March 5, 2024 • 55 mins
We are joined by Rochelle Adams, Language Access Director for the Alaska Public Interest Research Group and Gwichʼin language speaker, learner, and teacher, for a discussion on language journeys, making Indigenous voices count, and brilliant Indigenous futures. Indigenous languages connect with each other across vast time and space to make lasting impacts and connections, and part of our daily work involves making sure our voices are heard in public forms as language reclamation movements continue to gain momentum. Also, Indigenous voices are appearing more in media, and we can gain strength from the increased presence of those voices.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
They tried to colonizes, try to genocide. Yet we're still
here with the tongue on broke and.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Ben shi a Agi Masa Artua ka ta Johan that
Joe artuya k i a gi hia t Welcome folks
to the Tongue Unbroken Clesh. This is a podcast about
(00:49):
language revitalization and decolonization in North America. And I'm so
glad that you're listening, so glad that you're hanging out.
We have another exciting comversation today with an incredible language
advocate and a leader of our people. We just had
a meeting last week with I think eleven different languages
(01:10):
in the room, and there was a lot of work
that a lot of folks did, but Rochelle Adams is
one of the ones that was really leading that effort.
And so I'm excited to have you on the show
and to visit with you a bit today. And could
you tell the people who you are and what you.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Do A Rachelle Adams Okri Georg the Guy Cola, Ni
ni Amea, sh Angela, Peter Mayo, Cliff Tuffy, Adams, Shahan
(01:51):
Via Hunai Susi. It's Johnny Peter Shad via nai Kandababed
Cliff Adam Senior go for Shahan Ali Shih Broke weal
(02:11):
at Shi CHUANGHI should weaken he he ms cho. Thank you,
my friend for inviting me today. I'm happy to introduce
(02:33):
myself in my language, which is a language. And I
said that my name is Rachel Adams. I'm from the
villages of fort Yukon and Beaver That's where i was
raised and I'm now on Da Gaya cooked the land
of my relatives people. I have three children. Their names
(02:54):
are Ameya Coso, Najerie and and my parents are Angela
pre Mayo and the Lake Cliff Tuffee Adams my mother.
My mother's parents are Susie Lord Peter and Johnny Peter Sor.
And my father's parents are Hannah Babe and Cliff Adams Senior.
(03:14):
And my mom is from fort Yukon and my dad
is from Beaver. And I also said that I'm a
language learner and a language educator and when I speak
my language, my heart is happy. And I'm really grateful
to be here today and to hold space with you
about our languages, which is something that I really love.
(03:35):
So I must see you choose for having me here today.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Must see which in and thinget were the same language
if we just roll the clock back to time immemorial.
And so I was just thinking the other day about
some of the sometimes we use numbers to talk about
how long our languages have been around, and sometimes I
think we get pulled into these conversations that might not
benefit us a whole lot. Like I was in a
(04:00):
dialogue yesterday and someone said, I speak the Basque language,
which is one of the oldest languages on earth.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
And my instinct was to say, where the oldest, you know?
Speaker 2 (04:09):
But then I thought what am I doing? Like why
am I competing for how long? But the longevity of
our languages is really fascinating to me, so not d
Nay languages is a very large language group in North America.
It spans areas from the southwestern United States up into
the interior of Canada and Alaska. And it's so interesting
(04:31):
because our languages have such similarities in terms of how
they're structured. But it would be impossible just to sit
down and have a conversation unless you just said a
couple of words like rabbit or something. And so it's
really amazing to have you here and to listen to
the work that you're doing with our cousin language which in,
(04:52):
and to think about the lives that have shared so
much information through trade, through conversations.
Speaker 4 (04:59):
I do you believe, if you go.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Back long time ago, there were which in people who
spoke fling it and there were things that people who
spoke which in because you had trade networks and you
had people who would walk so far, Like it's so
interesting to me. I remember talking to someone who is
ATNA and they said, their uncle just kind of popped
in the door and said, I'm going to Fairbanks.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
I'll be back in the fall.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
And it was springtime. It's just going to walk hundreds
of miles.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
But this is what people did.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
So thinking of your journey, can you talk a little
bit about your work with which in and how you
came to the language and what you do specifically with
which in these days.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Yeah, that's interesting when you say that, because you know,
our creation stories go back to they always say that,
you know, we all spoke the same language, and that
also means our planned relatives and animals and fish and
all of that. You know, everything has a spirit and
we acknowledge that still today in our cultures, which is
(05:57):
such a so amazing with you know, how connected we
are to our place but also each other. Yeah, so
my language were well, I guess you know, I was
born into it and I grew up hearing my grandfather
speak on both sides of my family, and I guess
I should say that I'm which in I'm also koya
(06:18):
Kon and Nupiat, Japanese and Swedish. And there's a real
interesting history of you know, my family and how we
came to be and the founding of my village of Beaver,
which were which was founded by Nupiat and Japanese explorers,
and yeah, it's really interesting. And so to have all
of these different cultural parts of you know, who I am,
(06:40):
and the village of Beaver and where it's situated and
how it was founded, it's really cool. So Beaver is
located on the Yukon, which is right on the border
of the Which and the Koyakon people, and was founded
by Nupiat Japanese explorers and throw in like an adventurous
Swedish grandfather and you know all of these amazing adventures.
(07:04):
There's books written about it and you know all of that.
So it's really interesting the history and how you wouldn't
really expect such an international place and yu come flats. Yeah.
But so my language work, I've always been really interested
in our language, in our culture and just our lifestyle.
(07:25):
I've always really appreciated it. And growing up in the village.
I grew up at fish camp and on the trap line,
just in the village and playing on the land and
practicing our ways of life around the seasonal cycles, hunting,
fishing and trapping and all those things. And you know,
(07:45):
my parents didn't speak which and my grandmother on my
mom's side, she was snoopiad in Japanese and Swedish, but
she didn't learn a lot of which In from my grandfather.
And on my dad's side, my grandma didn't speak My
grandfather didn't he spoke, but it was more my great
grandmother where I hud the language when I was young,
(08:06):
and I didn't know. I actually didn't know that my
mom understood which In until I was teaching language classes
and would invite my mom and she had her own like,
you know, healing journey, and she told me, this reminds
me of when I was little. She said, I used
to listen to Grandpa, you know, and all his visitors,
(08:27):
and he was a musician as well, and everyone would
always stop by the house and she would sit and
listen to them, laughing which and she said she used
to understand it, and I never knew that. I never
knew my mom could understand which in when she was little.
But that came through, you know, holding that space and
holding those those language classes. So I think it just
(08:48):
came naturally for me because I've always been so interested
in our ways of life and specifically our arts, and
you know, working with our skins, moose skin and salmon
skin and learning all these cultural practices. Some of them
I felt like obligated to learn our cultural arts because
some of those ways of life aren't as prevalent anymore,
(09:12):
just the same as with our language. And I think
it wasn't intel. I went to UAF when I was
growing for my undergrad my bachelors and Native Art, and
Hushin Peter was teaching the which in language, and I
wanted to take advantage of that. And I was a
young mom. My kids were all young, and I was
(09:33):
taking my classes, and a lot of times I would
have to bring them with me, so my kids really
were raised in the language. And as I was going
to school every semester, I wanted to continue taking those classes.
So every semester I was taking which in like beginning,
which in and intermediate and advanced, and pretty soon I
(09:55):
took all of her classes, so she had to make
more classes for me, and I was a teacher's aide.
And another one was studying in the archives. We would
go through all of our stories line by line to
make sure I understood in that sentence structure and just
the cultural teachings in it. And another class was going
(10:16):
out into the community and recording stories from elders and
translating and transcribing those stories. So one of the elders
that I was visiting was Catherine Peter, who was my
great great aunt. But yeah, I learned so much from
doing that. And also my advisor had told me that
(10:38):
I was the first person to get a minor in
Alaska Native Language because they didn't have that at the university,
and so I thought that was really interesting. I would
like to check into that and see if that's actually true,
because I think that's kind of a big deal and
I'm really proud of that. And so having that foundation
know with the language and being able to understand and speak, well,
(11:01):
I shouldn't say so much as understanding. I really came
to realize that I was understanding when I started doing
work in my reach in the Yukon Flats. And so
almost every summer we come together for the Indigenous Language Institute,
and so all the elders and language learners come together
(11:22):
for an intensive couple of weeks and create language learning
material and just do lots of recording. And we're always
using different kinds of media to make different curriculum done,
like books and all sorts of programs and things and
the language. And one of those summers, I was sitting there,
you know, because a lot of times it's me and
(11:43):
a lot of elders, and I was listening to the
stories and I realized that I understood what they were saying.
And I had such an aha moment, like it was
just so powerful, and I think I had tears in
my eyes. And I was sitting there in the middle
of this full of elders, and I just realized that
I can understand him and the language and not so
(12:05):
much just like piecing words here and there, but understand
what they were saying and yeah. And another really important
part of my journey has been when I was in
the UAF program. I remember I started dreaming in which
and I remember dreaming of my late grandfather John and Peter,
that's my mom's dad. I remember he would come to
(12:28):
me in my dreams and we would just speak which
in and I would understand him and he would teach
me things and in the language. And that really stuck
with me, you know too, and it makes me, you know,
it makes me think that it's not just like learning
a language is the is the goal, you know, It's
it's the journey of being on that language learning and
(12:50):
it's the spirit of the language learning that is so
enriching to your life and makes you so grounded and
so connected, and it really enriches everything about your life.
That's how I feel. So Once I had that, you know,
understanding and all of that, I started teaching which in
(13:10):
I would teach at You're an Anchorage. I worked for
the Anchorage School District and I was in all the
schools and evening programs and summer camps. And I first
I started out as being a language teacher, and I
would you know, teach kids and using art. I really
loved using art to teach cultural arts and other kinds
(13:32):
of art too, like as many mediums as I can use,
which as painting, you know, painting maps and talking about
all of the lens and the cultures. And something fun
that I did to was claymation in the language, and
so the kids really like that. They would all make
like scenes and different stories and they would tell you
(13:52):
stories about the animals and what they liked to eat
and whatever they wanted to share. But it was fun
and they got to choose the music, you know that
we use. So I always liked combining you know, art
and language and culture because it goes so nicely, you
know it just it's all connected to me, and that
also goes with like advocacy for our ways of life,
(14:13):
and so to me, it's all time together.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
That's fabulous.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
And thinking about what you talked about with dreaming in
the language, I think there's a really important point I
want to touch on here. So Randall Tatalici is a
Gwitchen elder who lives in white Horse and he came
down to visit us because there was a book that
was about caribou and protecting caribou herds and also tracking caribou.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
And it was great.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
It was a really wonderful series of conversations that were had.
And because we had someone visiting our campus that I
had just said, do you want to come sit in
on one of our language classes? You know, I mean
it's a different language, but I think it'd be really
fun if if you came and wanted to just talk
to us. And so it came and it was an
intermediate thing at class and we started talking and we're
(15:00):
just learning stuff. And then I turned it over to
him at some point I said, do you have anything
you want to share with us well while you're here,
And he said, well, you know, I know that some
of you are doing everything you can, and I know
that you're maybe worried about what's going on, and maybe
you're worried about a speaker that you lost, or maybe
you're worried about a speaker who's very elderly. And when
(15:21):
I was growing up, the village was really different, Like
we had people that lived to so long that they
would crawl around their house because they would just be
well over one hundred years old, and would go to
visit them, and the amount of knowledge that they had
was really incredible. But then he said the thing that
we were taught though, too, is when somebody passes away,
(15:42):
all of their knowledge doesn't go with them. What happens
is the knowledge goes back into the land, and when
you go out on the land and you speak your language,
it comes to you in your dreams. And I thought
that was really fascinating because I do know of other
languages who they've had to reconstruct their speaker base because
they have no speakers, and then someone goes to learn it,
(16:03):
and then someone starts talking to them in their dream
And so I love it because there's the practical thing.
You've got to learn these words, you got to learn
this grammar, you got to learn these structures. But then
there's a spiritual connection. Like you said, there's a spirit
to the language, and then once you sort of are
connected to that spirit, it's this thing that's a lot
less about thinking about the structures and constructing the language,
(16:25):
but living with it on a day to day basis,
which I think pushes you from thinking in English and
translating to the language and then saying it in the
language to sort of being in a little bit more
of a place where it's a lot more fluid, where
you're listening to the language and understanding and then responding
in the language, and there's less use of English as
a bridge language. And so I was really thankful that
(16:48):
he shared that information with us, and as really it
was really neat too to talk about other connections between
which in people's and think it there's a long ways
that separates us. So that's which in country is pretty
north from us. But one of the other things that's
similar is we've done a lot of reconstructing relationships over
the past ten to fifteen years because we have communities
(17:10):
who happen to be in Canada and the border does
create a separation. And so for us, there's a road
that does connect two of our communities to Canada, and so,
but you have to have a passport to go through,
and you have to have a clean record to go through.
But also when things changed after nine to eleven, then
(17:32):
you needed a Like before that, you didn't really need
a passport to go into Canada. You can get into
Canada with the driver's license. And for my grandma, she
could just get into Canada. They'd say, oh, like she's
an elder and they would just let her go into Canada,
they'd ask us a couple questions what was usually pretty minimal,
but after things got more stringent, she never went to
Canada again because she didn't have a birth certificate and
(17:53):
she didn't want a birth certificate. So when they required
a passport, that requires a birth certificate, and she didn't
have when she want one, so she just never went
back to Canada again. So, but what we've tried to
do is to make sure that we're connected. And it
just so happened that there's a different writing system that
they're using, and there's different dialect things, and then there's
lifestyle things because we're ocean people and they're inland people,
(18:18):
and so Gwitchin is you know, the US Canadian border
is something that theoretically separates you from your relatives over there.
So what have you folks been doing to make sure
that you're staying connected to your to the ones who
might say a or you know, your folks who are
in Canada.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
Yeah, yeah, Canada, deluck Nai are people over there? I
should say, I wish we were more connected, and I've
been feeling that a lot. And you know, because we
have that border that was imposed on us through the
Middle of Arc, which in nation, and so we have
the Alaska side and then the Yukon and Northwest territories
(18:57):
in Canada. And I see all of these cool things
that are happening over there, and they probably see the
cool things that we're doing over here. And I wish
that we could come together more and work together. I
think that that's happening in smaller spaces. But something that
we do to come together is the we have the
quich In Gathering, which is bi annual and it's happening
(19:19):
this summer in Dungeon hung Lai in circle and so
every year every couple of years it alternates between Alaska
and in Canada. But that happened which in gathering happened.
It was actually born out of the threat to our
homelands in the sacred place where life begins, and so
(19:40):
our people had decided to come together in a gathering.
It was called Kuchin Ninsia and that was an Arctic village,
and our people came together and traveled from Canada, and
we had relatives that had not seen each other in
a very long time, Like you mentioned your grandma not
going for a long time because of the border. Well,
our people were facing the same thing, and so that
(20:03):
brought us together. And I'm really grateful that we have
that space. But it is you know, you have to travel,
you have to have a passport, and it is a
real long ways to get there. But I remember going
to Old Crow too and grow one of the Guichen
gatherings a long time ago, and just going by and
traveling by boat up there. It's such beautiful country where
(20:24):
you go up the Yukon River then you grow up
the Porcupine River and I just remember one of our
family trips how beautiful it is up there. Yeah, but
I really wish that, you know, the which in nation
can come together more and in our language and have
more projects together. I've really been wanting that lately, and
so if there are more ways to do that, I
(20:46):
would really like to learn about them and to share
because I like, you know, finding resources and not even
just in which In, but you know, for all our
indigenous languages, you know, and connecting people with those. I
feel like it's such a gift. You know, when you
find more resources, I know how excited I get. So
I really like sharing those with other people who are looking.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
For that wonderful And yeah, so sometimes it's a different
colonizer with the same process, right, and so these things
that kind of divide us. And sometimes there's a lot
of geographical space between communities as well, and it's difficult
to get back and forth between places. So we are
going to take a break, folks, So we'll be back
in just a couple of minutes. So I hang out
(21:29):
and I'm excited to talk more with Rochelle Adams about
some of the things that you're working on now, including
current projects and organizations. And so we'll be right back
to chish MASI cho.
Speaker 4 (21:54):
One or two or three times.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
You try an.
Speaker 5 (22:00):
You run around without joy, struggle yesterday, you struggle still
today now. But you'll find a.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Brother away my brother sisters.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Don't you know what about the way to win it
back for those who came.
Speaker 5 (22:30):
Believe in yourself, now believe in us somehow.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Donna Dee color nothing.
Speaker 4 (22:50):
Look at your hand in his tea too, wouchin at.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
Yeah, I shall go into at tank ets.
Speaker 4 (23:04):
So we are back, folks. So happy that we're all
walking together. And where are we going?
Speaker 2 (23:08):
We are going forward and following our ancestors. That's the
way that we talk about it and ling it and
then our descendants will be following us. So one of
the things I was thinking about while we're talking about
long journeys and trade is Randall Tillichi was hanging out
with us and he said he had come down before
to thling It country with his son and he heard
(23:31):
a song.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
And it's a song that sung in the village.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
Of Klukwan, which we're called kluk On. It's sung in
a village called Wrangel, which is called kitchen Ak, and
it's sung in Heidelberg, so it's sung by Heida peoples.
And so it sung by both ling It and height
Of peoples. It's a little bit different every place you go.
And I had always wondered about this song. And it's
one of these potentially a trade song because there's no
(23:56):
words to it. It's kind of chance. And Val said
he was sitting there with his son and his son said, Dad,
why are they singing our song? And he said, oh,
because long time ago, there was a guy from our
village of Old Crow who said, I'm gonna go take
off I'm and go for a walk, see what the
world is like. And he walked all the way down
and he came down into Klukwan, and he stayed there
(24:17):
for a while and he taught the people that song,
and then he went down the coast and I got
rides in a boat or something.
Speaker 4 (24:23):
This is long time ago.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
And then he left it, and everywhere he went he
left this song. And then he said, well, I guess
I'd better go home, and then he'd probably cut back
into the interior and walked. It's just wild to think.
I sometimes moan and groan about having to drive across town,
and people were like, yeah, I guess I'll just walk
like seven hundred miles to get there, you know.
Speaker 4 (24:41):
And so but just to like think.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
About this song and these trade networks, it's so fun
to think about how much information was shared long time ago,
and how with the work that we're doing today, we're
trying to recreate those networks. Was saying this works for
our language. You should try this. What are you guys doing,
Oh yeah, we're to try that. And so as we
trade and think about stuff like how does this relate
(25:05):
to what you're doing now in the work that you're doing,
Because the work that you're doing in language involves all
the languages in Alaska and doing like really cool projects
and sharing stuff, and beyond that work is visions of
much brighter futures for Alaska languages.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
Yeah, and also I should say not to mention that trade.
We used to trade a dentalium shells or beaver pelts,
and so a lot of that that you see, like
our chief necklaces and stuff that was a sign of
social status and like the monetary form. So that was
because of our trade and our relationship. Yeah. So the
way I look at it is, you know, we are
(25:44):
continuing those and building those relationships and then sometimes healing
with one another, you know, through that work. And you
mentioned our gathering that we were in last week, and
you know some of the words you shared about, you know,
when we lose those, there's that knowledge goes back out
there onto our land. And I should acknowledge that we
(26:05):
lost one of our elders in Beaver, actually one of
our last elders, and they're actually having the service right
now and Beaver. So I feel really honored to just
be able to take this time now to speak, you know,
to be talking about language and to continue this conversation
(26:26):
because that our elder was a real cultural bearer. Paul
Williams Senior and he was always at our language events
and teaching us and making sure that we continue these conversations.
So I feel honored to be talking about this now,
so Mustee for having this space and the work that
I do. Now. Well, I'm a Language Access director for
(26:48):
a nonprofit called acber Alaska Public Interest Research Group, and
I run the Language Access Team And one of the
first projects we've done was in twenty about twenty eighteen,
we formed Language Access Team and in twenty nineteen was
our first Alasca Native Language gathering where we brought together
(27:09):
four languages and that was a Newpiad Yupik and Qui
con and which in people brought them together and they
had were doing translation and messaging work around the census.
And from that gathering we had learned so much and
created such amazing relationships, you know, and held space for
(27:31):
people to have, you know, dialogues with one another, cross cultures,
and it was just such a beautiful, amazing event that
we wanted to start capturing, you know, all of that
knowledge and work and the ways that we did the
work because we did it, you know, really value spased
and caring for one another and creating such a great
(27:52):
space together that we felt comfortable to just be Indigenous
people together and it was very healing. And so since
then we work with these language panels, so every language
is a panel, and on these language panels we have
the Alaska Native Language panelists and those are language keepers, educators,
(28:13):
cultural bearers, younger learners who are a lot of times
really tech savvy and they're multi generational and we encourage
you know, families to join us and bring their babies
and bring their grandmas and just create that comfortable space.
And through these projects, we've done numerous projects such as
(28:34):
like voting messaging. During COVID, we learned how to zoom
online with the elders and we did know COVID information,
vaccine information, just a lot of projects like that. And
the messaging that comes out of this is really based
in like, you know, care and love for their community,
(28:54):
and all of these people they do this work because
of love, you know, love for their community. And so
like some of the work that came from, say, for example,
the COVID material, those messages that were driven by the panels,
they decided to share that you know, we're educating our
communities because we care for you, and this is how
we're caring for each other right now. And so with
(29:18):
each project, we really like to bring in people who
can educate and you know, be experts and share information
with the language panels and then they in turn and
create this understanding and you know, being informed. They drive
the messaging and if they choose to do direct translation,
they drive those messaging for their specific regions. You know,
(29:41):
because Luasca is so large, each of our cultures and
regions are come with their own set of challenges and
obstacles and needs and you know, values and ways of communication.
So each of those panels decide the best messaging for
their communities and the best way to deliver those messages.
So really just there is a supportive role to bring
(30:02):
people together and create that safe space for us to
just be native with one another. And I really appreciate
the cross cultural dialogues that we have because we're able
to really look at, you know, these projects and talk
about our true history with them and have real conversations.
And you know, our language panels have grown. So this
(30:25):
year we had nine languages that came together and it
was really cool because until this year we hadn't had
like Unongam Tonu or you know, had a larger Otna
group or clinket than Ina relatives, like we were able
to bring in all of those people and each one
of these we call them language panelists, but there are
just cultural treasures each one of you, know you, each
(30:49):
one of you that have joined us is just amazing
and you're all such you know, champions for the language
and just creating that space is something really magical for
us to come together have these you know, conversations and
learn about these things and learn how we can bring
resources to our community and how we can create language
(31:10):
access and talk about you know, what is language access
and why is it important to us? And then in
that way, you know, we're creating more space for our
languages and we're bringing our languages into more, you know,
more of our daily use and normalizing our language. And
so that's really what it takes to revitalize our languages,
(31:32):
you know. I mean, we all know that Alaska Native
languages are all severely endangered, and so what it takes
to bring that back is to see that language in
our everyday lives. And there's so many spaces where we
need that, we need that knowledge, and we need Indigenous
people to speak their language in those places because there's
so much being left out of the conversation when entire languages,
(31:55):
you know, are not spoken in those spaces. So I'm
really happy to be able to do that. And in
my role, I just want to continue growing and bringing
in more people and being supportive. And also it's that network,
you know, it's with everyone doing all of these amazing projects,
you know, immersion schools and classrooms and you know, panels
(32:17):
and committees that they all sit on or really growing together,
and so it's it's really cool. And something that we've
created through all of this work is the Alaska Native
Language Translation Protocols, And that's kind of what I mentioned earlier,
like we wanted to kind of, you know, bring together
all of these things that we've been learning and start
(32:38):
building on top of that knowledge because a lot of times,
you know, we're really we're really recreating the wheel every time,
you know, and so if we can have this foundational
like structure that we can build on and you know,
we can only improve from there. And so what the
Translation Protocols are is it's like a set of guidelines
(32:59):
for how people should work with our community. Who are
the owners of this knowledge, and how should this work
be done, and how should people approach communities and for translation,
where people should really have an understanding of what the
project is or what is this information going to be
used for and who's going to own this knowledge? You know,
(33:22):
And there was so much, like you know, there's been
so many harmful practices around extracting our knowledge and not
you know, not really bringing that knowledge back to the
community or communities, not understanding what this is going to
be used for, or not being paid adequately. I mean
we were hearing you know, like stories of like people
(33:45):
getting paid ten cents a word, you know, for and
you know, things like that, and it's just like so harmful,
you know. But but even more many places or not
even translating or having access to our languages. So there's
a lot of work to be done. But I feel
like this is a really good start, you know, for
(34:05):
continuing the work that's happening, and there's a lot of
room for people to join us.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
Yeah, Masi Chokna cheese for that work. I remember the
COVID projects and I was fortunate enough to work with
a young thingkeet speaker and artist, and we created a
series of things for that were giving indigenous messages about
what was going on at the time, because some of
the things that I was hearing, and I know some
(34:31):
of these things are divisive about masks and other stuff
like that, but really it came down to protecting our communities.
And I think of my auntie. She said, well, you know,
there's a lot of talk about what we should be
doing right now, but we lived through a lot of
different diseases before. And she was talking about when they
were going through a particular series of diseases and this
(34:53):
one that had come upon the people. And my grandpa,
my uppa, was a teacher and he would go to
do his work and when he came home, like he
came home at a certain time, my grandma knew what
time he was going to come home.
Speaker 4 (35:06):
She would fill this big old.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Tub outside with water with hot water, and he would
come home and remove all of his clothes and he
would completely bathe himself, and then his clothes would stay
outside and he would come inside and be completely clean
to make sure he didn't bring the sickness into the home.
And it was important to have indigenous messaging during that
time because I was hearing some things through just various well,
(35:30):
some of the messages that were out there was it's
just affecting the oldest, It's not a big deal. And
I remember hearing that and thinking, that's the most sacred
part of like all the parts of the population are sacred.
But if you're going to say, oh, it's just going
to affect the elders and they might die, you know,
I just thought that was such an alarming message to
hear out there. So the messaging that we took was
(35:51):
we protect our people, we protect our community, we protect
those we love, and I'm doing this so that others
don't get sick, and I'm doing this so that we
can survived this thing together, because pandemics for Indigenous peoples
are horrifying traumatic events for a lot of our communities.
Some of our communities saw population loss of eighty ninety
percent during smallpox and influenza and other things. And so
(36:15):
I was so thankful to be doing that work. And
then it was so wonderful to be up there and
in a room full of so many people doing amazing
stuff in languages, because sometimes we're having such enriching conversations
about what's your word for this, what's your word for that,
what do you guys call that little worm and what
do you It's just so fun to think about how
our languages work. And then in other times we're sharing resources. Oh,
(36:37):
you guys are using this thing to teach show it
to me.
Speaker 4 (36:40):
Oh, we're using this.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
And there was a lot of exchange of information that
went on beyond what we were there to do, which
was to talk about the American Community Survey and the
US Census and making sure that Indigenous peoples are being
counted and asking this US Census Bureau to say, okay,
could you put a question on there that says do
you speak a Native Maya language in your home? Because
(37:01):
that's a really big deal.
Speaker 4 (37:03):
Like, we don't have the.
Speaker 2 (37:04):
US government or the state government in Alaska keeping track
of our languages and how many speakers there are and
how often it's used. And I think that should be
part of what we're counting if we're looking at data
and people. And so I really appreciate you all advocating
for that and creating space for us and as we
go forward, making sure that Indigenous people's like when you
(37:25):
get something from the Census Bureau, it's a good idea
to fill that out because then we know we can
be part of the conversation of what is needed in
terms of what the government can and should provide. And
then also we make sure that we're being counted and
that we're standing up to vote, and that we're engaged
in political processes, because I know colonization is horrible, and
(37:47):
I know it's real easy to get something from the
government and think I don't want that. But then if
you fill it out and you tell your other relatives
and friends to fill it out, then they'll have a
better idea of what our life is like and then
have a better idea of what kind of future the
government should be looking at when it comes to Alaska,
when it comes to Alaska Native languages, and when it
(38:07):
comes to our villages. So I really appreciate the opportunities
to get together and to share that information.
Speaker 3 (38:13):
Yeah, I really appreciate, you know, having everyone there too
and growing growing this work. And I was happy that
we got experts to come in to fly into Alaska. Well.
We invited Elena Kapoeman, who was the tribal relations director
for the census in our region, and it was really
cool that we could bring her up because she's also Indigenous,
(38:34):
and so I had met her when during the BIA
listening sessions when the census director had come up and
I participated in the community conversation, and I saw all
of the questions that people were asking, and I just
thought that, you know, she's the right one, like she's
the one we need up here. And I was really
happy that she was able to come up and join
us and listen to all of our concerns and we
(38:55):
were comfortable enough to talking to another Indigenous person to
ask her the questions we really wanted to ask her.
And it was even better that, you know, she felt
comfortable with us and shared parts of her culture and
her songs and her gratitude and thanks for working with
us for that week too. It was a really amazing space,
and I'm still feeling the love from that and looking
(39:17):
forward to developing all of those messages that were created there,
I'll see.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
And I also want to send love to your home community.
I know that the loss of your elder happened while
we were having the meeting, and I know we had
to take a breath and then also keep doing the work,
and so I just want to send love and strength
to your people, to your homelands. We're going to take
our second break here, folks, So to Chish. When we
come back, we're going to talk about one of my
favorite topics, which is indigenous futures, which are bright and
(39:46):
full of vibrant languages and overcoming a lot of individual
and collective traumas and speaking in our languages to each
other on our own lands.
Speaker 4 (39:57):
So chish MASI cho right back.
Speaker 5 (40:03):
Her elo h, you're you're not said a cot blot
(40:26):
h her her kind of talk. He gives away to
(40:55):
ten dot.
Speaker 2 (41:16):
MASI gonna cheesh And we are here with Rachelle Adams
and so thinking about indigenous futures. I love that term
because sometimes a lot of media that portrays Indigenous peoples
only shows like what we were long time ago, or
sometimes there's these misunderstandings about who we are and what
we're doing. We're speaking our languages right now, we're bringing
(41:38):
our languages back to everyday use. We're seeing more and
more media presence. I know you and I have both
done work on Malli of Donali, so we have children
represented in media. And so one of the things I
like to think about a lot is if we're doing
the right things, we're making the right moves, what do
(41:59):
things look like thirty years from now in terms of
indigenous languages in Alaska Native communities.
Speaker 3 (42:07):
I love thinking about that. That's something you know, I
really enjoy, like envisioning. And for example, you know, you
said we do the work on Malli of Dnally, and
I think that that is such a big step. I remember,
you know, when I'm one of the Alaska Native Cultural
advisors for the show, and I helped to create the
world of Mollie and bring Molly to life and her family.
(42:30):
And I remember when we had one of the first screetings.
I was in Washington, d C. And I was backstage
waiting to come out to talk about it, and I
saw on the giant screen. I saw Arthur and Curious
George and you know, all of those, And then I
saw Mollie and she came on the screen and she said,
Masi cho, let's come. And you know, to see and
(42:53):
hear dinjizukia, you know deekenjik my language on the big screen,
it brought tears to my eyes, you know, to see
that and to see it on such a large platform,
and to know that, you know, our children are now
in a world where they're SMALLI and they hear their
languages and see actual representation of who they are and
(43:14):
the big screen is just it's amazing and to be
proud of that. And so we think about, you know,
all of these projects, and you know, the possibilities are endless,
and I'm so excited about that. You know, one of
the things that we're doing, aside from Malli of Danali
on PBS Kids, is there's another project going on with
(43:36):
Molli through the Doyan Foundation, and so we're actually translating
four episodes, so two in Dinizuk and whiche In and
two in Dana Kanaga in Koikon language, and so we've
been working with kiddos and young speakers to do the
voiceovers and voice acting in the languages. So that will
(43:57):
be coming out soon. I remember when I saw Finding
Nemo and Dinebizad and I, you know, I also got
teared up, and I was just so excited, you know,
to see languages like that and such a large platform
for Indigenous people to see that and to be proud
of and makes them want to learn and be proud
to speak their language. I think that, you know, to me,
(44:18):
that's the future, you know, that's the answer to continue
our languages and to have it be everywhere, and something
that I like to share in many conversations because you know, I,
like I said, I do language work, but I also
do art work, and you know, have like shows and
galleries and have all the different things that I'm involved in.
(44:39):
I always feel like it's really centered around our language
and our culture and our ways of life connected to
our place. And so something that I like to share
is that, you know, I don't know the question, but
I know what the answer is, and the answer is
in our languages and in our culture. And to me,
what that means is that through our culture, through our languages,
(45:00):
we find healing and we find that wellness and that grounding,
and that's what we need. We need our wellness and
we need, you know, to be healed and well and
to be the real people that we're meant to be.
You know, we all know that as indigenous people, we
face a lot of social ills. We've come through a
lot our history, We've been through a lot. Our families
(45:22):
have you been through a lot. And I always feel like,
you know, that void that was created with that break
in our culture and break in our language can be
healed and regrown and you know, refilled with our culture,
our languages, songs and dances, and that spirit, that spirit
of our people, the spirit of our land and all
(45:44):
of that. And so to me, like I know that
you know, in dedicating like all of my time and
energy and love and all of that to language and
culture is worthwhile. And that's how I see our people
becoming healthy again is you know, having that trust again
and that connection back to our ancestors and our ways
(46:04):
of life and you know, eating our native food and
being able to continue to practice our ways of life
like our ancestors always did. They really knew the way
to a good life was you know, living that connection
on our land and on our water. So that's why
I think it's so important that we protect our ways
of life as well, and we show up in these
(46:25):
spaces where you know, our voices are important, and not
only our voices, but our language is important. And so
I feel really strongly about having language access in all spaces,
and especially when it comes to you know, our hunting
and fishing rights and our you know, that stewardship that
you know has been passed down to us since we spoke.
(46:45):
We all used to speak the same language you know,
we all used to speak the same language with the fish,
the slip chow and the you know, the ding, the
moose and all of that, and we have this special
relationship with all of those relatives. And I feel very
strongly about that because you know, we're facing a real
crisis along the Yukon River. Haven't been able to fish
(47:06):
in years, and you know, showing up in these toxic
spaces that we're not meant for us, where we are
not really welcome, I don't see any any of that
love or knowledge, you know, of what I feel like
when I talk to my community or when I learn
in our language. I don't feel any of that in
those spaces. But I know that it exists, and I
(47:28):
know it's there, and you know, we have traditional stories
about the fish, and I feel like if we can
just create space to talk about our real stewardship and
our real relationship with animals, that we can have that
understanding of how to better care for them and how
to reclaim that stewardship with them. And then also through
(47:49):
the language, we can educate our people, you know, about
these management systems that we need to show up and
not everyone understands what bycatch means or trawling or over
fishing or you know, being wasteful. Not everyone understands that,
but I feel like if we can educate people in
our language, then it will help people to advocate for
(48:10):
our ways of life. So and that's just one example.
You know, there's so many examples of how we can
show up as Indigenous people and be involved with things
that directly affect our ways of life and you know,
our education and our health and you know, all of
these things. There's just so much knowledge out there that's
not being tapped into, you know, and we just need
(48:31):
to hold that space and open the doors. And you know,
and not only Indigenous people, it's also the responsibility in
the work of our you know, our allies or our
visitors and friends that can hold space for Indigenous people
and open doors for us, you know, with their privilege
and step aside and let us in those doors too,
(48:53):
and let us have those seats at the tables as well.
So there's just to me, like, that's what I see,
you know, That's what I envision is space for Indigenous
knowledge systems and everywhere. And I want to see my
future great grandchildren speaking which and fishing along the Yukon
and hanging fish and living that good life you know,
(49:16):
that's connected to our ancestors, and I was blessed with that.
I just want that from my children too.
Speaker 2 (49:22):
We see and this connection between people and language and
people in land, it's so sacred and so irreplaceable. And
so when I think about just being able to catch
a fish and cut a fish and share it with community,
and that is threatened, and it's threatened by people who
are taking too many fish out of the ocean before
(49:43):
they can come up the rivers. And so one of
the things that if we can get more indigenous involvement,
and especially people who speak indigenous languages and who understand
indigenous knowledge systems and indigenous sciences to be in more
of the positions that are helping to make some of
the decisions, then I think we'll realize that there's a
severe injustice if low fish runs means people who live
(50:08):
on the rivers can't fish, but people who are commercial
fishing and basically being able to make money is being
more important than being able to live your life as
your ancestors did and to survive. Like I think, when
you separate people from their traditional food sources, it causes
a tremendous disruption. So I think yes, and including more
(50:31):
Indigenous voices in those rooms where we're talking about distribution
of foods and distribution of economies and what kinds of
things should take precedence. And so for folks who live
on the Yukon and folks who live on the cusco Quim,
I know that there's been a heartbreaking limit to the
access of our foods and of the people's foods that
(50:52):
are there. And I think also coming back to the
conversations about Molly, is we have this avenue of putting
things out there that are incredibly important issues to us,
and now it's on a BBS television that's right up
there with really big shows. And to see that we
have a female Alaska Native character who's fun and funny
(51:15):
and smart and a problem solver and courageous. And so
I'm really thankful for your leadership and for your work
on Malli and to help bring it into being. And
as we think about the future, I also think there's
probably a future for an Alaska Native language media network
that creates content, and that content can then be you know,
(51:37):
if you film someone hunting amuz or if you've film
someone gathering some traditional medicines, like you could translate that
into a lot of different languages, and then you can
have a lot of different materials that are you know,
there's twenty three languages that are in Alaska that are
indigenous and we want them all to survive and want
them all to thrive, and it's going to take a
(51:57):
lot of statewide collaboration in order to do that, and
I think you're right at the forefront of that, and
I'm really thankful. So as we wrap up our conversation,
are there any departing words that you could think of
for the folks who are listening.
Speaker 3 (52:11):
Yeah, I just want to say mustacho to everyone that's,
you know, finding ways to stay connected with our language
or those that want to learn. And there's so many
resources out there, and all it takes is you know,
going to visit an elder or taking that first step,
you know, to do it. And if I can do it,
anyone can do it. If I can learn, you know,
(52:33):
how to speak and understand in my language how to write,
you can do that too. And we all have a
place in our language and in our culture. And no
matter how disconnected you feel, or if you didn't grow
up in your language, it will always be there for you,
and it's a part of who you are. It's a
part of your DNA, and you have that ancestral right
to your indigenous knowledge. So it's there for you and
(52:55):
you can make your ancestors very happy. I just want
to say that, and must chogunis for inviting me into
this space and to share. There's lots more to talk
about and lots more to do, and you know, so
this is just it's just one conversation of many that's happening,
and I'm just really grateful for it, and I look
forward to continuing to work you and yeah, I'm excited.
(53:18):
We'll see.
Speaker 2 (53:19):
And so wherever you are, whatever you're doing, just remember
you are the right person to be doing the thing.
So sometimes I think as indigenous peoples, we don't really
see enough that's telling us that we can do it,
that's showing us that it's possible. I think that's one
of the mechanisms of colonization, is to create this situation
(53:39):
where it feels like it's impossible to bring your language
back to stop this overfishing or over harvesting of a resource.
But it's absolutely possible. But what it takes is it
takes overcoming some of those things that get you to
think that maybe you can't. So you can learn a
word today, you could learn a phrase tomorrow, you could
learn a speech the day after that. You can continue
(54:01):
to build on these things that are left for you,
and sometimes you're gonna have to find a way to
get there. But I think if we're looking at living
together in wellness and in health and loving each other
and helping each other through it and watching out for
each other and just keeping things positive and healthy and
not causing harm and preventing harm from happening, then I
(54:22):
think we do realize that there is a brighter Indigenous
future out there, and I'm really excited to see it.
I'm really excited for my descendants to live in it
and to find it and to speak their languages and
to listen to some of the things and to listen
to recordings of people who taught me and say, oh, yeah,
those ancestors, they did this for us.
Speaker 4 (54:44):
So keep doing the thing, folks. I believe in you,
and I believe that it's possible. Good to chiesh MASI
cho
They tried to colonizes, try to genocide. Yet we're still
here with the tongue on broke and.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Ben shi a Agi Masa Artua ka ta Johan that
Joe artuya k i a gi hia t Welcome folks
to the Tongue Unbroken Clesh. This is a podcast about
(00:49):
language revitalization and decolonization in North America. And I'm so
glad that you're listening, so glad that you're hanging out.
We have another exciting comversation today with an incredible language
advocate and a leader of our people. We just had
a meeting last week with I think eleven different languages
(01:10):
in the room, and there was a lot of work
that a lot of folks did, but Rochelle Adams is
one of the ones that was really leading that effort.
And so I'm excited to have you on the show
and to visit with you a bit today. And could
you tell the people who you are and what you.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Do A Rachelle Adams Okri Georg the Guy Cola, Ni
ni Amea, sh Angela, Peter Mayo, Cliff Tuffy, Adams, Shahan
(01:51):
Via Hunai Susi. It's Johnny Peter Shad via nai Kandababed
Cliff Adam Senior go for Shahan Ali Shih Broke weal
(02:11):
at Shi CHUANGHI should weaken he he ms cho. Thank you,
my friend for inviting me today. I'm happy to introduce
(02:33):
myself in my language, which is a language. And I
said that my name is Rachel Adams. I'm from the
villages of fort Yukon and Beaver That's where i was
raised and I'm now on Da Gaya cooked the land
of my relatives people. I have three children. Their names
(02:54):
are Ameya Coso, Najerie and and my parents are Angela
pre Mayo and the Lake Cliff Tuffee Adams my mother.
My mother's parents are Susie Lord Peter and Johnny Peter Sor.
And my father's parents are Hannah Babe and Cliff Adams Senior.
(03:14):
And my mom is from fort Yukon and my dad
is from Beaver. And I also said that I'm a
language learner and a language educator and when I speak
my language, my heart is happy. And I'm really grateful
to be here today and to hold space with you
about our languages, which is something that I really love.
(03:35):
So I must see you choose for having me here today.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Must see which in and thinget were the same language
if we just roll the clock back to time immemorial.
And so I was just thinking the other day about
some of the sometimes we use numbers to talk about
how long our languages have been around, and sometimes I
think we get pulled into these conversations that might not
benefit us a whole lot. Like I was in a
(04:00):
dialogue yesterday and someone said, I speak the Basque language,
which is one of the oldest languages on earth.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
And my instinct was to say, where the oldest, you know?
Speaker 2 (04:09):
But then I thought what am I doing? Like why
am I competing for how long? But the longevity of
our languages is really fascinating to me, so not d
Nay languages is a very large language group in North America.
It spans areas from the southwestern United States up into
the interior of Canada and Alaska. And it's so interesting
(04:31):
because our languages have such similarities in terms of how
they're structured. But it would be impossible just to sit
down and have a conversation unless you just said a
couple of words like rabbit or something. And so it's
really amazing to have you here and to listen to
the work that you're doing with our cousin language which in,
(04:52):
and to think about the lives that have shared so
much information through trade, through conversations.
Speaker 4 (04:59):
I do you believe, if you go.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Back long time ago, there were which in people who
spoke fling it and there were things that people who
spoke which in because you had trade networks and you
had people who would walk so far, Like it's so
interesting to me. I remember talking to someone who is
ATNA and they said, their uncle just kind of popped
in the door and said, I'm going to Fairbanks.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
I'll be back in the fall.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
And it was springtime. It's just going to walk hundreds
of miles.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
But this is what people did.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
So thinking of your journey, can you talk a little
bit about your work with which in and how you
came to the language and what you do specifically with
which in these days.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Yeah, that's interesting when you say that, because you know,
our creation stories go back to they always say that,
you know, we all spoke the same language, and that
also means our planned relatives and animals and fish and
all of that. You know, everything has a spirit and
we acknowledge that still today in our cultures, which is
(05:57):
such a so amazing with you know, how connected we
are to our place but also each other. Yeah, so
my language were well, I guess you know, I was
born into it and I grew up hearing my grandfather
speak on both sides of my family, and I guess
I should say that I'm which in I'm also koya
(06:18):
Kon and Nupiat, Japanese and Swedish. And there's a real
interesting history of you know, my family and how we
came to be and the founding of my village of Beaver,
which were which was founded by Nupiat and Japanese explorers,
and yeah, it's really interesting. And so to have all
of these different cultural parts of you know, who I am,
(06:40):
and the village of Beaver and where it's situated and
how it was founded, it's really cool. So Beaver is
located on the Yukon, which is right on the border
of the Which and the Koyakon people, and was founded
by Nupiat Japanese explorers and throw in like an adventurous
Swedish grandfather and you know all of these amazing adventures.
(07:04):
There's books written about it and you know all of that.
So it's really interesting the history and how you wouldn't
really expect such an international place and yu come flats. Yeah.
But so my language work, I've always been really interested
in our language, in our culture and just our lifestyle.
(07:25):
I've always really appreciated it. And growing up in the village.
I grew up at fish camp and on the trap line,
just in the village and playing on the land and
practicing our ways of life around the seasonal cycles, hunting,
fishing and trapping and all those things. And you know,
(07:45):
my parents didn't speak which and my grandmother on my
mom's side, she was snoopiad in Japanese and Swedish, but
she didn't learn a lot of which In from my grandfather.
And on my dad's side, my grandma didn't speak My
grandfather didn't he spoke, but it was more my great
grandmother where I hud the language when I was young,
(08:06):
and I didn't know. I actually didn't know that my
mom understood which In until I was teaching language classes
and would invite my mom and she had her own like,
you know, healing journey, and she told me, this reminds
me of when I was little. She said, I used
to listen to Grandpa, you know, and all his visitors,
(08:27):
and he was a musician as well, and everyone would
always stop by the house and she would sit and
listen to them, laughing which and she said she used
to understand it, and I never knew that. I never
knew my mom could understand which in when she was little.
But that came through, you know, holding that space and
holding those those language classes. So I think it just
(08:48):
came naturally for me because I've always been so interested
in our ways of life and specifically our arts, and
you know, working with our skins, moose skin and salmon
skin and learning all these cultural practices. Some of them
I felt like obligated to learn our cultural arts because
some of those ways of life aren't as prevalent anymore,
(09:12):
just the same as with our language. And I think
it wasn't intel. I went to UAF when I was
growing for my undergrad my bachelors and Native Art, and
Hushin Peter was teaching the which in language, and I
wanted to take advantage of that. And I was a
young mom. My kids were all young, and I was
(09:33):
taking my classes, and a lot of times I would
have to bring them with me, so my kids really
were raised in the language. And as I was going
to school every semester, I wanted to continue taking those classes.
So every semester I was taking which in like beginning,
which in and intermediate and advanced, and pretty soon I
(09:55):
took all of her classes, so she had to make
more classes for me, and I was a teacher's aide.
And another one was studying in the archives. We would
go through all of our stories line by line to
make sure I understood in that sentence structure and just
the cultural teachings in it. And another class was going
(10:16):
out into the community and recording stories from elders and
translating and transcribing those stories. So one of the elders
that I was visiting was Catherine Peter, who was my
great great aunt. But yeah, I learned so much from
doing that. And also my advisor had told me that
(10:38):
I was the first person to get a minor in
Alaska Native Language because they didn't have that at the university,
and so I thought that was really interesting. I would
like to check into that and see if that's actually true,
because I think that's kind of a big deal and
I'm really proud of that. And so having that foundation
know with the language and being able to understand and speak, well,
(11:01):
I shouldn't say so much as understanding. I really came
to realize that I was understanding when I started doing
work in my reach in the Yukon Flats. And so
almost every summer we come together for the Indigenous Language Institute,
and so all the elders and language learners come together
(11:22):
for an intensive couple of weeks and create language learning
material and just do lots of recording. And we're always
using different kinds of media to make different curriculum done,
like books and all sorts of programs and things and
the language. And one of those summers, I was sitting there,
you know, because a lot of times it's me and
(11:43):
a lot of elders, and I was listening to the
stories and I realized that I understood what they were saying.
And I had such an aha moment, like it was
just so powerful, and I think I had tears in
my eyes. And I was sitting there in the middle
of this full of elders, and I just realized that
I can understand him and the language and not so
(12:05):
much just like piecing words here and there, but understand
what they were saying and yeah. And another really important
part of my journey has been when I was in
the UAF program. I remember I started dreaming in which
and I remember dreaming of my late grandfather John and Peter,
that's my mom's dad. I remember he would come to
(12:28):
me in my dreams and we would just speak which
in and I would understand him and he would teach
me things and in the language. And that really stuck
with me, you know too, and it makes me, you know,
it makes me think that it's not just like learning
a language is the is the goal, you know, It's
it's the journey of being on that language learning and
(12:50):
it's the spirit of the language learning that is so
enriching to your life and makes you so grounded and
so connected, and it really enriches everything about your life.
That's how I feel. So Once I had that, you know,
understanding and all of that, I started teaching which in
(13:10):
I would teach at You're an Anchorage. I worked for
the Anchorage School District and I was in all the
schools and evening programs and summer camps. And I first
I started out as being a language teacher, and I
would you know, teach kids and using art. I really
loved using art to teach cultural arts and other kinds
(13:32):
of art too, like as many mediums as I can use,
which as painting, you know, painting maps and talking about
all of the lens and the cultures. And something fun
that I did to was claymation in the language, and
so the kids really like that. They would all make
like scenes and different stories and they would tell you
(13:52):
stories about the animals and what they liked to eat
and whatever they wanted to share. But it was fun
and they got to choose the music, you know that
we use. So I always liked combining you know, art
and language and culture because it goes so nicely, you
know it just it's all connected to me, and that
also goes with like advocacy for our ways of life,
(14:13):
and so to me, it's all time together.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
That's fabulous.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
And thinking about what you talked about with dreaming in
the language, I think there's a really important point I
want to touch on here. So Randall Tatalici is a
Gwitchen elder who lives in white Horse and he came
down to visit us because there was a book that
was about caribou and protecting caribou herds and also tracking caribou.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
And it was great.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
It was a really wonderful series of conversations that were had.
And because we had someone visiting our campus that I
had just said, do you want to come sit in
on one of our language classes? You know, I mean
it's a different language, but I think it'd be really
fun if if you came and wanted to just talk
to us. And so it came and it was an
intermediate thing at class and we started talking and we're
(15:00):
just learning stuff. And then I turned it over to
him at some point I said, do you have anything
you want to share with us well while you're here,
And he said, well, you know, I know that some
of you are doing everything you can, and I know
that you're maybe worried about what's going on, and maybe
you're worried about a speaker that you lost, or maybe
you're worried about a speaker who's very elderly. And when
(15:21):
I was growing up, the village was really different, Like
we had people that lived to so long that they
would crawl around their house because they would just be
well over one hundred years old, and would go to
visit them, and the amount of knowledge that they had
was really incredible. But then he said the thing that
we were taught though, too, is when somebody passes away,
(15:42):
all of their knowledge doesn't go with them. What happens
is the knowledge goes back into the land, and when
you go out on the land and you speak your language,
it comes to you in your dreams. And I thought
that was really fascinating because I do know of other
languages who they've had to reconstruct their speaker base because
they have no speakers, and then someone goes to learn it,
(16:03):
and then someone starts talking to them in their dream
And so I love it because there's the practical thing.
You've got to learn these words, you got to learn
this grammar, you got to learn these structures. But then
there's a spiritual connection. Like you said, there's a spirit
to the language, and then once you sort of are
connected to that spirit, it's this thing that's a lot
less about thinking about the structures and constructing the language,
(16:25):
but living with it on a day to day basis,
which I think pushes you from thinking in English and
translating to the language and then saying it in the
language to sort of being in a little bit more
of a place where it's a lot more fluid, where
you're listening to the language and understanding and then responding
in the language, and there's less use of English as
a bridge language. And so I was really thankful that
(16:48):
he shared that information with us, and as really it
was really neat too to talk about other connections between
which in people's and think it there's a long ways
that separates us. So that's which in country is pretty
north from us. But one of the other things that's
similar is we've done a lot of reconstructing relationships over
the past ten to fifteen years because we have communities
(17:10):
who happen to be in Canada and the border does
create a separation. And so for us, there's a road
that does connect two of our communities to Canada, and so,
but you have to have a passport to go through,
and you have to have a clean record to go through.
But also when things changed after nine to eleven, then
(17:32):
you needed a Like before that, you didn't really need
a passport to go into Canada. You can get into
Canada with the driver's license. And for my grandma, she
could just get into Canada. They'd say, oh, like she's
an elder and they would just let her go into Canada,
they'd ask us a couple questions what was usually pretty minimal,
but after things got more stringent, she never went to
Canada again because she didn't have a birth certificate and
(17:53):
she didn't want a birth certificate. So when they required
a passport, that requires a birth certificate, and she didn't
have when she want one, so she just never went
back to Canada again. So, but what we've tried to
do is to make sure that we're connected. And it
just so happened that there's a different writing system that
they're using, and there's different dialect things, and then there's
lifestyle things because we're ocean people and they're inland people,
(18:18):
and so Gwitchin is you know, the US Canadian border
is something that theoretically separates you from your relatives over there.
So what have you folks been doing to make sure
that you're staying connected to your to the ones who
might say a or you know, your folks who are
in Canada.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
Yeah, yeah, Canada, deluck Nai are people over there? I
should say, I wish we were more connected, and I've
been feeling that a lot. And you know, because we
have that border that was imposed on us through the
Middle of Arc, which in nation, and so we have
the Alaska side and then the Yukon and Northwest territories
(18:57):
in Canada. And I see all of these cool things
that are happening over there, and they probably see the
cool things that we're doing over here. And I wish
that we could come together more and work together. I
think that that's happening in smaller spaces. But something that
we do to come together is the we have the
quich In Gathering, which is bi annual and it's happening
(19:19):
this summer in Dungeon hung Lai in circle and so
every year every couple of years it alternates between Alaska
and in Canada. But that happened which in gathering happened.
It was actually born out of the threat to our
homelands in the sacred place where life begins, and so
(19:40):
our people had decided to come together in a gathering.
It was called Kuchin Ninsia and that was an Arctic village,
and our people came together and traveled from Canada, and
we had relatives that had not seen each other in
a very long time, Like you mentioned your grandma not
going for a long time because of the border. Well,
our people were facing the same thing, and so that
(20:03):
brought us together. And I'm really grateful that we have
that space. But it is you know, you have to travel,
you have to have a passport, and it is a
real long ways to get there. But I remember going
to Old Crow too and grow one of the Guichen
gatherings a long time ago, and just going by and
traveling by boat up there. It's such beautiful country where
(20:24):
you go up the Yukon River then you grow up
the Porcupine River and I just remember one of our
family trips how beautiful it is up there. Yeah, but
I really wish that, you know, the which in nation
can come together more and in our language and have
more projects together. I've really been wanting that lately, and
so if there are more ways to do that, I
(20:46):
would really like to learn about them and to share
because I like, you know, finding resources and not even
just in which In, but you know, for all our
indigenous languages, you know, and connecting people with those. I
feel like it's such a gift. You know, when you
find more resources, I know how excited I get. So
I really like sharing those with other people who are looking.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
For that wonderful And yeah, so sometimes it's a different
colonizer with the same process, right, and so these things
that kind of divide us. And sometimes there's a lot
of geographical space between communities as well, and it's difficult
to get back and forth between places. So we are
going to take a break, folks, So we'll be back
in just a couple of minutes. So I hang out
(21:29):
and I'm excited to talk more with Rochelle Adams about
some of the things that you're working on now, including
current projects and organizations. And so we'll be right back
to chish MASI cho.
Speaker 4 (21:54):
One or two or three times.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
You try an.
Speaker 5 (22:00):
You run around without joy, struggle yesterday, you struggle still
today now. But you'll find a.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Brother away my brother sisters.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Don't you know what about the way to win it
back for those who came.
Speaker 5 (22:30):
Believe in yourself, now believe in us somehow.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Donna Dee color nothing.
Speaker 4 (22:50):
Look at your hand in his tea too, wouchin at.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
Yeah, I shall go into at tank ets.
Speaker 4 (23:04):
So we are back, folks. So happy that we're all
walking together. And where are we going?
Speaker 2 (23:08):
We are going forward and following our ancestors. That's the
way that we talk about it and ling it and
then our descendants will be following us. So one of
the things I was thinking about while we're talking about
long journeys and trade is Randall Tillichi was hanging out
with us and he said he had come down before
to thling It country with his son and he heard
(23:31):
a song.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
And it's a song that sung in the village.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
Of Klukwan, which we're called kluk On. It's sung in
a village called Wrangel, which is called kitchen Ak, and
it's sung in Heidelberg, so it's sung by Heida peoples.
And so it sung by both ling It and height
Of peoples. It's a little bit different every place you go.
And I had always wondered about this song. And it's
one of these potentially a trade song because there's no
(23:56):
words to it. It's kind of chance. And Val said
he was sitting there with his son and his son said, Dad,
why are they singing our song? And he said, oh,
because long time ago, there was a guy from our
village of Old Crow who said, I'm gonna go take
off I'm and go for a walk, see what the
world is like. And he walked all the way down
and he came down into Klukwan, and he stayed there
(24:17):
for a while and he taught the people that song,
and then he went down the coast and I got
rides in a boat or something.
Speaker 4 (24:23):
This is long time ago.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
And then he left it, and everywhere he went he
left this song. And then he said, well, I guess
I'd better go home, and then he'd probably cut back
into the interior and walked. It's just wild to think.
I sometimes moan and groan about having to drive across town,
and people were like, yeah, I guess I'll just walk
like seven hundred miles to get there, you know.
Speaker 4 (24:41):
And so but just to like think.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
About this song and these trade networks, it's so fun
to think about how much information was shared long time ago,
and how with the work that we're doing today, we're
trying to recreate those networks. Was saying this works for
our language. You should try this. What are you guys doing,
Oh yeah, we're to try that. And so as we
trade and think about stuff like how does this relate
(25:05):
to what you're doing now in the work that you're doing,
Because the work that you're doing in language involves all
the languages in Alaska and doing like really cool projects
and sharing stuff, and beyond that work is visions of
much brighter futures for Alaska languages.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
Yeah, and also I should say not to mention that trade.
We used to trade a dentalium shells or beaver pelts,
and so a lot of that that you see, like
our chief necklaces and stuff that was a sign of
social status and like the monetary form. So that was
because of our trade and our relationship. Yeah. So the
way I look at it is, you know, we are
(25:44):
continuing those and building those relationships and then sometimes healing
with one another, you know, through that work. And you
mentioned our gathering that we were in last week, and
you know some of the words you shared about, you know,
when we lose those, there's that knowledge goes back out
there onto our land. And I should acknowledge that we
(26:05):
lost one of our elders in Beaver, actually one of
our last elders, and they're actually having the service right
now and Beaver. So I feel really honored to just
be able to take this time now to speak, you know,
to be talking about language and to continue this conversation
(26:26):
because that our elder was a real cultural bearer. Paul
Williams Senior and he was always at our language events
and teaching us and making sure that we continue these conversations.
So I feel honored to be talking about this now,
so Mustee for having this space and the work that
I do. Now. Well, I'm a Language Access director for
(26:48):
a nonprofit called acber Alaska Public Interest Research Group, and
I run the Language Access Team And one of the
first projects we've done was in twenty about twenty eighteen,
we formed Language Access Team and in twenty nineteen was
our first Alasca Native Language gathering where we brought together
(27:09):
four languages and that was a Newpiad Yupik and Qui
con and which in people brought them together and they
had were doing translation and messaging work around the census.
And from that gathering we had learned so much and
created such amazing relationships, you know, and held space for
(27:31):
people to have, you know, dialogues with one another, cross cultures,
and it was just such a beautiful, amazing event that
we wanted to start capturing, you know, all of that
knowledge and work and the ways that we did the
work because we did it, you know, really value spased
and caring for one another and creating such a great
(27:52):
space together that we felt comfortable to just be Indigenous
people together and it was very healing. And so since
then we work with these language panels, so every language
is a panel, and on these language panels we have
the Alaska Native Language panelists and those are language keepers, educators,
(28:13):
cultural bearers, younger learners who are a lot of times
really tech savvy and they're multi generational and we encourage
you know, families to join us and bring their babies
and bring their grandmas and just create that comfortable space.
And through these projects, we've done numerous projects such as
(28:34):
like voting messaging. During COVID, we learned how to zoom
online with the elders and we did know COVID information,
vaccine information, just a lot of projects like that. And
the messaging that comes out of this is really based
in like, you know, care and love for their community,
(28:54):
and all of these people they do this work because
of love, you know, love for their community. And so
like some of the work that came from, say, for example,
the COVID material, those messages that were driven by the panels,
they decided to share that you know, we're educating our
communities because we care for you, and this is how
we're caring for each other right now. And so with
(29:18):
each project, we really like to bring in people who
can educate and you know, be experts and share information
with the language panels and then they in turn and
create this understanding and you know, being informed. They drive
the messaging and if they choose to do direct translation,
they drive those messaging for their specific regions. You know,
(29:41):
because Luasca is so large, each of our cultures and
regions are come with their own set of challenges and
obstacles and needs and you know, values and ways of communication.
So each of those panels decide the best messaging for
their communities and the best way to deliver those messages.
So really just there is a supportive role to bring
(30:02):
people together and create that safe space for us to
just be native with one another. And I really appreciate
the cross cultural dialogues that we have because we're able
to really look at, you know, these projects and talk
about our true history with them and have real conversations.
And you know, our language panels have grown. So this
(30:25):
year we had nine languages that came together and it
was really cool because until this year we hadn't had
like Unongam Tonu or you know, had a larger Otna
group or clinket than Ina relatives, like we were able
to bring in all of those people and each one
of these we call them language panelists, but there are
just cultural treasures each one of you, know you, each
(30:49):
one of you that have joined us is just amazing
and you're all such you know, champions for the language
and just creating that space is something really magical for
us to come together have these you know, conversations and
learn about these things and learn how we can bring
resources to our community and how we can create language
(31:10):
access and talk about you know, what is language access
and why is it important to us? And then in
that way, you know, we're creating more space for our
languages and we're bringing our languages into more, you know,
more of our daily use and normalizing our language. And
so that's really what it takes to revitalize our languages,
(31:32):
you know. I mean, we all know that Alaska Native
languages are all severely endangered, and so what it takes
to bring that back is to see that language in
our everyday lives. And there's so many spaces where we
need that, we need that knowledge, and we need Indigenous
people to speak their language in those places because there's
so much being left out of the conversation when entire languages,
(31:55):
you know, are not spoken in those spaces. So I'm
really happy to be able to do that. And in
my role, I just want to continue growing and bringing
in more people and being supportive. And also it's that network,
you know, it's with everyone doing all of these amazing projects,
you know, immersion schools and classrooms and you know, panels
(32:17):
and committees that they all sit on or really growing together,
and so it's it's really cool. And something that we've
created through all of this work is the Alaska Native
Language Translation Protocols, And that's kind of what I mentioned earlier,
like we wanted to kind of, you know, bring together
all of these things that we've been learning and start
(32:38):
building on top of that knowledge because a lot of times,
you know, we're really we're really recreating the wheel every time,
you know, and so if we can have this foundational
like structure that we can build on and you know,
we can only improve from there. And so what the
Translation Protocols are is it's like a set of guidelines
(32:59):
for how people should work with our community. Who are
the owners of this knowledge, and how should this work
be done, and how should people approach communities and for translation,
where people should really have an understanding of what the
project is or what is this information going to be
used for and who's going to own this knowledge? You know,
(33:22):
And there was so much, like you know, there's been
so many harmful practices around extracting our knowledge and not
you know, not really bringing that knowledge back to the
community or communities, not understanding what this is going to
be used for, or not being paid adequately. I mean
we were hearing you know, like stories of like people
(33:45):
getting paid ten cents a word, you know, for and
you know, things like that, and it's just like so harmful,
you know. But but even more many places or not
even translating or having access to our languages. So there's
a lot of work to be done. But I feel
like this is a really good start, you know, for
(34:05):
continuing the work that's happening, and there's a lot of
room for people to join us.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
Yeah, Masi Chokna cheese for that work. I remember the
COVID projects and I was fortunate enough to work with
a young thingkeet speaker and artist, and we created a
series of things for that were giving indigenous messages about
what was going on at the time, because some of
the things that I was hearing, and I know some
(34:31):
of these things are divisive about masks and other stuff
like that, but really it came down to protecting our communities.
And I think of my auntie. She said, well, you know,
there's a lot of talk about what we should be
doing right now, but we lived through a lot of
different diseases before. And she was talking about when they
were going through a particular series of diseases and this
(34:53):
one that had come upon the people. And my grandpa,
my uppa, was a teacher and he would go to
do his work and when he came home, like he
came home at a certain time, my grandma knew what
time he was going to come home.
Speaker 4 (35:06):
She would fill this big old.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Tub outside with water with hot water, and he would
come home and remove all of his clothes and he
would completely bathe himself, and then his clothes would stay
outside and he would come inside and be completely clean
to make sure he didn't bring the sickness into the home.
And it was important to have indigenous messaging during that
time because I was hearing some things through just various well,
(35:30):
some of the messages that were out there was it's
just affecting the oldest, It's not a big deal. And
I remember hearing that and thinking, that's the most sacred
part of like all the parts of the population are sacred.
But if you're going to say, oh, it's just going
to affect the elders and they might die, you know,
I just thought that was such an alarming message to
hear out there. So the messaging that we took was
(35:51):
we protect our people, we protect our community, we protect
those we love, and I'm doing this so that others
don't get sick, and I'm doing this so that we
can survived this thing together, because pandemics for Indigenous peoples
are horrifying traumatic events for a lot of our communities.
Some of our communities saw population loss of eighty ninety
percent during smallpox and influenza and other things. And so
(36:15):
I was so thankful to be doing that work. And
then it was so wonderful to be up there and
in a room full of so many people doing amazing
stuff in languages, because sometimes we're having such enriching conversations
about what's your word for this, what's your word for that,
what do you guys call that little worm and what
do you It's just so fun to think about how
our languages work. And then in other times we're sharing resources. Oh,
(36:37):
you guys are using this thing to teach show it
to me.
Speaker 4 (36:40):
Oh, we're using this.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
And there was a lot of exchange of information that
went on beyond what we were there to do, which
was to talk about the American Community Survey and the
US Census and making sure that Indigenous peoples are being
counted and asking this US Census Bureau to say, okay,
could you put a question on there that says do
you speak a Native Maya language in your home? Because
(37:01):
that's a really big deal.
Speaker 4 (37:03):
Like, we don't have the.
Speaker 2 (37:04):
US government or the state government in Alaska keeping track
of our languages and how many speakers there are and
how often it's used. And I think that should be
part of what we're counting if we're looking at data
and people. And so I really appreciate you all advocating
for that and creating space for us and as we
go forward, making sure that Indigenous people's like when you
(37:25):
get something from the Census Bureau, it's a good idea
to fill that out because then we know we can
be part of the conversation of what is needed in
terms of what the government can and should provide. And
then also we make sure that we're being counted and
that we're standing up to vote, and that we're engaged
in political processes, because I know colonization is horrible, and
(37:47):
I know it's real easy to get something from the
government and think I don't want that. But then if
you fill it out and you tell your other relatives
and friends to fill it out, then they'll have a
better idea of what our life is like and then
have a better idea of what kind of future the
government should be looking at when it comes to Alaska,
when it comes to Alaska Native languages, and when it
(38:07):
comes to our villages. So I really appreciate the opportunities
to get together and to share that information.
Speaker 3 (38:13):
Yeah, I really appreciate, you know, having everyone there too
and growing growing this work. And I was happy that
we got experts to come in to fly into Alaska. Well.
We invited Elena Kapoeman, who was the tribal relations director
for the census in our region, and it was really
cool that we could bring her up because she's also Indigenous,
(38:34):
and so I had met her when during the BIA
listening sessions when the census director had come up and
I participated in the community conversation, and I saw all
of the questions that people were asking, and I just
thought that, you know, she's the right one, like she's
the one we need up here. And I was really
happy that she was able to come up and join
us and listen to all of our concerns and we
(38:55):
were comfortable enough to talking to another Indigenous person to
ask her the questions we really wanted to ask her.
And it was even better that, you know, she felt
comfortable with us and shared parts of her culture and
her songs and her gratitude and thanks for working with
us for that week too. It was a really amazing space,
and I'm still feeling the love from that and looking
(39:17):
forward to developing all of those messages that were created there,
I'll see.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
And I also want to send love to your home community.
I know that the loss of your elder happened while
we were having the meeting, and I know we had
to take a breath and then also keep doing the work,
and so I just want to send love and strength
to your people, to your homelands. We're going to take
our second break here, folks, So to Chish. When we
come back, we're going to talk about one of my
favorite topics, which is indigenous futures, which are bright and
(39:46):
full of vibrant languages and overcoming a lot of individual
and collective traumas and speaking in our languages to each
other on our own lands.
Speaker 4 (39:57):
So chish MASI cho right back.
Speaker 5 (40:03):
Her elo h, you're you're not said a cot blot
(40:26):
h her her kind of talk. He gives away to
(40:55):
ten dot.
Speaker 2 (41:16):
MASI gonna cheesh And we are here with Rachelle Adams
and so thinking about indigenous futures. I love that term
because sometimes a lot of media that portrays Indigenous peoples
only shows like what we were long time ago, or
sometimes there's these misunderstandings about who we are and what
we're doing. We're speaking our languages right now, we're bringing
(41:38):
our languages back to everyday use. We're seeing more and
more media presence. I know you and I have both
done work on Malli of Donali, so we have children
represented in media. And so one of the things I
like to think about a lot is if we're doing
the right things, we're making the right moves, what do
(41:59):
things look like thirty years from now in terms of
indigenous languages in Alaska Native communities.
Speaker 3 (42:07):
I love thinking about that. That's something you know, I
really enjoy, like envisioning. And for example, you know, you
said we do the work on Malli of Dnally, and
I think that that is such a big step. I remember,
you know, when I'm one of the Alaska Native Cultural
advisors for the show, and I helped to create the
world of Mollie and bring Molly to life and her family.
(42:30):
And I remember when we had one of the first screetings.
I was in Washington, d C. And I was backstage
waiting to come out to talk about it, and I
saw on the giant screen. I saw Arthur and Curious
George and you know, all of those, And then I
saw Mollie and she came on the screen and she said,
Masi cho, let's come. And you know, to see and
(42:53):
hear dinjizukia, you know deekenjik my language on the big screen,
it brought tears to my eyes, you know, to see
that and to see it on such a large platform,
and to know that, you know, our children are now
in a world where they're SMALLI and they hear their
languages and see actual representation of who they are and
(43:14):
the big screen is just it's amazing and to be
proud of that. And so we think about, you know,
all of these projects, and you know, the possibilities are endless,
and I'm so excited about that. You know, one of
the things that we're doing, aside from Malli of Danali
on PBS Kids, is there's another project going on with
(43:36):
Molli through the Doyan Foundation, and so we're actually translating
four episodes, so two in Dinizuk and whiche In and
two in Dana Kanaga in Koikon language, and so we've
been working with kiddos and young speakers to do the
voiceovers and voice acting in the languages. So that will
(43:57):
be coming out soon. I remember when I saw Finding
Nemo and Dinebizad and I, you know, I also got
teared up, and I was just so excited, you know,
to see languages like that and such a large platform
for Indigenous people to see that and to be proud
of and makes them want to learn and be proud
to speak their language. I think that, you know, to me,
(44:18):
that's the future, you know, that's the answer to continue
our languages and to have it be everywhere, and something
that I like to share in many conversations because you know, I,
like I said, I do language work, but I also
do art work, and you know, have like shows and
galleries and have all the different things that I'm involved in.
(44:39):
I always feel like it's really centered around our language
and our culture and our ways of life connected to
our place. And so something that I like to share
is that, you know, I don't know the question, but
I know what the answer is, and the answer is
in our languages and in our culture. And to me,
what that means is that through our culture, through our languages,
(45:00):
we find healing and we find that wellness and that grounding,
and that's what we need. We need our wellness and
we need, you know, to be healed and well and
to be the real people that we're meant to be.
You know, we all know that as indigenous people, we
face a lot of social ills. We've come through a
lot our history, We've been through a lot. Our families
(45:22):
have you been through a lot. And I always feel like,
you know, that void that was created with that break
in our culture and break in our language can be
healed and regrown and you know, refilled with our culture,
our languages, songs and dances, and that spirit, that spirit
of our people, the spirit of our land and all
(45:44):
of that. And so to me, like I know that
you know, in dedicating like all of my time and
energy and love and all of that to language and
culture is worthwhile. And that's how I see our people
becoming healthy again is you know, having that trust again
and that connection back to our ancestors and our ways
(46:04):
of life and you know, eating our native food and
being able to continue to practice our ways of life
like our ancestors always did. They really knew the way
to a good life was you know, living that connection
on our land and on our water. So that's why
I think it's so important that we protect our ways
of life as well, and we show up in these
(46:25):
spaces where you know, our voices are important, and not
only our voices, but our language is important. And so
I feel really strongly about having language access in all spaces,
and especially when it comes to you know, our hunting
and fishing rights and our you know, that stewardship that
you know has been passed down to us since we spoke.
(46:45):
We all used to speak the same language you know,
we all used to speak the same language with the fish,
the slip chow and the you know, the ding, the
moose and all of that, and we have this special
relationship with all of those relatives. And I feel very
strongly about that because you know, we're facing a real
crisis along the Yukon River. Haven't been able to fish
(47:06):
in years, and you know, showing up in these toxic
spaces that we're not meant for us, where we are
not really welcome, I don't see any any of that
love or knowledge, you know, of what I feel like
when I talk to my community or when I learn
in our language. I don't feel any of that in
those spaces. But I know that it exists, and I
(47:28):
know it's there, and you know, we have traditional stories
about the fish, and I feel like if we can
just create space to talk about our real stewardship and
our real relationship with animals, that we can have that
understanding of how to better care for them and how
to reclaim that stewardship with them. And then also through
(47:49):
the language, we can educate our people, you know, about
these management systems that we need to show up and
not everyone understands what bycatch means or trawling or over
fishing or you know, being wasteful. Not everyone understands that,
but I feel like if we can educate people in
our language, then it will help people to advocate for
(48:10):
our ways of life. So and that's just one example.
You know, there's so many examples of how we can
show up as Indigenous people and be involved with things
that directly affect our ways of life and you know,
our education and our health and you know, all of
these things. There's just so much knowledge out there that's
not being tapped into, you know, and we just need
(48:31):
to hold that space and open the doors. And you know,
and not only Indigenous people, it's also the responsibility in
the work of our you know, our allies or our
visitors and friends that can hold space for Indigenous people
and open doors for us, you know, with their privilege
and step aside and let us in those doors too,
(48:53):
and let us have those seats at the tables as well.
So there's just to me, like, that's what I see,
you know, That's what I envision is space for Indigenous
knowledge systems and everywhere. And I want to see my
future great grandchildren speaking which and fishing along the Yukon
and hanging fish and living that good life you know,
(49:16):
that's connected to our ancestors, and I was blessed with that.
I just want that from my children too.
Speaker 2 (49:22):
We see and this connection between people and language and
people in land, it's so sacred and so irreplaceable. And
so when I think about just being able to catch
a fish and cut a fish and share it with community,
and that is threatened, and it's threatened by people who
are taking too many fish out of the ocean before
(49:43):
they can come up the rivers. And so one of
the things that if we can get more indigenous involvement,
and especially people who speak indigenous languages and who understand
indigenous knowledge systems and indigenous sciences to be in more
of the positions that are helping to make some of
the decisions, then I think we'll realize that there's a
severe injustice if low fish runs means people who live
(50:08):
on the rivers can't fish, but people who are commercial
fishing and basically being able to make money is being
more important than being able to live your life as
your ancestors did and to survive. Like I think, when
you separate people from their traditional food sources, it causes
a tremendous disruption. So I think yes, and including more
(50:31):
Indigenous voices in those rooms where we're talking about distribution
of foods and distribution of economies and what kinds of
things should take precedence. And so for folks who live
on the Yukon and folks who live on the cusco Quim,
I know that there's been a heartbreaking limit to the
access of our foods and of the people's foods that
(50:52):
are there. And I think also coming back to the
conversations about Molly, is we have this avenue of putting
things out there that are incredibly important issues to us,
and now it's on a BBS television that's right up
there with really big shows. And to see that we
have a female Alaska Native character who's fun and funny
(51:15):
and smart and a problem solver and courageous. And so
I'm really thankful for your leadership and for your work
on Malli and to help bring it into being. And
as we think about the future, I also think there's
probably a future for an Alaska Native language media network
that creates content, and that content can then be you know,
(51:37):
if you film someone hunting amuz or if you've film
someone gathering some traditional medicines, like you could translate that
into a lot of different languages, and then you can
have a lot of different materials that are you know,
there's twenty three languages that are in Alaska that are
indigenous and we want them all to survive and want
them all to thrive, and it's going to take a
(51:57):
lot of statewide collaboration in order to do that, and
I think you're right at the forefront of that, and
I'm really thankful. So as we wrap up our conversation,
are there any departing words that you could think of
for the folks who are listening.
Speaker 3 (52:11):
Yeah, I just want to say mustacho to everyone that's,
you know, finding ways to stay connected with our language
or those that want to learn. And there's so many
resources out there, and all it takes is you know,
going to visit an elder or taking that first step,
you know, to do it. And if I can do it,
anyone can do it. If I can learn, you know,
(52:33):
how to speak and understand in my language how to write,
you can do that too. And we all have a
place in our language and in our culture. And no
matter how disconnected you feel, or if you didn't grow
up in your language, it will always be there for you,
and it's a part of who you are. It's a
part of your DNA, and you have that ancestral right
to your indigenous knowledge. So it's there for you and
(52:55):
you can make your ancestors very happy. I just want
to say that, and must chogunis for inviting me into
this space and to share. There's lots more to talk
about and lots more to do, and you know, so
this is just it's just one conversation of many that's happening,
and I'm just really grateful for it, and I look
forward to continuing to work you and yeah, I'm excited.
(53:18):
We'll see.
Speaker 2 (53:19):
And so wherever you are, whatever you're doing, just remember
you are the right person to be doing the thing.
So sometimes I think as indigenous peoples, we don't really
see enough that's telling us that we can do it,
that's showing us that it's possible. I think that's one
of the mechanisms of colonization, is to create this situation
(53:39):
where it feels like it's impossible to bring your language
back to stop this overfishing or over harvesting of a resource.
But it's absolutely possible. But what it takes is it
takes overcoming some of those things that get you to
think that maybe you can't. So you can learn a
word today, you could learn a phrase tomorrow, you could
learn a speech the day after that. You can continue
(54:01):
to build on these things that are left for you,
and sometimes you're gonna have to find a way to
get there. But I think if we're looking at living
together in wellness and in health and loving each other
and helping each other through it and watching out for
each other and just keeping things positive and healthy and
not causing harm and preventing harm from happening, then I
(54:22):
think we do realize that there is a brighter Indigenous
future out there, and I'm really excited to see it.
I'm really excited for my descendants to live in it
and to find it and to speak their languages and
to listen to some of the things and to listen
to recordings of people who taught me and say, oh, yeah,
those ancestors, they did this for us.
Speaker 4 (54:44):
So keep doing the thing, folks. I believe in you,
and I believe that it's possible. Good to chiesh MASI
cho
Host
X̱ʼunei Lance Twitchell
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