VISIT OURMOTHERTOUNGES.ORG
Cultural Survival's Endangered Languages Program invites you to explore American Indian language revitalization efforts nationwide in preparation for the November 17 national broadcast of the triumphant story of the reawakening and return home of the Wampanoag language. We Still Live Here - ?s Nutayune?n, starring the W?pan?ak Language Reclamation Project, airing nationally on PBS's Independent Lens series, will introduce viewers to the descendants of the tribal communities who first met the English Pilgrims nearly four centuries ago in what would become New England. Check your local listings here.
After providing nearly three years of research and production assistance for We Still Live Here - ?s Nutayune?n, Cultural Survival's Endangered Languages Program this summer partnered with both Makepeace Productions and Interactive Knowledge to produce a companion website for We Still Live Here - ?s Nutayune?n, called Our Mother Tongues, drawing from our network of contacts among more than 300 tribal language programs nationwide. Twelve Native language communities were selected to feature online at OurMotherTongues.org, PBS.org and ITVS.org, and working with Makepeace Productions, we reached out to each community and to Native and non-Native filmmakers, independent producers, and videographers from Alaska to North Carolina to help us share stories and commentary from each of the following language groups: Alutiiq, Cherokee, Crow, Dakota, Euchee, Lakota, Mohawk, Navajo Ojibwe, Salish, Sauk, and Wampanoag. Speakers, teachers, students, and language advocates from across Indian country share their hopes and fears for the future of their Native languages, and bring their personal challenges and discoveries to life with enthusiasm and poignant candor.
During this 2011 National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month (Read the Presidential Proclamation here) we invite you to meet and celebrate these twelve American Indian communities (among many hundreds!) striving daily to revitalize their languages by training younger generations of fluent speakers. You can listen to nearly 50 introductions in beautiful mother tongues, watch additional footage from We Still Live Here - ?s Nutayune?n, send postcards in six Native languages, and explore our Google map featuring facts on diverse tribal cultures, languages, and histories.
Our Mother Tongues was funded by the Independent Television Service, with outreach support from the Sundance Institute, and was built by designers at Interactive Knowledge. Filmmakers at Mushkeg Media and This Land Press also contributed original footage for the site.
To view the full list of more than 100 Community Cinema screenings coordinated by Independent Lens nationwide click here, and to download a discussion guide edited by Cultural Survival click here.
Visit Makepeace Productions online to purchase copies of the film and to see the full list of outreach screenings, some presented by filmmaker/director Anne Makepeace, and with Cultural Survival.
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