Supporting Indigenous Language and Cultural Resurgence with Digital Technologies
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Supporting Indigenous Language and Cultural Resurgence with Digital Technologies November 2016 Supporting Indigenous Language and Cultural Resurgence with Digital Technologies 2 November 2016 Suggested reference for this report: Perley, D., O’Donnell, S., George, C., Beaton, B. & Peter-Paul, S. (2016). Supporting Indigenous Language and Cultural Resurgence with Digital Technologies. Fredericton: Mi’kmaq Wolastoqey Centre. University of New Brunswick, November. Cover photograph: UNB Elder-in-Residence Imelda Perley sharing cultural knowledge with the developers of the Mi’kmaq Wolastoqey Centre Language App. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors. We thank the authors cited for publishing and therefore making available their work for review. We offer our thanks as well to everyone who contributed to the research discussed in this report, including the many members of Indigenous communities for sharing their experiences, thoughts and wisdom. The report was prepared by the Mi’kmaq-Wolastoqey Centre at the University of New Brunswick as a Knowledge Synthesis project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). We thank our funder for their support. This report is available for download on the MWC website: http://unb.ca/mwc CONTACT INFORMATION David Perley Director, Mi’kmaq-Wolastoqey Centre University of New Brunswick PO Box 4400 Fredericton, New Brunswick E3B 5A3 Tel: (506) 453-4840 Fax: (506) 453-4784 Email: [email protected] Web: http://unb.ca/mwc Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MikmaqWolastoqeyCentre Supporting Indigenous Language and Cultural Resurgence with Digital Technologies 3 Table of Contents What do we lose when we lose our language? ............................................................................ 4 1 Executive summary .......................................................................................................................... 5 2 Key messages and recommendations ........................................................................................ 7 Key message #1: A “whole community” approach is required ........................................................ 7 Recommendations for Indigenous individuals and families ........................................................................ 8 Recommendations for Indigenous communities and community organizations ............................... 8 Recommendations for Indigenous community educators ............................................................................ 9 Key message #2: A community or nation should own and control its digital language resources ........................................................................................................................................................... 9 Recommendations for Indigenous communities .............................................................................................. 9 Recommendations for governments ...................................................................................................................... 9 Key message #3: Indigenous people should control the technology as well as the Indigenous language resources. .............................................................................................................. 10 Recommendations for governments .................................................................................................................... 10 Recommendations for Indigenous communities ............................................................................................ 11 Key message #4: The knowledge of Elders should guide the development of digital language resources ...................................................................................................................................... 11 Recommendations for developers of Indigenous language apps and resources .............................. 11 Recommendations for universities and other educational institutions ............................................... 11 Key message #5: Policies for digital language resources should be guided by the UNDRIP and the TRC Calls for Action ...................................................................................................................... 12 Recommendations for governments .................................................................................................................... 12 3 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 13 4 Using an Indigenous methodology to produce our report ............................................... 15 5 Indigenous communities and digital technologies ............................................................. 18 6 Indigenous resurgence ................................................................................................................. 21 7 Indigenous language revitalization ......................................................................................... 23 8 Technologies for Indigenous language and cultural revitalization .............................. 25 9 Indigenous language revitalization in Wabanaki territory ............................................. 27 10 Resources online for Indigenous language revitalization ............................................. 30 11 Snapshot: A language app project .......................................................................................... 32 12 References ..................................................................................................................................... 34 Appendix 1: Annotated bibliography ......................................................................................... 39 Appendix II: Online Indigenous Language Resources ........................................................... 69 Supporting Indigenous Language and Cultural Resurgence with Digital Technologies 4 What do we lose when we lose our language? What Do We Lose When We Lose Our Language? • We lose our culture • We lose our greetings • We lose our praises • We lose our laws • We lose our songs • We lose our cures • We lose our legends • We lose our prayers • We lose our wisdom • We lose our way of life Source: Joshua Fishman, Reversing Language Shift, 1996. Supporting Indigenous Language and Cultural Resurgence with Digital Technologies 5 1 Executive summary This report synthesizes knowledge about how digital technologies are supporting Indigenous language and cultural resurgence. The use of digital technologies supporting the transfer, preservation, sharing and protection of Indigenous languages and culture is evident in many innovative, exciting initiatives around the world. We focus in particular on knowledge, approaches and examples from Wabanaki territory where the authors are based. The report introduction begins by recognizing and honouring the unceded traditional territories of Wolastoqiyik within the Wabanaki Confederation as the place for the creation of this report as an essential initial step in positioning our work. The report starts with a poem that illustrates many reasons why Indigenous languages are important to Indigenous people and communities. Next are the five key messages from our knowledge synthesis developed by the team: using a “whole community” approach; a community or nation should own its digital language resources; Indigenous people should control the technology as well as the language resources; the knowledge of Elders should guide the development of technology resources; and policies for digital resources for Indigenous languages should be guided by the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Each of the key messages includes recommendations for moving forward. These include recommendations for: Indigenous individuals, Indigenous families, Indigenous communities, Indigenous schools, universities and other educational institutions, other Indigenous organizations and institutions, governments, and developers of Indigenous language apps and online language resources. The report introduction situates this work in Wabanaki territory and introduces the context and background. Sacred and traditional knowledge, including Indigenous language and culture, is shared and passed along by the Elders in ceremonies and gatherings across the region. The information shared within this report is intended to be used by allies willing to do the work to protect and pass on this knowledge in a respectful manner, always recognizing and honouring those who shared their gifts. Next is a description of the Indigenous methodology that we used to develop this report. This section describes the holistic, continuous, participatory, action research approach being undertaken in the development of resources at the University of New Brunswick. This research method was shared by the principal investigator of this Knowledge Synthesis project at the Canadian Sociological Association conference at the Congress of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Calgary in June, 2016 (Perley, 2016). The research method provides a detailed description of a respectful approach to gathering and working with Indigenous traditional knowledge shared by Elders and community members. The next section of the report is a brief overview of Indigenous communities and digital technologies. This section draws from a comprehensive report