Kay Olan: School keeping Mohawk language alive in New York

Friday, June 17, 2011  

"Kanatsiohareke, a Mohawk community located in central New York State, is working hard to help revitalize Kanienkeha, the Mohawk language. The community has been offering Mohawk language immersion classes for the last fourteen years. This is important because Kanienkeha is one of the many Native American languages at risk of being lost forever. It is said that when a people lose their language, they also lose fifty percent or more of their culture, identity and self-esteem. The expression “lost in translation” refers to the fact that it is difficult and sometimes impossible to translate some words and concepts from one language to another without losing significant cultural and spiritual connections. That is why it is crucial to maintain, protect, use and teach our languages.

Kanatsiohareke is the site of, layer upon layer archaeologically speaking, old Mohawk bear clan villages. After the Revolutionary War, most Mohawks were forced to leave the Mohawk Valley in order to find refuge in other places. A few of them carried with them a prophecy that told of someday returning to their traditional homeland. That prophecy was passed down through the oral tradition from generation to generation until 1993 when a group of Mohawks, led by Mohawk elder and spiritual leader Tom Sakokwenionkwas Porter, left Akwesasne and returned to their ancestral home in the Mohawk Valley. They had purchased a farm at auction and now began the work of renovating buildings, planting gardens, introducing a herd of cattle, opening a Native Craft Store, fixing up a Bed and Breakfast and offering workshops, conferences and cultural exchange programs with various colleges and community groups."

Get the Story:
Kay Olan: Kanatsiohareke, Language and Survival (Indian Country Today 6/16)