Grassroots Haida
Revitalization Videos:
Keeping The Language Alive
by Christina Rose -
Indian COuntry Today Media Network
Susie
Edwardson joined Elder Della Cheney, who served as weaver
and a teacher, for an event. (photo by Susie Edwardson)
Schools, universities, and organizations throughout Indian country
are working towards revitalizing endangered indigenous languages,
but in Ketchikan, Alaska, it is the community thats taking
the lead. With the Site for Indigenous Languages reporting only
40 fluent Haida speakers in British Columbia, the pressure is on
to save it.
Sunday afternoon gatherings, homemade videos and Google Hangouts
are the focus of this Ketchikan communitys efforts. Linda
Schrack is one of the Ketchikan language warriors, teaching classes
in Ketchikan and learning to make videos with her niece Susie Edwardson.
Edwardson and Schrack started making videos after taking a class
with Haida language activist Ben Young in 2011. There may
be other students making those kinds of videos, but they are not
making others as aware as Susie is, or making their videos so accessible,
Young said. They remind me of the Vine videos that are short,
but make a lasting impression. Theres a little humor and she
makes learning enjoyable.
Susie
Edwardson enjoys participating in local events, including
this 2014 Shi celebration. (photo by Alfie Price)
Schrack, Young, Edwardson and her parents Robert and Sandy,
Emily Edenshaw-Chafin, Irene Gallion, Jordan Edwardson, and Della
Cheney are simply doing what they must to keep the language going.
There are Native organizations and tribal entities and they
have their own stuff going on, but you cant always get what
you want or need, Schrack said. We just figured if we
cant get any support, lets just keep on doing what we
are doing, because nobody else is going to do it. We just kind of
made a pact that we just have to keep doing this.
Edwardson graduated from the University of Alaska Southeast,
Juneau, where her Haida Language videos were further inspired. In
Juneau, the primary focus of language revitalization is Tlingit.
With only three Haida speakers in Juneau, her goal was to create
videos where people can hear the language being spoken and have
opportunities to practice.
More communication means a stronger Native community, Edwardson
said. Making the videos enabled Edwardson to maintain her Haida
connections, even when she was attending college in land-locked
Juneau. Growing up in the military, she said, I wasn't really
connected to the Haida culture, except maybe a week or two every
year when we went to Ketchikan for vacation or celebration. I could
never do my dance group because we were moving so much. It made
me really strive to come back to Alaska and learn my culture and
language, and perpetuate it.
While at UAS, she studied with Professor Lance Twitchell, who
records Tlingit elders, and encourages students to create their
own videos. His language classes are posted on his YouTube channel,
and he utilizes Google Hangouts to create a place where students
can be linked together to speak and hear the language.
We have a lot of plans in place to hold activities and
to try to transform our communities. Last year we took about 35
students to a grocery store where we shopped for two hours in the
language. You can get people to understand the language, but getting
them to speak when they see each other is the biggest hurdle,
Twitchell said.
That is exactly what Edwardson is trying to achieve with her
videos. What I have noticed that she does is a lesson we could
all learn from, Young said. As soon as she learns something
and masters it, even bits and pieces or a phrase, she turns around
and immediately makes it available to everyone else. In endangered
language learning, that is very important. Thats what you
tell your students, and thats kind of what you learn to live
by. It helps you retain it better.
Susie
Edwardson enjoys participating in local events, including
this 2014 Shi celebration. (photo by Alfie Price)
When Edwardson saw the kind of work that Twitchell was doing
with Tlingit, she started making videos for her Haida community
in Ketchikan. Susies videos are very fun and very energetic,
Twitchell said, noting that students are often motivated by the
videos of elders. You talk to the kids and tell them, You
need to learn the language to find out what your grandma was trying
to tell you, and they take on some material to translate.
Schrack said collecting the Haida language on audio tapes has
been going on since the mid-70s. We have some recordings from
back then, but then there were many years nothing took place,
she said.
In 2003, Schrack began documenting the language and taking more
classes to improve her proficiency in the language. It is
a big challenge because there arent too many people doing
that kind of work and it can get really overwhelming, Schrack
said. The group of us who are working on documentation and
the new video project, we work really well together, and now we
are trying to figure out how to get more people interested in helping
us with this important work.
One of Schracks projects has involved teaching families
with young children. I go into their home, teaching them basic
daily phrases in Haida they can use in the home and make CDs for
them; and they like to have it in writing, too, she said.
Her efforts are paying off, as the oldest of the children, a
4-year-old, has been incorporating Haida phrases into her language
outside of the home. It doesnt seem like much, but with
the state of our language, if we can just get people to use a little
to start and build upon that, well be doing good, Schrack
said.
Edwardson said she is grateful for our ancestors, my Haida
language teachers Ben and Linda, and my advisors and mentors.
Her continuing goal is to develop videos to promote language and
create a stronger Native community. We are so spread out,
especially in Alaska. Ive connected with a few people who
are into language revitalization throughout the U.S., because of
the videos. I never would have met them otherwise. Its just
awesome to see, and my hope is more people will make them.
To view more Haida language videos using Google Hangouts, visit
Edwardsons link, Haida Language Learners, and Linda Schracks
page.
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