On Monday afternoon for Indigenous Peoples’ Day, the University of Alaska Southeast is hosting a panel on language revitalization efforts for three Southeast Alaska Native languages.
“One of the most Indigenous things is the language that was born on this land,” said UAS Lingít professor X’unei Lance Twitchell. “And that was maintained and allowed ancestors to survive, and was a gift to us to give to future generations.”
Often, the discussion of language serves as both a celebration of Indigenous identity and a reflection on harm done to Native languages, he said.
“As we talked about language revitalization,we’re also looking at some of the most damaging elements of colonization, and attempted genocide,” Twitchell said.
The featured speakers are Jaskwaan from the Haida language community, Daaljíni from the Lingít language community and Alex Roehl from the Juneau Sm’algyax learners group.
“What’s exciting as these are growing language movements, and so there’s multiple people to pick from,” Twitchell said. “They’ll just share their perspectives on what’s happening and what’s shifting.”
The speakers will give updates on the current status of language revitalization for all three languages, as well as what they think the future of the languages looks like.
The discussion can be joined at 3:00 p.m. via Zoom here.
Also on Monday, Sealaska Heritage Institute is offering free admission to the Shuká Hít clan house and Juried Art Show exhibit for Indigenous Peoples’ Day
In 2015, Alaska was the second state to designate Indigenous People’s Day on the second Monday of October to replace Columbus Day, after South Dakota. In 2021, the day was recognized nationwide by the Biden administration.
