By Madeline McGill
Many Indigenous languages, once prominently spoken across North America, have been threatened as their speakers continue to age and new generations are born into an English-dominant society. For numerous Tribal Nations, the number of native speakers has fallen dangerously low, often into the single digits.
It has been through the efforts of elders, educators, and interested youth that Nations have started to see a movement to re-vitalize endangered languages.
Cultural Survival Quarterly contributing arts editor Phoebe Farris recently spoke with Tony Castanha, author of The Myth of Indigenous Caribbean Extinction: Continuity And Reclamation in Boriken (Puerto Rico) [Palgrave Macmillian, a division of St.Martin’s Press, New York, NY, 2011] about his recent work.
By Madeline McGill
Since it’s opening, the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) has dedicated itself to the promotion of native identity and cultural understanding. Now celebrating the 10th anniversary of the D.C. museum, it is launching an ambitious exhibit this September that seeks to highlight the role of treaties between the United States and Native Nations.
By Sophia Mitrokostas
In 2008, Eyak became the first Native language declared extinct in Alaska. Now, with the help of the internet and a grant from the Administration for Native Americans, Eyak is also on its way to becoming the first language in the state to be brought back to life.
By Sophia Mitrokostas
A.J. Perry’s second novel, The Old People, is not a page-turner. And it doesn’t seek to be.
Situated in an indeterminate time and locale, Perry’s novel details the ways of the eponymous Old People. This community has simple needs: rope, fire, hewn stone and, perhaps most importantly, knots.
For forty-eight years, the Smithsonian Institution has been fostering creativity and learning by sponsoring and presenting the free Smithsonian Folklife Festival which occurs annually on the National Mall in Washington D.C. This year, the festival occurred from June 25-29and starts again on July 2 through July 6.
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that we are headquartered on Massachusett land, in Cambridge, MA, and we thank the past, current, and future Indigenous stewards of this territory.
