Language Learning (Part B)

This week we're supposed to be moving into the second part of the Growing Participator Approach. That means using the vocabulary we've been reviewing to form sentences. I'm not sure if I'm actually ready to start talking, at least with any degree of confidence. We're going over vocabulary this week (Monday and Tuesday). Elijah, our language nurturer is preparing to go on a mercy mission to Japan with another musician from Jackson. Her name is Myah.

I find myself recognizing words that I hear in conversation around me. At church I can get the basic "gist" of the sermon (at Hope Indian Baptist Church where Pastor Travis speaks in Choctaw).

With more review I'll continue to get stronger with my vocabulary. I was given some advice to really work on speaking with the "right" accent. Sounding Choctaw.

Fund (Fun?) Raising

In order to earn some money for our trip to DC, I worked with the staff at CBTC to make sausage and biscuits. ...Where I'm from (south central Pennsylvania) we've been known to sell slippery pot pie and apple dumplings. As everything that I do is a learning process, let me share some of my life-lessons with you.

People here are down right hyper about their biscuits and breakfast meat. I tried to make biscuits but they were a miserable failure - flat and burned. Just so you know, it's not the same as kneading bread and making loaves. If you work the dough too much it gets hard and nasty.

A couple of different Chahtas came in to save the day. Pam was trying to show me how to mix the dough. Add a little milk at a time. Don't stir too fast. Lillie also made some for us. It’s a pleasure to watch Lillie make biscuits - all the movements in muscle memory, all a standard size, all light and fluffy. I was informed by several people that a "real woman is able to make biscuits." My ethnography and anthropology training kicked in at this point. Making biscuits means you're able to cook and provide for your family? It means you've spent enough time in the kitchen under the guidance of your mother and grandmother? Does having a warm pan of fluffy biscuits translate to "I'm marriageable"? I'm really not sure.

We drove around to some of the different offices in order to sell them. There are several places like the workshop and housing authority where men gather to get their tools and equipment before heading off to their jobs. Timing is everything. We got some feedback about preferences (which brands of meat to buy, combinations of meat/egg/cheese). Dreams come wrapped up in a paper towel. For $1.

House Dance

For one of our language learning sessions in May we went to a house dance on a Saturday afternoon. The dance took place at the home of George Isaac. He and his family hold events like this from time to time to celebrate birthdays. They set up some tents in the yard and brought out some lawn chairs. Elijah sat under one tent with the other musicians. There was a fiddle and some guitars set up with microphones and amplifiers.

Under another tent was a long table piled high with food – hominy in a large cooler, neck bone soup, banana pudding with vanilla wafers, sweet potatoes, greens, etc. And pop from Piggly Wiggly.

Historically a house dance is held in the evening. Folks come together to dance, talk and generally have fun together. In the past, a man would offer an item of food to a young lady in order to get her to dance with him. By the end of the evening, ladies would go home with armloads of fruit, veggies and other treats.

The dance we did was a social dance. Ladies and men stood in concentric circles. We followed the directions of the caller while keeping rhythm with the guitar and fiddle players. We gathered in two concentric circles - swinging partners and promenading.

It was beyond hot and very dusty. The rest of the time we were there I sat under a tree drinking water and working on a beading project.

Language Revitalization Links

Below are some links to the language revitalization programs we discussed at the language revitalization summit. Please look through the media sections for videos.

Euchee (Yuchi) Language project

Sac and Fox Nation of Oklahoma

Ojibwe

Santa Fe Indian School

Celebrating Native American Language Revitalization in Film

On Tuesday, June 21, I attended Celebrating Native American Language Revitalization in Film, an event held at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC.

The event was very informative and inspiring! It's fantastic to meet with others who are working in the area of language and cultural revitalization programs.

We watched a documentary called "We Still Live Here: Âs Nutayuneân" (2010). This film will be shown on PBS in the fall. The film shows the story of Jessie Little Doe Baird and the Wampanoag language program. The Wampanoag live on Martha's Vineyard and Cape Cod. In the film, Mrs. Baird shares about having dreams where others were asking her to speak Wampanoag, which was presumed to be dead. Historically, the Wampanoag language was written down (letters and a Bible). Speakers were also fluent readers and writers. There are documents in archives that are being used to discover new words and vocabulary. Mrs. Baird studied linguistics at MIT and is still working with the staff there to discover more about the language.

The Bible translation was done by a missionary named John Eliot. It was the first Bible translation done in North America.

Currently, there are Wampanoag language classes for all ages and apprentice programs.

I'm very interested in learning more about this language program and seeing how it will develop in the future.

Making banaha

Banaha is a traditional Choctaw food that my coworker Jason Lewis learned how to make. Banaha is similar to tamales – both are made by wrapping corn meal with soaked corn husks and then boiling it. Jason mixed the corn meal with black eye peas. and hot peppers. You can also put in different vegetables and meat.

Chopped hot peppers. They have to be finely chopped.



Corn meal being stirred up.


Soaking corn husk wrappers.

Ready to be boiled!

Sharing Stories: Workshop report

For the past 2 weeks I was working with the Department of Chahta Immi (Tribal language and culture department). The preparation work that I did including making a workshop manual and Power Points for the sessions.

From May 25-27 we had the workshop. I was the main presenter. The topics we covered included:

1. storytelling methods & techniques

2. storytelling demonstrations

3. recording methods & techniques

4. a recording demonstration

5. storytelling in the bigger picture of the Department of Chahta Immi and the archives.

Stories are powerful. They are a way to connect with others around us.

Next week we’ll do some follow-up recording activities. Something of note was the fact that the Choctaw staff members who did presentation sessions spoke in Choctaw!

On a personal level, I feel like I’ve learned more about presenting to a Choctaw audience. I got some feedback and was able to improve throughout.