the native language project nativelanguageproject

1. the native language projectwww.nativelanguageproject.com

2. mission:use technology to bring the wisdom of our elders to a new generation.

3. history/origin: freelance work for the Native American Times (Jim and Louis Gray) about 9 years ago, we had an idea to preserve native american culture via online video, thereby passing down oral tradition down from older generations to the newer generations and record it using newer technology. many native cultures for the most part have little or no recorded history and as the elders of these tribes pass away, there’s often no-one to carry on oral tradition, because the languages and knowledge are no longer passed on down to younger generations.

4. vision: an organization called the “native language project” (www.nativelanguageproject.com) comprising of a board, and a production team, created for preserving and sharing native american language, culture, and wisdom. the sole purpose of the organization is the development of its website, which holds online audio and video archives. archives would be categorized by language / tribe / location. the organization would create its own archives as well as publish those submitted by others.

5. goals

6. to create a website as an oral history project which showcases the stories, legends, and culture of native american elders.this would be a type of interactive / multimedia museum.museum curators are those who record the materials that will be published by the site.

7. to give young native-americans a learning / skills-building opportunity in the fields of journalism, audio/video production, and website development

8. to connect older and younger generations: understanding, re-discovery of oral history, and passing-down of wisdom.

9. who

10. Founder: Carlos Moreno

11. Supporters: Navajo (George Hardeen, Press office) Osage(Margo Gray-Proctor, Louis Gray) Arts & Humanities Council of Tulsa (Ken Busby)

12. pilot project(what / when / where)

13. pilot project: the core production team would spend one weekend recording stories, interviews, personal history, etc. native language speakers invited to be interviewed; format would be very similar to that of NPR’s storycorps (www.storycorps.org) project. these audio and video recordings would be edited, formatted, and posted on www.nativelanguageproject.com for viewing and sharing.

14. timeline: acquisition of equipment and project planning – 30-60 days. one weekend of setup, interviewing / recording. editing, post-production, and publishing – 30-60 days.

15. needs: financial support for administration, production time, and equipment. tribal support / endorsement & help with promoting the event, and communicating its importance. identification of elders who are willing and would be good contributors. if possible, recommendation, and/or determination of a location.

16. why

17. “When a person passes away, it is like a whole dictionary that is gone. A Native American’s language is the very sense of who we are. Without that, we are lost.”-- Lillian Rice Ojibwe (Chippewa) The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization calls the Ojibwe-Chippewa language “severely endangered,” with only 8,000 people who speak it, mostly in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan.

18. “There are not enough words to give to tell you how important language is to our sacred traditions. Language is key to helping Native Americans live their culture. Language follows basic laws of the culture and land and earth. It’s urgent we all understand how vitally important it is that language gets transferred to the younger generation.”-- Phillip Cash Cash PhD Candidate in the Joint Program in Anthropology and Linguistics University of Arizona, Tucson