Advancing Revitalization

Project Details by Fiscal Year
2014 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$88,061
Fund Source
Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund
Recipient
Fond du Lac Tribal College
Status
In Progress
Start Date
January 2014
End Date
June 2015
Project Overview

-Train 30 students in transcription methods and techniques, conduct transcription projects
-Identify and train 3 language specialists to work with elders in developing and recording audio vocabulary for existing Ojibwemotaadidaa immersion curriculum
-Language fair
-Produce a play script and audio-animated video in Ojibwe based on traditional story
-Publish collection of Ojibwe stories with photographs and an audio CD

About the Issue

Minnesota’s most enduring languages are in danger of disappearing. Without timely intervention, the use of Dakota and Ojibwe languages – like indigenous languages throughout the globe – will decline to a point beyond recovery.

These languages embody irreplaceable worldviews. They express, reflect, and maintain communal connections and ways of understanding the world. Deeper than the disuse of vocabulary or grammar, the loss of an indigenous language is destruction of a complex system for ordering the relationships among people and the natural world, for solving social problems, and connecting people to something beyond themselves.

 As languages are inherently inseparable from individual and communal identity, they are difficult to eradicate from a culture.  Severing the people from their lands, denying them sustenance, and forcing them into English-only boarding schools was not successful in destroying these languages.  For more than 100 years such assaults were aggressively pursued as the official policy of federal and state governments in the United States in attempt to eradicate the languages, and yet the languages of the Dakota and Ojibwe people survive.  The survival of Dakota and Ojibwe languages, however, remains threatened. Indigenous language revitalization now requires heroic measures in order for these languages to not only survive, but to thrive and to live on for future generations.

Project Details

The Fond du Lac Tribal College will Train thirty (30) students in transcription methods and techniques and complete follow-up transcription projects. The program will also identify and train three (3) language specialists to work with elders in developing and recording audio vocabulary for existing Ojibwemotaadidaa immersion curriculum. Fond du Lac plans to offer a language fair annually for two year and produce a play script and audio-animated video in Ojibwe based on a traditional story. Additionally, FDL will publish a collection of Ojibwe stories reflecting diverse cultural activities with photographs and audio CD.

Legal Citation / Subdivision
M.L. 2014, Chp. 137, Art. 4, Sec. 2, Sub. 10 (b)
2014 Fiscal Year Funding Amount
$88,061
Number of full time equivalents funded
0
Project Manager
First Name
Dr. Sonny
Last Name
Peacock
Street Address
1720 Big Lake Road
City
Cloquet
State
Minnesota
Zip Code
55720
Administered By
Administered by
Location

161 Saint Anthony Ave
Suite 919
St. Paul, MN 55103