Indigenous languages are focus of MSU American Indian Heritage Day observance September 27-28
MSU News Servicemontana.edu/news The revitalization and maintenance of indigenous languages across the United States will be the focus of Montana State University’s 2018 American Indian Heritage Day observance set for September 27 and 28. The annual event pays tribute to the cultural legacy and societal contributions of American Indian people in Montana and the U.S. Jioanna Carjuzaa, director of MSU’s Center for Bilingual and Multicultural Education in the College of Education, Health and Human Development, said the two-day event will highlight important scholarship linked to Native heritage in the state and throughout the country. Carjuzaa said one highlight of the events will be the return of a number of Class 7 language and culture teachers who have participated in past conferences and research with the Center. Class 7 teachers are endorsed by the different American Indian tribes in Montana based on their knowledge of their respective tribe’s language and culture. “The invited indigenous scholars and allies from the Class 7 conference for indigenous language and culture teachers I hosted in Bozeman in the summer of 2016 were invited last year to contribute to a ‘Cogent Education’ special journal issue on language revitalization,” Carjuzaa said. “They also all participated in a webinar series based on the articles they wrote, and now they are here to share their research.” The events begin Thursday with a luncheon and poster session highlighting research focusing on American Indians. The luncheon, which takes places from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in Strand Union Building Ballrooms B and C, is followed by an Indian Education for All professional development workshop in the Procrastinator Theater from 1:30 to 4 p.m. on September 27. Among those speaking are: Lanny Real Bird, Crow; Ku Kahakalau, Native Hawaiian; Richard Littlebear, Northern Cheyenne; Cathy Keggutailnguq, Yup’ik; Joan Parker Weber; Martin Reinhardt, Anishinaabe Ojibway; Jon Reyhner; Sally Angass’aq Samson, Yup’ik; Sabine Seikmann; Lenore Stiffarm, Aa Nii; and John Stiffarm, Aa Nii. Joseph McGeshick, poet, writer, storyteller and lecturer in the Native American studies program at MSU Billings, will speak at 2 p.m. Friday, September 28, in the Procrastinator Theater. McGeshick is a career educator who is Sokaogon Chippewa from Fort Peck. The author of numerous books on Native American history and culture, he served as a research intern and community scholar for the American Indian Program at the National Museum of the American Indian at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. He previously served as a lecturer in MSU’s Department of Native American Studies. American Indian Heritage Day is sponsored by the Office of the President, the Center for Bilingual and Multicultural Education, Native American Studies and the College of Education, Health and Human Development. For more information, contact Carjuzaa at carjuzaa@montana.edu or Ross-Dick at ned@montana.edu.
Join the Conversation
