Indigenous Ways of Knowing for the Twenty-First Century
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Dædalus Dædalus Journal of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences Spring 2018 Unfolding Futures: Indigenous Ways of Knowing for the Twenty-First Century Philip J. Deloria, K. Tsianina Lomawaima, Bryan McKinley Jones Brayboy, Mark N. Trahant, Loren Ghiglione, Douglas Medin & Ned Blackhawk, guest editors with Heidi Kiiwetinepinesiik Stark Kekek Jason Stark · Amy E. Den Ouden Rosita Kaaháni Worl · Heather Kendall-Miller Noelani Goodyear-Ka‘ōpua · Bryan Kamaoli Kuwada Nanibaa’ A. Garrison · Arianne E. Eason Laura M. Brady · Stephanie A. Fryberg Cheryl Crazy Bull · Justin Guillory · Gary Sandefur Kyle Whyte · Megan Bang · Ananda Marin Teresa L. McCarty · Sheilah E. Nicholas · Kari A. B. Chew Natalie G. Diaz · Wesley Y. Leonard · Louellyn White Hear Our Languages, Hear Our Voices: Storywork as Theory and Praxis in Indigenous-Language Reclamation Teresa L. McCarty, Sheilah E. Nicholas, Kari A. B. Chew, Natalie G. Diaz, Wesley Y. Leonard & Louellyn White Abstract: Storywork provides an epistemic, pedagogical, and methodological lens through which to exam- ine Indigenous language reclamation in practice. We theorize the meaning of language reclamation in di- verse Indigenous communities based on firsthand narratives of Chickasaw, Mojave, Miami, Hopi, Mo- hawk, Navajo, and Native Hawaiian language reclamation. Language reclamation is not about preserving the abstract entity “language,” but is rather about voice, which encapsulates personal and communal agen- cy and the expression of Indigenous identities, belonging, and responsibility to self and community. Story- work–firsthand narratives through which language reclamation is simultaneously described and practiced– shows that language reclamation simultaneously refuses the dispossession of Indigenous ways of knowing and re-fuses past, present, and future generations in projects of cultural continuance. Centering Indigenous experiences sheds light on Indigenous community concerns and offers larger lessons on the role of language in well-being, sustainable diversity, and social justice. In 2007, following twenty-two years of Indigenous activism, the United Nations General Assembly ap- proved the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (undrip). Among its provisions is the right of Indigenous peoples “to revitalize, use, develop and transmit to future generations their histories, lan- guages, oral traditions, philosophies, writing systems and literatures.”1 This right goes unchallenged for speakers of dominant languages, but is systemati- cally violated for speakers of Indigenous languages throughout the world. Of approximately seven thou- sand known spoken languages, 50 to 90 percent are predicted to fall silent by century’s end. Two-thirds of those would be Indigenous languages.2 In these contexts, languages are not replaced but rather dis- © 2018 by the American Academy of Arts & Sciences doi:10.1162/DAED_a_00499 160 placed through policies designed to eradi- Lumbee scholar Bryan Brayboy asserts the McCarty, cate linguistically encoded knowledges and role of storytelling in theory building: “Lo- Nicholas, Chew, Diaz, cultural identifications with those associat- cating theory as something absent from sto- Leonard & ed with dominant-class ideologies. The re- ries is problematic. Stories serve as the White sult of state-sponsored linguicide–which basis for how our communities work.”7 novelist and postcolonial theorist Ngũgĩ wa And Paul Kroskrity notes, Native storytell- Thiong’o has called “the linguistic equiv- ing contains “an action-oriented emphasis alent of genocide”3–is worldwide Indige- on using . narratives for moral instruc- nous-language endangerment. tion, healing, and developing culturally rel- We take as foundational premises the in- evant tribal and social identities.”8 herent human right to learn, use, and trans- Second, we distinguish between language mit a language of heritage and birth and the and voice. Language, bilingual education fact that linguistic diversity is an enabling scholar Richard Ruiz writes, “is general, resource for individuals and society. Howev- abstract, and exists even when it is sup- er, more than universalist notions of linguis- pressed”; in contrast, “when voice is sup- tic rights and the quantification of Indige- pressed, it is not heard–it does not exist.”9 nous-language endangerment, we valorize Like Ruiz, we equate voice with agency; as an enduring tradition of Indigenous per- the storywork that follows illuminates, this sistence in which linguistic diversity is the is not simply an intellectualized experience most reliable guide toward the future for In- of identity (it is not about language in a gen- digenous peoples. As Mary Hermes and Kei- eral or abstract sense), but an embodied ex- ki Kawai‘ae‘a write, diverse Indigenous lan- perience of personal belonging and respon- guages have persisted over many centuries, sibility. From this perspective we explore sometimes going “underground” during the the ways in which language reclamation is most oppressive times; thus, it is ahistori- part of larger Indigenous projects of resil- cal to speak of reclamation as “new.”4 We ience, rediscovery, sovereignty, and justice. foreground the possibilities inherent in a vi- Third, we argue that language reclama- tal Indigenous-language reclamation move- tion is not about returning to an imagined ment, which represents the forward-look- “pure” form of an ancestral language. In- ing legacy of the survivors of assimilation stead we highlight the dynamic, multisit- programs. Centering Indigenous experi- ed, heteroglossic, and multivocal character ences sheds light on Indigenous communi- of Indigenous-language reclamation,10 un- ty concerns and offers broader lessons on derscoring that the “success” of these ef- the role of language in individual and com- forts must be locally defined but also ex- munal well-being, sustainable diversity, and ternally shared–a movement toward mo- social justice for all oppressed peoples. bilizing strategic new global alliances and We develop three themes in this essay. protocols of collaboration.11 First, we privilege what Stó:lō scholar Jo-ann We first present five narrative accounts Archibald calls storywork: experiential nar- of language renewal: Chickasaw, Mojave, ratives that constitute epistemic, theoreti- Miami, Hopi, and Mohawk. The narratives cal, pedagogical, and methodological lens- represent “story work in action”;12 in tell- es through which we can both study and ing individual and communal journeys, each practice language reclamation.5 As meth- author demonstrates the significance of od, storywork provides data in the form of stories as empirically grounded cultural re- firsthand accounts6 through which to gain sources for recovering and sustaining Indig- insight into the meaning of language recla- enous knowledges and identities.13 We con- mation in diverse Indigenous communities. clude with a final narrative that speaks to our 147 (2) Spring 2018 161 Storywork as anchoring themes and the meaning of story- Throughout my work, I have built rela- Theory and work for Indigenous language reclamation. tionships with Chickasaw people deeply Praxis in Indigenous- committed to learning and teaching Chi- Language Chikashshanompa’ is a Muskogean language kash shanompa’. One was Elder fluent Reclamation spoken by less than fifty people, most of whom speaker Jerry. While I knew Jerry as a pa- reside within the Chickasaw Nation in south- tient and dedicated language teacher, he central Oklahoma. As Kari Chew relates, Chick- had not always been that way. For many asaw people consider Chikashshanompa’ a gift years, Jerry was skeptical of younger gen- “with which to speak to each other, the land, the erations’ interest in Chikashshanompa’ plants, the animals, and the Creator.”14 Though because he believed that the language was centuries of colonization have disrupted the con- destined to perish with his generation. He tinuity of intergenerational language transmis- asked those who approached him wanting sion, the Chickasaw Nation is actively undertak- to learn, “If I teach you, who are you go- ing a multipronged language reclamation effort. ing to speak to? There’s nobody else that The story of language loss and reclama- speaks it and I’m not going to live forever.” tion in my family begins in 1837, when the In time, persistent language learners con- U.S. government forced my great-great- vinced Jerry to teach them. Despite his ini- great-grandparents from their Southeast- tial reluctance, Jerry came to embrace lan- ern homelands to present-day Oklahoma. guage work as his life’s calling. The young- Their children, who attended English-lan- er people he taught were eager to learn and guage boarding schools, were the last gen- began to speak the language well. Seeing eration in my family to learn Chikashsha- their dedication and progress made Jerry nompa’ as a first language. I was raised in reconsider his perception of Chikashsha- Los Angeles, where my grandparents re- nompa’ as a “dying” language. He posed located after leaving the Chickasaw Na- his question again: “If I weren’t here any- tion. Though it was important to my fami- more, who’s going to carry [Chikashsha- ly to visit and maintain a connection “back nompa’] on?” But this time he had an an- home,” the language was not spoken or swer: the younger generations of commit- talked about among my relatives. ted language learners “would carry it on.” I did not know my language as a child, but Coming from a family that did not “car- I believe it has always been