Preserving Languages in Memory Institutions throughout the world

By Sarah, Rosemary, Laura, Kristin

Lost Languages

Hunter-gatherer lifestyle led to small communities

Small communities growLanguage developsWarSmaller communities overtaken by largerWritten languages vs oral langaugesLoss of languagesGlobalizationEx: United States, Europe, Canada, Africa

Introduction

United States and the American Indian2/3 of native

languages are gone192 remaining

languages are considered “extinct” or “in danger”

Oral tradition in language

1492 contactDisease, war, famine, controlCivilization Fund Act 0f 1819, monies given to

society to “educate” Native AmericansAssimilationIndian Removal Act of 1830, move out West

onto reservations

Brief History

Revitalization vs documentationAudio recordingsSchool and community language programsUniting elders and the youth of the communityUNESCO 1987, 1989, 1996 Universal

Declaration of Language Rightshttp://www.unesco.org/cpp/uk/declarations/

linguistic.pdfNative American Languages Act 1992

Language emersion campsMaster-apprentice programs

What can be done?

Elders are distrustfulAttempting to encourage youth to get

involvedDominant United States culture

Television in EnglishNo school programs in Native LanguagesLanguage of the Government Act, English as

national language

Problems

Set up by Congress 19961500 linear ft of paper archives, over 300, 000

images, 12,000 video images and audio clipsmission statement seeks to preserve and exhibit

Native culture specifically language3 buildings comprising the NMAI is the Cultural

Resources Center (community outreach)2% of collection is modernIncorporate oral traditions and current cultural

perspectivehttp://www.nmai.si.edu/

National Museum of the American Indian

NMAI Programs Our Universes: Traditional

Knowledge Shapes Our World Ongoing NMAI on the National Mall, Washington, DC

Our Universes focuses on indigenous cosmologies—worldviews and philosophies related to the creation and order of the universe—and the spiritual relationship between humankind and the natural world. Organized around the solar year, the exhibition introduces visitors to indigenous peoples from across the Western Hemisphere who continue to express the wisdom of their ancestors in celebration, language, art, spirituality, and daily life.

Return to a Native Place: Algonquian Peoples of the Chesapeake Ongoing NMAI on the National Mall, Washington, DC

Meet the Native peoples of the Chesapeake Bay region–what is now Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware–through photographs, maps, ceremonial and everyday objects, and interactives. This compact exhibition educates visitors on the continued Native presence in the region, and provides an overview of the history and events from the 1600s to the present that have impacted the lives of the Nanticoke, Powhatan, and Piscataway tribes. The exhibition was curated by Gabrielle Tayac, Ph.D. (Piscataway).

Wampanoag Indians of Massachusettslost for over 100 years until 1993 when Jessie Little Doe Baird started

studying word stems passed onto daughter

Native American Film and Video Festival, 30 year anniversary

Incorporation of audio recordings, Tewa people of New Mexicohttp://culturalpropertylaw.wordpress.com/2009

/04/16/endangered-languages-protecting-native-american-languages/

Successes

http://www.nmai.si.edu/http://culturalpropertylaw.wordpress.com/200

9/04/16/endangered-languages-protecting-native-american-languages/

http://0-www.jstor.org.www.whitelib.emporia.edu/stable/4168870?&Search=yes&term=languages&term=native&term=american&term=protecting&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dprotecting%2Bnative%2Bamerican%2Blanguages%26wc%3Don&item=2&ttl=2562&returnArticleService=showArticle

Wikipedia.com

Resources