Hear Our Languages, Hear Our Voices: Storywork as Theory and Praxis in Indigenous-Language Reclamation

Abstract

Storywork provides an epistemic, pedagogical, and methodological lens through which to examine Indigenous language reclamation in practice. We theorize the meaning of language reclamation in diverse Indigenous communities based on firsthand narratives of Chickasaw, Mojave, Miami, Hopi, Mohawk, 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 agency and the expression of Indigenous identities, belonging, and responsibility to self and community. Storywork – 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 refuses 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.

RETRACTED: Reconceptualising a Quandamooka Storyweave of language reclamation

“…For example, a Western ideological approach to education is reflected when producing written learning materials and curricula that offer resources for others to learn an Indigenous language (Hassan, 2015). By contrast, centring Indigenous experiences casts a light on Indigenous community concerns and suggests encompassing teachings on the role of language in individual and communal well-being, sustainable diversity, and social justice for all oppressed peoples (McCarty et al, 2018). In exploring the intersections between my understanding of the intersection of land, language and ceremony on the one hand, and creative processes on the other, using a decolonising methodology, it also becomes important for me to consider what it is about the nature of these processes that is applicable and necessary in reclaiming language.…”

Spiritual connectedness through prayer as a mediator of the relationship between Indigenous language use and positive mental health.

“…Indigenous children were forced to speak English and were removed from the daily practices of their people (Child, 1998). Indigenous languages were replaced with a colonizer’s linguistic concept of love, spirituality, and power dynamics that are inherent in any language, which therefore changed the way we interact with ourselves, with others, and with nature (McCarty et al, 2018).…”

“…Language was the means of the spiritual subjugation” (p. 9). McCarty et al (2018) also speak to this interdependency of language and spirituality: “language negotiates the way I know myself—what I believe I am capable of, how I know myself in relationship to others, what I can offer others, what I deserve from others in return” (p. 163). Language has more value than communication alone; language gives voice to people, who have their own unique histories, worldview perspectives, and ways of interacting with the world.…”

Cultural Participation and Subjective Well-Being in Latin America: Does Ethnic-Racial Ascription Matter?

“…More in specific, some aspects related to the practice of ethnic and racial identity have been linked with lower or higher levels of subjective wellbeing. For instance, the use of (native) languages has been mentioned as a central component to health and well-being because it represents the way people construct their identity, express their culture (Walsh, 2018), and foster social justice (McCarty et al, 2018).…”