Urban Eskimo Language Revitalization Project Success and Challenges

Project Goal has been to develop an Inupiaq and Yup’ik Language Program promoting culturally-based fluency, through teacher training in three different methods and development of multi-generational immersion classes and activities. Participants will learn the successes and challenges of our language program in Anchorage and how we have supported other language programs in Alaska.

Bringing New Partnerships and Perspectives to the American Museum of Natural History’s Northwest Coast Hall

The American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY,  is planning to renew its historic Northwest Coast Hall, which currently displays ~500 Tlingit items. We invite your perspectives on two key questions: What are important themes, objects, history, and current issues to consider? How can our communities connect and share knowledge?

How can the trauma of language loss lead to negative health effects? How is poor health transmitted across generations? How are these negative effects being reversed? We’ll consider eyewitness accounts and scientific studies that shine light on the positive health effects of Indigenous ancestral language use for individuals and communities.

Opening Prayer, followed by welcomes from:
Kathy Hope Erickson, Chairman – Sitka Tribe of Alaska
Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, Alaska State Representative, House District 35
Rachel Roy, Executive Director – Sitka Chamber of Commerce
Gerry Hope, Executive Director – SOK Organizing Committee

Plenary address: Marianne Pember and Jeremy Braithwait,
Intergenerational & Historical Trauma, Yesterday and Today: Moving To Healing Ourselves.