Artists craft new ways to revitalize Indigenous languages

For decades, Indigenous language speakers have been part of a larger movement for cultural revitalization for tribal communities in Minnesota and across the U.S. As the movement grows so does the need to engage language learners in new ways.

Indigenous artists are leading efforts to revitalize their endangered languages. The efforts include exposing younger generations to languages spoken in Minnesota and elsewhere.

Chris Griffith and Shari Aronson are co-founders of Z Puppets Rosenschnoz, a puppet theater in Minneapolis. For the past four years, they have been performing “Say It! Sing It! Play It! In Cherokee.”

“We describe it as a musical adventure into the Cherokee language with a turtle and a rabbit, and Grandmother Turtle has slipped and turned upside down,” said Aronson, “and every time they say, or share, or sing a Cherokee sound or word, Grandmother gets stronger.”

Griffith said the same metaphor might apply to all endangered languages, “I broaden it out so that the idea of there's many different grandmothers out there, and there's many different endangered languages out there. And so when you see a turtle that's on its back, it needs some help to get it back on its feet.”

The teacher strike in Minneapolis is nearing its third week and the district says it’s given a “last, best and final” offers to both the teacher and education support professional chapters of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers.

On Wednesday, union president Greta Callahan said she and her bargaining team were ready to pursue negotiations, but they didn’t think the district would show up.

A district representative told MPR News in an email that mediators schedule the negotiations and that the district has not yet received word of what Wednesday's schedule is.

This week the district put forward what it called its “last, best and final” offers for Minneapolis teachers and education support professionals, but the union has not accepted the proposals.

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