Building on the work of the Center for Native American and Indigenous Research (CNAIR), in October 2016 the Society hosted a conference on “Translating Across Time and Space: Endangered Languages, Cultural Revitalization, and the Work of History,” which brought together university- and Indigenous community-based scholars in multiple areas of expertise, including Indigenous language speakers, activists, and teachers, from throughout North America. The conference’s themes centered on the reclamation, preservation, and strengthening of Indigenous languages, both historically and in the present day, practices surrounding translation and translators over the last five centuries, the work of language and cultural revitalization, and models for collaboration in all of these areas. The proceedings from the conference have since been revised and published as Indigenous Languages and the Promise of Archives, published in 2021 by the University of Nebraska Press.
Join conference participants Kayla Begay, Justin Spence, Cheryl Tuttle, Margaret Ann Noodin, and Cary Miller in conversation with APS Curator of Indigenous Materials Brian Carpenter and volume editor and APS Head of Scholarly Programs Adrianna Link as they celebrate the release of this timely volume and reflect on the needs and opportunities of work in language and cultural revitalization.
The event will take place on Wednesday, December 8 at 1:00 p.m. EST via Zoom. The event is free of charge, but registration is required to attend.
Kayla Begay is a member of the Hoopa Valley Tribe and a board member of Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival. An assistant professor in Native American studies at Humboldt University, Begay received her PhD in linguistics from the University of California, Berkeley, focussing on the description of California Dene languages and language revitalization.
Justin Spence is assistant professor of Native American Studies at the University of California, Davis. His research focuses on Native American languages and linguistics, especially Dene languages of California and Oregon, drawing on data from archival sources and original fieldwork with contemporary speech communities.
Cheryl Tuttle is a member of the Yurok Tribe of Yurok?Karuk ancestry. An ITEPP graduate of Humboldt State University working in education since 1985, principal of Round Valley Elementary/Middle School, and director of Native studies for the Round Valley Unified School District, she has implemented and taught Wailaki since 2014.
Margaret Ann Noodin is American with Anishinaabe, Metis and Irish ancestry. She received an MFA in creative writing and a PhD in linguistics from the University of Minnesota. She is currently professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she also serves as Associate Dean of the Humanities and director of the Electa Quinney Institute for American Indian Education.
Cary Miller is Anishinaabe and descends from St. Croix and Leech Lake communities. She is associate professor in Native Studies at the University of Manitoba, where she serves as department head and teaches courses in Indigenous history and governance. She received her PhD in history from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.