibwe who started Waadookodaading ‘the ones who help each other’ or ‘they help each other’ an Ojibwe immersion charter school located at Hayward, WI.

At this time, there are approximately 175-200 indigenous languages in North America, with just a few that have  several thousand speakers; Na-Diné (in brick red), Ojibwe, and Cree (both in clay) .   The rest of the languages are either endangered or will be endangered as the elders who speak the languages pass on.  The map shows the immense linguistic diversity of North American indigenous languages.

Guest Speaker – Rand Valentine
Rand Valentine is the university’s resident expert on the Ojibwe and Odawa languages and TLAM was lucky enough to visit our class.  Rand has worked with Algonquian languages for over thirty years in Canada and Wisconsin and is dedicated to promoting and preserving endangered Native languages.  Every year he teaches Ojibwe and Odawa instructors on learning their heritage language and they, in turn, will pass along their knowledge to their students.   Language activists work to revive their heritage languages that boarding schools and assimilation policies have interrupted.  Rand is instrumental in passing along his knowledge not only to future language instructors, but UW students as well.   Additionally, Rand emphasized the importance of libraries and librarians in Native American communities and becoming a hero “…just like Julian…”.

Guest Speakers – Baraboo Project
Janice  Rice and Kelly Kraemer visited the class to give us updates on the Ho-Chunk Learning Center project.  Even though the project is in its nascence, there has already been an immense amount of work completed.  There is a large collection of good quality books, most of which have been catalogued by students.   Rather than purchasing a cataloguing package, the Baraboo library group decided to use Library Thing (librarything.com) to organize the center’s books.  Not only is this a free and easy way to catalogue books, it is also a creative way for small libraries to check out books to patrons, using the notes feature. When funds are limited, imaginations soar and come up with creative solutions.  More information will be available in the upcoming weeks for students who wish to participate in this project.

For those who are interested in more information on endangered Native American languages, there are the following references:

Texts

  • Goddard, Ives ed. (2006).  Handbook of North American Indians , vol. 17.  Washington, D.C. Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press.
  • Campbell, Lyle (1997). American Indian languages: the historical linguistics of Native America. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Mithun, Marianne. (1999). The languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

UW Courses

  • LING371 – Survey of North American Indian Languages – Dr. Monica Macaulay
  • Various # – Ojibwe I, II, III, IV – Dr. Rand Valentine
  • Various # – Ho-çak – Henning Garvin

Free online language information

-Tammy Goss

Evening of Storytelling – Reflections

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On Friday, February 3, TLAM attended The University of Wisconsin American Indian Studies Program’s 15th annual Evening of Storytelling. The night began with the Wunk Sheek Drum Group silencing us with their native song, sparking the mood that would encompass the night.

After a prayer, given to us by John Teller, onto the stage came Sunny Dooley, a storyteller from the Four Corners area of the southwest and member of the Chi Chil’ Tah community.  Sunny regaled us in Dine (or Navajo); an epic tale of Coyote and how his mischievous behavior led to his death.  Before stepping off the stage, she left us with a message to live your life in the best way possible.  Following Ms. Dooley was John Teller, the Menominee Language Liaison at College of Menominee Nation.  He told the story of the creation of the North Star by Manabush, a Menominee hero.  Last, but not least, Mark Dennings, a member of the Ojibwe, Oneida, and Menominee tribes, stepping in for Mary Louise Defender-Wilson, who was unable to participate, delivered a multimedia presentation which included personal anecdotes that related to traditional stories from his youth.  His stories illustrated a different way of looking at life, from a native perspective (clearly demonstrated by listening to two versions of the same song: Judy Garland versus Israel Kaʻanoʻi Kamakawiwoʻole’s Somewhere Over the Rainbow). He expressed how the native way is already in the place that Judy Garland yearns to be a part of, they do not have to wish for it because that is home.

Overall, the evening of storytelling left the audience with an incredible feeling of community. We left with the knowledge that this event was gift and that it should be cherished. For the two hours that we were among these storytellers, we became unified in the offering being bestowed upon us and we each grew in our own way from this gift.

- Dorothy Terry

Language, History, and Reel Injuns – TLAM 2011 Week 2

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We began our classroom journey this week in the company of Rand Valentine, associate professor of American Indian studies and linguistics, here at UW-Madison. Valentine came to speak to us about the ever-present need to fight a battle to save Native cultures, not only in our own country but all around the world. Although many languages have already been lost, there are a few that are involved in efforts towards revival here in our region. One of our teachers, Omar Poler has been learning his own beautiful and complex language, Ojibwe, with Valentine. We had a chance to read many insightful articles on Native languages and began reading Patty Loew’s book, Indian Nations of Wisconsin: Histories of Endurance and Renewal. Rand Valentine enthusiastically taught us about the many ways in which Ojibwe is one of the most sophisticated languages that he has ever encountered. We all listened intently, captivated with Valentine’s highly contagious exuberance and moved by his thoughtful presentation.

We also had the opportunity to watch a movie at the Chazen Museum of Art, here on the UW-Madison campus, called Reel Injun. We were presented first with a short film produced by the Screen Actors Guild, and its President’s National Task Force for American Indians which is chaired by the immensely charming, intelligent and talented actress, Delanna Studi, who is a member of the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma. We were lucky enough to be joined by Delanna as one of the three accomplished presenters who were asked to lead a panel discussion after the film was shown.

We all sat in a theatre full of people from all different places, and cultures. My husband and I, a white couple of German-American descent, could have felt very uncomfortable sitting in the front row; instead, we were made to feel incredibly warm, and welcomed into the conversation. J.D. , our emcee for the evening and a graduate student here, asked us to think of what we knew or thought we knew about Native American people before the film began. He asked us to think about all of the images we had held in our minds up until that point and then after the film, he would ask us to come together and discuss what had changed.

Reel Injun is a film by the Cree documentarian, Neil Diamond. Diamond steps us through a long and complicated history of Native American actors in films, or the lack of them, from the first days in the silent era through today; when many indigenous film makers are getting recognition for their contributions to this important and far-reaching art form. What we see in the film, is that there has been a lot of ground lost along the way. Despite early positive representation in silent film, Hollywood began to stereotype the Native American in popular westerns, and even children’s cartoons. This created a dangerously skewed image and this negative depiction unfortunately still exists in the minds of the masses today. Furthermore, the film shows us through true journeys into the heart of the American West, just how much this image has damaged views of Native people’s around the world. Instead of being thought of as distinct and sovereign nations living in a contemporary world, many indigenous peoples are seen as caricatures from the past, lost in the dust and forever suspended in some daguerreotype image.  His film shows us how, through Hollywood’s lens, many people around the world view all native Americans as being Plains Indians in dress and having the same histories and cultures despite being in actuality, very distinct. Most of these films take place in the American Southwest. Movies like John Ford’s, The Searchers, create sub-human images which are then projected onto all the distict cultures of Native Americans at once—as a whole. The filmmaker travels across the country to speak with some of our real-life heroes about how they became activists who have lived to tell the real stories of many Native cultures.

After the film, we concluded with a thoughtful panel discussion by our three presenters, J.D., Delanna Studi, and Richie Plass. Plass, a member of the Menominee and Stockbridge-Munsee Nations and an educator and musician, seems to me to be one of the funniest and most sincere people on the planet. He informed us of his work, trying to fight the depiction of  American Indians as used in mascots and logos. These unfair depictions further perpetuate the stereotypes which may have been begun by Hollywood in an attempt to erase a part of American history which reflects badly on us as a nation. This history, as we all know, needs to be discussed fully and openly amongst all people and not left for Hollywood to decide. Just like our meeting at the Chazen, people need to talk about the issues to begin resolve some of these wrongs.

One of the most important parts of our discussions during this evening centered around Native actors and filmmakers increasing presence both in front of and behind the camera; writing, directing and producing these films to try and undo some of this damage. Delanna Studi is working to improve the quality of acting by making sure that Native American actors are seen by casting directors. These directors and writers can no longer say that there are no Native actors to take these roles, or to write stories for. She says that it is our duty to encourage talented writers of any age to provide good stories for the world which will help to represent Native voices in this business.

As the evening wrapped up, I looked around the room of people all chatting happily with one another and felt grateful for being invited to participate in this truly enriching event.
-Jessica Miesner
1. PBS.org website for Reel Injun
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/reel-injun/

2. Reel Injun at the Chazen Museum advertisement
http://mcdsocst.wikispaces.com/file/view/Reel+Injun+uw+mad+jan+28.pdf

3. Richie Plass’s Native Voices website and also his STAR page
http://www.nativevoices.net/richieplass.html

http://www.racismagainstindians.org/Indian101/

and you can watch a little video of him here
http://indiancountrynews.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4896&Itemid=131

4. Rand Valentine’s AIS faculty page
http://amindian.wisc.edu/Valentine.html

5. Website on the first 8-minute film, American Indian Actors
http://blog.theautry.org/2010/11/16/starring-native-american-actors/

6. Delanna Studi IMDB
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1130669/bio

TLAM Week 2 – Language

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This year’s TLAM begins with language.  There are many Indigenous languages still spoken in Wisconsin and thinking about their significance, survival, and revitalization seems like a good place to start our semester-long journey.

TLAM Spring 2010

2010 TLAM with Rand

To help us understand the importance of language, we invited Rand Valentine, the director of the American Indian Studies Program and a Professor of Linguistics at UW-Madison, to speak with us.  Rand has been a Anishinaabemowin learner, teacher, and researcher for over 20 years and has worked with communities in the US and Canada.  He has also participated for many years in the Native Language Instructors’ Program (NLIP), a summer program taught at Lakehead University, in Thunder Bay, Ontario, which certifies Ojibwe and Cree language teachers to teach in the province of Ontario.

Rand was really memorable.  He began the discussion by noting our  location on the 4th floor of Helen C. White Hall.  We have an amazing view of Lake Mendota, but we’re separated from the Earth by four floors of concrete.  And this is our contemporary norm.  Native languages, however, are the sum of thousands of years of close relationships with the land — an experience they may never happen again in human history.  Languages express the collective knowledge of countless human lives.  They reflect a deep connection to the Earth and are impossible to replace.

We also learned about language revitalization efforts.  From the Potawatomi Cultural Center Library & Museum’s impressive website and online language materials to the Ho-Chunk Immersion Daycare that’s teaching young children to be first language speakers (the first in over 50 years!), there’s a lot of important work going on in Wisconsin for language maintenance and revitalization.

From left to right: Omar Poler, Joey Awonohopay, Stephanie Dodge, Nancy Jones, Mary Louise Defender-Wilson

Speaking of revitalization, on Friday (January 29) we also had the great fortune to meet and listen to three amazing storytellers who are themselves leaders in language revitalization.  As part of the 13th Annual Evening of American Indian Storytelling event, Nancy Jones (Ojibwe), Mary Louise Defender-Wilson (Dakota-Hidatsa), and Joey Awonohopay (Menominee), each shared stories with the UW-Madison community which were first told in both their first language and English.

What’s more, four TLAM students were involved in either organizing the event or introducing the speakers!  Great job Stephanie, Josie, Christina, and Omar!