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Native Indigenous Women's Fight to Save Their Languages · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome to Steff
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: I've never told you production by Heart Radio.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: And for our holiday treat I guess episode because we're
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: going to be gone as this is released. Technically technically, yeah,
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: I guess we're listening the day before, but you know whatever. Anyway,
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: we wanted to give thanks to the women and folks
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: from the indigenous communities who have been working hard not
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: only to preserve the land as it was before the
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: ugliness of colonization and trying to teach the people around
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: them the dangers of continuing downs that ugly path, but
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: also preserving their own culture that these same I guess
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: colonizers have tried to eradicate and make extinct. And though
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: they are, there so many things that we can talk
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: about under this topic, and probably we'll come back to you. Honestly,
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: today we thought we would just focus on those who've
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: been working hard to preserve their native language and indigenous language. Also,
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: let's go ahead and put this caveat since this is
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: not our indigenous language slash our native tongue, which, by
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: the way, I'm struggling on my own both Korean and English,
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: so you know, sorry, Yeah, we may butcher some of
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: these words, and I hate that so much because I
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: would love to be fluent in everything and just perfect atic,
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: but I am not so with that. We tried our
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: due diligence and looking up all of the pronunciations, and
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: sometimes I swear to God I was being gas lit
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: that we should already know these words, and probably is
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: true we should to a certain extent. But anyway, so
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: please be patient with our very bad pronunciation. Again, as
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: per usual, if you know these languages and want to
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: share with us how to say it correctly, we would gladly,
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: gladly hear those because as you know, when it comes
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: to like Google translation, not the greatest, not the greatest.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: So but yes, be forewarned, it's not great. And if
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: you are a person of the native community or indigenous community,
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: this might be too much for you, I understand. So
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: content warning because we do talk a little bit about
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: the ugly history of it all for the rest of
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: you listen and us of course, of course, because we
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: need to learn these things. So yeah, we're gonna jump
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: into the history of how colonizers try to stop the
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: use of the indigenous languages. So when it comes to
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: this history, the first peoples of all the lands. Probably
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: we know it's bloody and horrifying. Though children's stories and
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: colonial takes downplay the amount of atrocities that occurred then
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: and even now, the indigenous community fight to preserve their culture. Yes,
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: I think we talk about the old tale of Thanksgiving
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: and all the pilgrims coming to share with their food.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: We know the true story. It wasn't all that great.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: We know so just as a reminder. But it isn't
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: that hard to understand that those in power are still
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: trying to suppress the original cultures that existed in most places.
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: In fact, in some cases and places like the United States,
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: have spent money trying to erase Indigenous languages. Here's some
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: information from High Country News written by Rebecca Nagel and
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: twenty nineteen quote. At the height of the Indian boarding
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  Speaker 2: school era, between eighteen seventy seven and nineteen eighteen, the
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  Speaker 2: United States allocated two point eight one billion dollars adjusted
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: for inflation, to support the nation's boarding school infrastructures, an
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: educational system designed to assimilate Indigenous people into white culture
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: and destroy native languages. Since two thousand and five, however,
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: where the federal government has only appropriated approximately one hundred
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: and eighty million for Indigenous language revitalization. So in the
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: article they do write about the fact that the government
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: has allotted some funds in order to restore and preserve
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: the languages, it isn't anything compared to the amount spent
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: to try to eradicate it. And of course this is
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: on top of the fact that they first tried to
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: kill off and like pretty much do a genocide. Yes,
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: but that didn't work. So they're like, you know what,
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: We'll just make you assimilate and hopefully you'll at least
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: forget the culture. But also we should mention the amount
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: of money spent within the school systems to try to
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: assimilate Native people to the culture of their oppressors. So
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: this is what they were doing. In fact, many of
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: the schools that were originally intended and operated by the
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  Speaker 2: native communities were taken over by wide oppressors a colonizers.
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  Speaker 2: Here's some more information from Nagle's article. During the same
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  Speaker 2: time period the early nineteen hundreds, Cherokee children were also
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  Speaker 2: sent to Chilaco and an Indian boarding school on the
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: Oklahoma Kansas state line. The models pioneered by General Richard
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: Henry Pratt, a veteran of the Indian Wars and founder
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  Speaker 2: of the notorious Carlisle. Indian school was designed to assimilate
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: Native Americans into white society and strip future generations of
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  Speaker 2: their culture. During the nineteenth and early twentieth century, an
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  Speaker 2: estimated one third of all Native children were forced to
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: attend Indian boarding schools, according to a report prepared for
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  Speaker 2: the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. When the
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: US created Indian boarding schools, the goal was to save money.
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  Speaker 2: Then Secretary of Interior Henry Teller estimated that assimilating Indians
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: would cost only a fraction of the ongoing military conflict
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  Speaker 2: with tribes. The children at Indian boarding schools, which were
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: chronically underfunded, often lacked basic food and medical care. To
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: help fund the schools, children were rented to local townspeople
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  Speaker 2: for unpaid labor. Still, the US government allocated exponentially more
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: money to Indian boarding schools than it has spent since
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: then on reversing their effect.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: And this practice was happening all over the North American territories.
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  Speaker 1: Areas in Canada have experienced the same things with similar results.
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  Speaker 1: Here's a quote from the Harvard International Review for centuries,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: Canadian government policies have jeopardized Indigenous languages. While there are
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: more than seventy Indigenous languages currently spoken in Canada, they
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  Speaker 1: are largely endangered as the majority of them maintain fewer
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: than one thousand fluent speakers. From eighteen thirty one until
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  Speaker 1: nineteen ninety six, the implementation of residential schools prevented Indigenous
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: peoples from parenting, educating, and passing on their native language
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  Speaker 1: to their children. Government officials removed Indigenous children from their
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: parents on the pretense that the children would benefit from
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  Speaker 1: assimilating into white Canadian culture through placement in these residential schools.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: When it became evident to parents that residential schools were
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: not providing their children with better lives and were instead
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: causing trauma, illness, and even death, they were told that
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  Speaker 1: this was simply the price that Aboriginal people had to
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: pay as part of the process of becoming civilized.
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  Speaker 2: So that writer of that article, Catalina Tot also wrote
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  Speaker 2: an alarming statistic within the article. She wrote, every two
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: weeks and Indigenous language dies. Some of the languages that
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: have already disappeared were Inuit languages, spoken in the far
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: reaches of the Arctic. Others had evolved in the leafy
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: greenery of coastal Australia. While they differ in setting, culture
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: and phonetics, one aspect that most dead indigenous languages share
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: is that they perished as a result of colonization and
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: the subsequent rise of international languages. Yeah, and we spoke
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: about this earlier. Oppression and colonization has tried to erase
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  Speaker 2: the different languages that existed before the quote unquote discovery
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  Speaker 2: of these new lands. Today, many of these languages are
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: disappearing and less likely to be heard. So from the
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: podcast All Things Considered, they say, quote. Language researchers just
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: released the latest version of the Ethnologue, which aims to
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  Speaker 2: catalog state of all of the world's languages, all seven thousand,
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: one hundred and sixty four of them. Many of these
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: languages are endangered. Some have so few native speakers that
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: you can count them on one hand. In the US,
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  Speaker 2: for instance, one hundred and ninety three of the one
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  Speaker 2: hundred and ninety seven living languages are endangered. So and
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: from the National Indian Council on Aging or NICOA dot org.
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  Speaker 2: Xevier dominge Is rights. There are between six thousand to
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  Speaker 2: seven thousand oral languages spoken worldwide. According to the United Nations,
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  Speaker 2: approximately six hundred of them have disappeared in the last century.
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  Speaker 2: They're disappearing at a rate of one language every two weeks.
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  Speaker 2: No less than forty percent of languages spoken in twenty
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  Speaker 2: sixteen were in danger of disappearing, and many of them indigenous. Presently,
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  Speaker 2: we're in danger of losing two thousand, six hundred and
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  Speaker 2: eighty languages. The UN predicts that fifty to ninety percent
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  Speaker 2: of indigenous languages will disappear by the end of this century,
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  Speaker 2: being replaced with English, Mandarin, or Spanish. Any language spoken
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: by less than ten thousand people is in danger, and
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  Speaker 2: they go on saying about ninety seven percent of the
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  Speaker 2: world's population speak only four percent of its languages, while
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  Speaker 2: only three percent of the world speaks ninety six percent
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  Speaker 2: of all languages. Most of these languages are spoken by
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  Speaker 2: indigenous people. There are three hundred and seventy to five
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  Speaker 2: hundred million indigenous people in the world, five thousand different
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  Speaker 2: indigenous cultures, and ninety countries with indigenous communities. Such disproportionate
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  Speaker 2: amount of people who speak these languages to what is disappearing,
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  Speaker 2: and it's really heartbreaking, and these numbers are alarming. But
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  Speaker 2: when it comes to preserving or fighting for their community,
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  Speaker 2: we know is typically those from the indigenous communities that
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: are working the hardest and getting it done, especially the women.
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  Speaker 2: There have been a few people we have featured on
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: the show that have done this amazing work, including Got
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: youa Juni Fox. You can go and check out her interview,
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: which was amazing. Who's not only working to preserve her
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: people's culture in a way of life, but making sure
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  Speaker 2: to pass it down to her family as well. So
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: she featured her daughter and some of these amazing ceremonies. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I gotta will listen.
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  Speaker 1: All over the world, the women of the indigenous community
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  Speaker 1: have been the very vain of continuing to keep their
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  Speaker 1: legacy alive. They have understood the depth and importance of
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: language and the need to preserve it. As Ruth H.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: Robertson of the Dakota Nation wrote in her article titled
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: Language of Spirit for atmos Dot Earth quote, language holds
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  Speaker 1: the identity of a people. Within a language, you discover
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: how it speakers view the world. Within the Dakota language,
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: you will see how we understand landscapes, embrace the relatedness
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  Speaker 1: of all things, and view sex and gender origin stories
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  Speaker 1: are hidden within place names. Our very historical record is
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: revealed our language of from the lives we lived in
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  Speaker 1: our lands for millennia. But what may be most overlooked
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: is the importance of language to the spirituality of a people.
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  Speaker 1: Among the Santis, medicine people have their own language. This
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  Speaker 1: sacred ceremonial tongue, passed down through the ages by ancestors
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  Speaker 1: and dreams, granted medicine people the ability to speak to
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  Speaker 1: the deities of old, perform magic sea visions, and create miracles.
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  Speaker 1: When the colonizer attempted to take our language from us,
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  Speaker 1: they were robbing us of more than our culture, history
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  Speaker 1: and unique identity. They were taking away our ability to
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: commune with our ancestors and pray to our gods. They
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  Speaker 1: were not just stealing our voices and our abilities to
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: connect with our grandmothers and grandfathers. They were cutting our
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: soul ties.
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  Speaker 2: Right. And y'all, I should go back and find this
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  Speaker 2: article that we just mentioned, because she writes so beautifully
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: about what she sees as the depth of language. And
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  Speaker 2: I think when we all talk about it in a
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: certain manner like I as I'm trying to learn Korean
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: again and really feeling like part of my identity has
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: been stripped of me because I forgot. It's no one's fault.
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  Speaker 2: But you know, assimilation in general, like the depth of
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: understanding yourself a little bit through your own language, and
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: how powerful that is. So you know, and she is
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: one of many who have struggled not only to preserve
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: a language that Calnizers have tried to erase, but and
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: has seen firsthand the painful trauma that comes with this
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: type of oppression. She mentions in her article the travesty
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: of boarding schools, which we kind of mentioned before, that
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: abused Indigenous children in order to force them to assimilate
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: to those who violently stole their land. So such a
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: bigger conversation about what this is. I know you are
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: our listeners already understand and know this, but the depth
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: of deprivation it is to strip someone of their native
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  Speaker 2: language and why they're doing it, it is power. And
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: here's some other women that we want to talk about
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  Speaker 2: that I feel like we should celebrate and maybe follow
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: and watch what they're doing. Obviously, this is a very
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: small list smallest because this originated from me wanting to
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: talk about specific women to oh damn, this needs to
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: be a whole episode, slash. This is still not It
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: could be a whole series, but I'm not going to
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: do that. Anie, I'm not going to do that. I
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: already know I didn't do that anyway. So we do
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: want to talk about a few of the women that
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: have been spotlighted and talked about, and we want to
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: talk more about as they do this amazing work. And
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: one of the most famous women who made sure to
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: put a spotlight on this issue was Marie Wilcox, and
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: you can go look her up and she's done some
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: amazing work. Wilcox was featured in several films and articles
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: in her pursuit of preserving her people's language. Wilcox was
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: the last to speak fluent with Chumney, but she made
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: sure she wouldn't be the last when she goes, and
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: she did die a couple of years ago. For over
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: ten years before her death, she created a dictionary for
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: the language, and she made it to teach her people
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: well and her family her the language of Chumney. Not
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: only did she create a written document for it to
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: be preserved, but during her lifetime she taught a lot
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: of classes throughout her community, making sure that it is
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: that it would keep going. In twenty fourteen, she was
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: documented by The New York Times while she was doing
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: her important work. In it, she says, quote, it's sad.
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  Speaker 2: It just seems weird that I am the last one.
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: And I don't know, it's just it'll just be be
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: gone one of these days. Maybe I don't know. It
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: might go on and on, and I believe things to her,
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: it will go on and on. Now her story is
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: pretty incredible, and you can find her documentary online is
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: there for you, and then of course a lot of
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: YouTube clips that you can watch, and during her interviews,
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: and she's really like passionate and heartbroken that she could
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: be the last one to speak this beautiful language. But
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: as of now, the dictionary has been copyrighted, but it
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: hasn't been published yet. And I'm not really sure. I
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: didn't go it looked deeper into us to why it hasn't.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: But I'm glad at the very least it was written,
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: because she did pass away, I believe a few years ago,
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: and the fact that she was able to do this
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: during her lifetime really means so much, and her legacy
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: obviously continues to live on. So if you get a chance,
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: you should go watch her documentary, which I'm glad it exists.
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: Those are the moments where I'm like, yeah, damn, technology
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: is good, media is good. We need these things preserved
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: that I hope that we can keep these things preserved.
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: So also in twenty twenty, the CBC celebrated several Indigenous
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: women for their work in preserving their native language. We're
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: only going to highlight a couple and you can actually
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: look at them up. They did some amazing stuff. There's
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: a lot of people on there. So first we're going
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: to talk about Belinda Daniels. Daniels is the founder of
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: Nahiook Language Experience, which offers pre language camps and monthly
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: language workshops. In the article, she says, quote, I really
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: believe that the spirit of the Creed language chose me
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: to do this work, and I do this work to
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: create awareness that there are Indigenous people's living here still
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: speaking their language. Daniels is also an educator and she
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: actually did her PhD on language reclamation. So she told
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: CBC quote, when we reclaim our language, we reclaim who
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: we are, and we reinstate that we belong here. So
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: language is practicing sovereignty. Language rights are inherent. The creator
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: gave us this language. We do not have to wait
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: for Canada's approval to speak our languages. But Canada does
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: have a duty to take necessary action to protect indigenous languages.
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: And I think one of the things that I didn't
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: mention earlier is the fact that a lot of these
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: languages and a lot of these nations and communities are
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: not actually being recognized by the government, which is partially
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: why they're not being preserved. So a big conversation about
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: it being legitimate, it has to do with those numbers
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: about like it has to be I think more than
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: one hundred thousand people speaking or something along those lines
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: to be officially a language, which is really hard when
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: you have you know, decimated an entire population of people
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: or you know, completely drowned out their language so they
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: can't speak it. So so many things to that. So
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: that's also a bigger part of the conversation that we're
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: not having on this episode. Specifically, something to happen in
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: the back of your mind when it comes to indigenous
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: issues point blank, like how are they recognized. Are they
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: even recognized and why aren't they being recognized. Also featured
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: was doctor Mary and I Guaji Corpierre of the Wikwama
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: Kawang First Nation. She's been teaching the nishanaben Win for
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: over thirty years. She has been one of the editors
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: in the nishapin Win Ottawa and easter Ajobwe Dictionary. The
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: dictionary is something she's been working on since the late
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: nineties and it makes me sad to say that that's
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: about thirty years adding new words as she's done the
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: research throughout her time, and she's been traveling to like
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: five different communities to continue to add these words, and
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: her work has been featured in different indigenous panels and presentations,
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: So she's doing a lot. She's been teaching these languages
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: as well as making sure that they are preserved. And
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: I think that's been a theme. You'll see that as
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: a theme throughout what they are trying to have it written.
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: And we've talked about this in like first how important
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: that really is. So these women have been doing that work.
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: The Anetian Ambimoim community which is around the northern areas,
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: and they do stretch into the Canadian areas as well
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: have to come together to preserve their endangered language as well.
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: Older residents of the community have come together to take classes,
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: record their words and meanings, and have found a better
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: understanding of themselves and their culture. One Michigan publisher, Bridge Michigan,
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: interviewed several people in the community, including Brendan his Song,
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: who talked about her experiences and remembering her great grandparents,
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: who are the last fluently speaking people of their language.
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: She told the Bridge quote, this is something that is
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: important to me to be able to share with my
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: grandkids is our language, and I feel like we've been
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: robbed of it, And she continues, it's a slow process,
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: but it's worth it. It's helping me find out who
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: I am and where I supposed to be in this world.
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: And it's such a beautiful story about how they've all
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: connected together as a community and realizing that it's getting
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: lost and making sure that they are not only teaching
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: each other, that they're teaching their kids. So I thought
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: it was very beautiful. And then there's so many like
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: her trying to preserve their culture in Hawaii. They have
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: experienced this way too often on the island of Oahu,
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: the Olailo or language was nearly extinct, and it's still
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: not considered safe, but it has become more accessible through
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: the teachings of native schools.
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: Here's a bit of history from a National Geographic article
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: written by Ali Young in twenty twenty three. Quote. By
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: the end of the nineteenth century, literacy in Hawaii in
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: Olilo spelled HAWAIII reached an astonishing high of over ninety percent.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: This was largely thinks the public education system founded in
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: eighteen forty by King Comea Hemeya the Third, the third
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: King of Hawaii, fifty eight years before the American invasion
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: and annexation. It was one of the highest literacy rates
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: in the world at the time and still an impressive figure.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: In twenty twenty, data from the United States Department of
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: Education showed that fifty four percent of adults age sixteen
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: to seventy four lack literacy proficiency. And it continues quote.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: When the monarchy was overthrown in eighteen ninety three, a
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: law was enacted to make English the language of instruction
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: in all schools. Though Olilo was not outlawed, kids were
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: disciplined for speaking it in schools. Those kids were conditioned
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: to believe it was shameful long after they needed to.
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: Many adults spoke Oleilo only in private and refused to
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: teach their kids right.
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: And much like the history throughout all of colonization, indigenous
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: people were being abused and forced to assimilate to the oppressors.
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: But you know, the native people were able to actually
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: push back. Here's a bit more from that same article.
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: After almost one hundred years of of suppression, Hawaiian use
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: letter renaissance of dance, music and language in the nineteen seventies.
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: In nineteen seventy eight, Olilo was declared the state's official
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: language along with English, and a law undoing the Oleeilo
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: band in schools were passed. Recordings were made of the
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: very few native speakers left, and the new Papa or
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: newspapers served an important role in restoring lost knowledge as
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: in fact, there's a whole musical dedicated to the new
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: PayPal and like how significant it was too changing and
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: preserving the languages. And they have created immersion schools which
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: offer native language classes and promote the use of Alilo.
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: But of course the effects of racism and suppression still lingers.
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: I mean, just look at the current status of politics today.
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: It is encouraging to see the many who have continued
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: to bring awareness and teach others about the origins. And
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: we're going to actually talk a little more about who
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: they were influenced by, which is the Maori in New Zealand,
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: and they were the ones that really really pushed this
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: specific type of learning and in a way that they
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: could preserve and they did preserve the Maori language, which
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: is amazing. But yeah, so like it's incredible because this
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: emerging school was a language reset. Like it's kind of like, yes,
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: so it's not I don't think I think it's preserved
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: it really well, but it's still not out of the
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: danger zone essentially, but it's working. And then we have
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: the women of Guyana trying to save their native language
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: as well. So Althea. Harding was featured in Mongo Bay
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: dot Com for her work and trying to preserve the
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: Kreb language. In fact, in the twenty twenty one article,
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: they noted that only ten people could actually speak to
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: language fluently. The primary school teacher, Harding returned to her
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: village and realized the dire need to preserve her language
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: for that culture. She, like many of the others has
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: planned to create a koreb But language dictionary, and she
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: was able to receive a grant to be a part
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: of the Conservation International Indigenous Women's Fellowship program, and she
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: told mangopey dot Com. I was elated because as a
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: part of my project proposal, I included plans for a
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: careb revitalization project. The language is dying here and I
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: want to ensure our children can speak fluently in the
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: language before it's too late. And then the article continues.
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: Her women's empowerment project commenced in mid twenty twenty one
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: with more than two dozen women, mainly mothers, participating. The
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: women are the bedrock of the family and I know
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: with their influence the language can be saved, she said.
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: Harding described the women of Kobina as ambitious and progressive individuals,
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: go getters who don't just sit around. Our women are strong,
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: independent and determined, so I know they will ensure that
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: the language is handed down to the use of this village.
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: She added, So I really love that. I don't I
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: didn't see an update about what was happening because it's
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: been several years.
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: I know.
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: One of the big conversations, she had was about the
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: fact that a lot of it had to be done remotely,
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: since it was you know, all the all the stuff
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: was happening at that point. And as we were talking
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: about the Maori before, many look towards the works of
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: the Maori people who have worked tirelessly to preserve their
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: culture and their language. In another National Geographic article titled
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: the Maori Saved their Language from Extinction and here's how
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: they talk about the revolution it took for them to
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: rebel against the oppressive government that tried to decimate the
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: native culture. And if you look up at any of
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: the videos of this time, they are like rock star
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: video at least, like a music video towering there. You
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: get really pumped. I'm like, yeah, go at them. Come on,
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: so we have time go look this up. So their movement,
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: which began in the nineteen seventies, is an inspiration to
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: many around the world. Here's some information from that article quote.
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: In the early nineteen seventies, a contingent of young, urban
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: and university educated Maori began to form a movement in
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: the Aoturara. I'm so sorry the tao word for New Zealand.
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: These activists call themselves not Tomato or Young Warriors. Along
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: with other regional groups, they organized against the New Zealand
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: government's marginalization and forced assimilation of married communities, starting with
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: policies designed to stem the use of terrio Maori and
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: the article continues. Dame Irritani Tawi Irani was a founder
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: and instrumental leader of the movement's first major success, Cohangarreo,
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: opened in nineteen eighty two. The Cohangareo model was one
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: of commitment. Parents and toddlers were expected to speak only tereo,
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: both in the classroom and at home, and the curriculum
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: focused solely on Maori history and culture. Elders and other
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: proficient language speakers led the class, translated in English to
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: language nests. The Cohango Reo was the first program of
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: its kind to use total language and cultural immersion for
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: married communities. The schools were a revelation according to the
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: Tauri We Rainey. The program started with five schools and
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: within three years ag expanded into more than three hundred locations.
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: The rapid spread of Cohongo Reo marked an unprecedented success
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: of cultural reculamation for Ta Rari Rainy. It showed the
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: widespread pent up desire Miori families felt to educate their
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: children according to their own non colonial standards. The families
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: on the ground are fundamentally the basis for learning the language,
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: she says. The difference maker, she said, was that the
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: Congo Reo, particularly in the early years, were entirely community led.
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: Families raised the money to rent or buy classroom spaces
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: and volunteers planned and taught classes. Yeah, and the language
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: news as a system were really very, very successful. The
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: classes and written documents were also very important pieces of
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: this preservation puzzle, and I think it's really inspiring to
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: note that it worked. We actually have an example of
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: how they were able to preserve this. I think some
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: of the biggest problems is the decimation and the spreading
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: of the indigenous people. The way that we talked about
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: the trail of tears and how they were all kind
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: of just spread all over that really unfortunately divided its
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: abilities to be able to do these immersive classes, although
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: we're still seeing examples of it in pockets and different
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: Native communities, which is amazing to watch and see. And
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: with that, I think part of what we're looking at
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: with the age of media and technology is helping to
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: grow and help spread messages globally, which is great, and
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: many have started using them to their advantage.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: Yes, in fact, a trio of Apache women have already
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: started working with tech to record the language from fizz
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: dot org. Quote. In one such endeavor, three Native American
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: women rack their brains as they gather around a computer
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: trying to remember and record dozens of Apachi language words
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: related to everyday activity such as cooking and eating. They
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: are creating an online English Apache dictionary, just one of
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: several projects working to preserve endangered indigenous languages in the
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: United States. The article continues, Teacher Joscelyn Johnson and two
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: of our colleagues validate the definition of the word Apache
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: word kappas, which means potato in English. Quote. The applications
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: in the written language are good for a non speaker.
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: At least they'll have a museum of it where they
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: can go for reference, said Johnson, a sixty eight year
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: old who teaches Apachy vocabulary and grammar.
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: So this type of technology could be revolutionary, but of course,
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: as we've talked about many times, when it comes to tech,
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: we have to proceed with caution. The software they mentioned
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: in the article is the Rapid Word Collection or the RWC,
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: which uses an algorithm to quote search Apache text and
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: audio databases for so called forgotten words. The words are
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: then defined, translated into English, and their pronunciations recorded so
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: the dictionaries users will know how to say them properly.
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: It's all great ideas. The program was developed by an
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: NGEO called TLC or the Language Conservancy to protect Indigenous
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: languages and created to help make dictionaries at a rapid speed,
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: so being able to do it quickly where they don't
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: have to do individually. Do this, however, again we say
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: you have to be cautious. One Native language specialist state
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: that they were concerned that quotes such projects impose a
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: Western way of writing onto an Indigenous way of speaking.
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: I guess that's what we're doing. The vast majority of
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: human languages are solely oral with no writing systems. And
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: then there's a Lakota indigenous leader who even denounced the
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: organization saying that you were trying to copyright the teaching
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: materials and using the elder's work, So definitely something to
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: pay attention to. Again, the NGO was like, hey, no,
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: we're not doing that. We're just trying to help preserver language.
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: But as we know, when it comes to good concepts
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: or good intentions, capitalism does its own thing and ruins
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: a lot of stuff and loves to steal things. Yeah, anyway,
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: especially from indigenous cultures. So as much as we want
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: to celebrate things like this, let's just like being hopeful
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: that yes, it does help preserve and that's the end
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: of it. But we have to make sure that we
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: are holding NGOs and tech groups accountable moving on, it's
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: not just tech that's advancing the preservation of languages, but
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: also things like songs and books, movies and social media. Fox,
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: who we mentioned earlier and interviewed previously, has made sure
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: to use her skill as a filmmaker and director to
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: preserve her native community and sacred traditions. As in fact,
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: they kind of locked down one tradition I remember her
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: talking about it that they hadn't used in a long time.
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: They were able to record it and go through with
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: her daughter and have this magical moment and something that
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: they forgot about essentially, and they're like bringing back and
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: we love that conversation. Same thing we talked about her
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: newer project, which we haven't caught up with our sons,
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: and we need to I think we need to follow
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: up talking about foods and specific types of foods and
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: things that are no longer grown and how they're trying
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: to bring them back, which is really really important, right
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: any a savor.
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: Yes, I was excited about that when she mentioned it
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: in an interview and I'm still thanking.
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: So we need to go back to that. And then
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: there's films like Long Line of Ladies, which tells the
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: coming of age story of one young woman who takes
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: part in a ceremony which was once not outlaw necessarily,
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: but very looked down on. Like literally violence was used
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: against those who would try to do these ceremonies, and
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: they bring this back, and in this movie they help
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: preserve and show a cultural tradition that could have been
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: prominently lost. So we need to add this movie to
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: our list. But yeah, films like that, and there's so
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: many others that I'm not mentioning that really help preserve
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: the language because they do actually speak the language. There
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: was one that actually retold Thanksgiving from more of a
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: native perspective with actual native language spoken during that time,
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: so beautifully done. Then we have songs that have been
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: handed over and sung over the years to preserve legends
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: and tales of cultural significances. But also recently, the younger
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: generations have come out boldly using their native languages as
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: part of their music and sound like a Mayan musician
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: Sarah Carucic and here's a quote from Smithsonian's folk Life
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: Festival blog where they celebrated this. In her Musico, Maya,
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: musician Sera Caruci revises these statements. She makes it clear
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: that the Maya are not were a strong and resilient people.
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: As one of the first singers to expose international audiences
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: to her native language Ofchkel, Caruci is a strong cultural
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: ambassador for her heritage. She composes a song in both
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: Cochkill and Spanish, putting these languages to mixes of folk
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: rock and traditional Maya tunes. These sounds combined with the
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: topics that are at the same time personal and universal
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: for music that highlights the complexity of the modern indigenous identity,
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: which is beautiful, which I hope we get to see
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: more of this. I've actually had a several indigenous rock
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: musicians and soft rock and folk musicians pop up on
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: my TikTok, which I love. I think that's one of
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: my favorite parts. When you hear international music, something that's
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: different from your norm and they actually bring in traditional
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: sounds and languages is gorgeous. And I will say for myself,
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: who's again trying to learn Korean, using k pop, using
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: k jramis really do help in understanding what is being
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: said and preserving and revitalizing for me, like personally a
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: language that I haven't spoken in over thirty five years.
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: So so many things to this level, and it's gorgeous
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: to see. And again it's being led by mainly women.
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: Like you see so many women being at the forefront
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: in this type of preservation, in this type of cultural awareness.
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: Like it's a beautiful thing, but also very tiresome, I'm
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: sure for them. And obviously there's so much more to
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: this conversation, so many people we need to talk about.
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: I'm sure we'll be bringing some more out the part
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: we play in helping to preserve the indigenous cultures and
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: how not to be in the way or be oppressive,
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: you know, that's a really big part of the conversation. Again,
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: Like like I said, I feel like this could be
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: a series of different things, and we want to bring
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: more indigenous creators to the forefront in this conversation as well. So,
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: oh there's a lot, Annie.
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, there is. And it's such important work and
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: I'm glad it's being done. I'm sad that it has
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: to be done like this, but I am glad that
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: it is being done. But if there's anybody you want
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: us to shout out or any resources you have, listeners,
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: please let us know. You can email us at Stepania
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: mom Stuff at iHeartMedia dot com. You can find us
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: on Twitter at moms a podcast, or on TikTok and
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: Instagram at stuff Whenever Told You for us on YouTube,
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: we have a tea public store, and we have a
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: book you can get wherever you get your books. Thanks
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: as always too, our super producer Christina, our executive producer Maya,
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: and our contributor Joey. Thank you and thanks to you
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: for listening. Stuff I Ever Told You is production by
• 35:51
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• 35:53
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