February 25th, 2011 |
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Community, Culture, Education, Languages, Social Issues |
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By ICTMN Staff, Indian Country Today
Osiyo,
We are aware that many of our Native languages are rapidly disappearing, which places American Indian cultures in danger of vanishing. For different reasons young people are not learning their Mother Tongue. The Lakota Language Consortium (LLC) have developed a creative way to entice children to learn Lakota.
They have taken the popular children’s cartoon The Berenstain Bears, and dubbed 20 of the episodes using the Lakota language! The cartoon is very entertaining for young ones because it involves a family of bears; papa, mama, Junior and Sister, and how they live in everyday life. The focus of the stories are placed on values such as, honesty, compassion for others, sharing, and respect, which are important qualities for children to learn. Ben Black Bear who supplies the voice of papa bear stated,
“I didn’t realize that more and more people are losing the language and less and less people are speaking it…”
The target audience is youngsters because the average age of Lakota speakers is 60, explained Wilhelm Meya, who is the executive director of LLC.
Please read this wonderful article, and congratulations to LLC and everyone involved for thinking of the children, and preserving the language!
Tags: Berenstain Bears, children, Lakota, LLC
February 22nd, 2011 |
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Art, Community, Culture, Education, Social Issues |
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PRWeb
Noted American Indian designer Ken Rhyne is a member of the Tuscarora tribe. He is also a member of the Urban Design Group, and will be a guest speaker at a special luncheon taking place at Friends of Braselton-West Jackson Library. Rhyne has been an advocate for Indian issues for many years. He likes to talk to people about American Indian history, and he knows how to explain the more complex issues concerning Native Indians. This is also a special event because Rhyne was one of the principle designers of the library back in 2006. It’s always good to read about successful Native Indians because they are an inspiration to Native students everywhere!
Tags: design, Rhyne, Tuscarora
February 13th, 2011 |
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Community, Culture, Education, Social Issues |
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By C. Ireland, Harvard Gazette
Ten undergraduates from Harvard University spent ten days last month among the Navajo people in Grants, NM.
Their purpose was to aid medical volunteers at the Navajo Head Start Program operations.
Their duties included helping with the annual physicals, delivering firewood and food to the elderly Navajo living in remote areas of the reservation.
Sadly, Joe Vandever, one of the last surviving Navajo Code Talkers from World Was II, was one of the elderly people cared for by the students.
Many of the students had never experienced poverty, and were not prepared for what they saw, even though they underwent training at the Harvard University Native American Program prior to leaving. They were very shocked by the living conditions they encountered on the reservation.
Some of the comments by the students,
“… It was very tough to see… It’s something you really can’t prepare yourself for… At Harvard, we are so blessed.”
“ Friends were shocked to hear of Third World poverty in a corner of America…They don’t have to go abroad to see social injustice.”
“There’s a lot of hard stuff to see there…”
Members of the Visual and Environmental Studies program were inspired to make a documentary about the Navajo People, based on the information from the students.
“…The Navajo Nation is a place no one ever really sees…and its poverty (and dignity) is seldom portrayed in the media.”
Learning to care for others begins at home. In this case, home… is The United States. Kudos to the students, and to Harvard.
Read the article. Share your thoughts!
Tags: Harvard University, Head Start program, Navajo Code Talkers
February 9th, 2011 |
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Art, Community, Culture, Education, History, Social Issues |
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By J. Dobrzynski, New York Times
February 3, 2011
For the first time in history, American Indian art work displayed at the Denver Art Museum has been attributed to the individual artists as oppossed to just their tribes.
“It is a revolution in museum practice that many scholars hope will spread, raising the stature of American Indian artists and elevating their work from the category of artifacts to the more exalted realm of art… So the museum’s “Wild Man of the Woods” mask, made in 1900 and previously identified only as “Kwakiutl,” will be attributed to Willie Seaweed, a Canadian carver who died in 1967 the Denver museum has now embraced attribution more completely and comprehensively than any other institution.”
Dan L. Monroe, executive director of the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts stated,
“Recognizing that Native American art was made by individuals, not tribes, and labeling it accordingly, is a practice that is long overdue,”
We here at Talking-Feather feel it’s always good to hear that (at least some) issues concerning American Indians are slowly changing for the better.
Kudos to the Denver Art Museum for making this important change, and to the New York Times for printing this information!
Read the article and share your thoughts with us.
Tags: Denver Art Museum, Kwakiutl, New York Times, Peabody Essex Museum, Willie Seaweed
