Project Director Statement
So much of what is portrayed in the media about indigenous cultures focuses on loss and disappearance, but what is really happening in Indian country today is a vibrant cultural revival. The Wampanoag story moved me profoundly because it is a story of hope, of possibilities, of a community that was in many ways devastated by 400 years of contact taking charge of their history, their identity, and their culture by reawakening their language.
While the Wampanoag case is unique in that there had not been a fluent speaker for more than a century, thousands of Native Americans across the country are working to reclaim, revitalize, and perpetuate their heritage languages. Dedicated first language speakers and others are teaching their mother tongues to their communities with a special focus on the young, so that the deep knowledge embedded in their words and expressions will be heard and spoken by many generations to come.
In creating Our Mother Tongues, it has been my great privilege to work with Jennifer Weston, Program Manager for Endangered Languages at Cultural Survival, and through her with people in the twelve language revitalization programs featured here. This is just the beginning for Our Mother Tongues. If we can raise additional funding, we will include many more language programs, interactive story-sharing opportunities, podcasts, mobile media and more. We hope that We Still Live Here - Âs Nutayuneân and OurMotherTongues.org will help raise awareness about the urgency of saving Native languages, and will show a broad audience the richness and diversity of the many indigenous cultures in our midst.
Stay tuned!
Anne Makepeace
About the Producers
ANNE MAKEPEACE has been making award-winning independent films centering on cross-cultural themes for more than twenty years. Her latest film, We Still Live Here - Âs Nutayuneân won the 2011 Full Frame Inspiration Award and the Moving Mountains Prize at Telluride MountainFilm. Makepeace received fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation and the Radcliffe Institute in support of the production, with additional funding from Sundance, ITVS, the National Science Foundation, the LEF Foundation, and Mass Humanities. Her previous documentaries include I. M. PEI: BUILDING CHINA MODERN (2010); RAIN IN A DRY LAND (2007) which was nominated for an Emmy and won the Full Frame Working Films Award; ROBERT CAPA IN LOVE AND WAR (2003) which won a national prime time Emmy; COMING TO LIGHT (2001), which won many awards and was short-listed for an Oscar; and BABY IT’S YOU (1998). All of these films aired nationally on PBS. For more information about Makepeace’s films,
go to www.MakepeaceProductions.com
JENNIFER WESTON, (Hunkpapa Lakota), co-producer of Our Mother Tongues, was assistant producer and researcher for WE STILL LIVE HERE and manages Cultural Survival's Endangered Languages Program, working with 6 tribal language programs and expanding a network of contacts among more than 300 Native language programs nationally. Jennifer grew up on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in the Dakotas, and served her tribal government as environmental outreach coordinator, grant writer, and executive assistant to the tribal chairman. She has worked as a correspondent for the Lakota Nation Journal, and associate producer for the PBS Native history series “We Shall Remain.” From the Edwards, Shoots the Enemy, Taken Alive, Grindstone, Kills Crow and other tiospayes (extended families) on Standing Rock, Jennifer carries a great grandmother's name, Pté San Wašté Win (White Buffalo Woman) given to her by her grandfather Joseph Flying By. Visit Cultural Survival at www.cs.org
Visit the Endangered Languages Blog to learn about more programs in Cultural Survival's nationwide network of tribal language programs, and for ideas on how to get involved and lend your support.
Site Credits
Project Director, Anne Makepeace
Co-Producer, Jennifer Weston
Researcher and Co-Grant, Writer Ross Mulcare
Site Design and Development, Interactive Knowledge
For ITVS Interactive:
Senior Content Producer, Cathy R. Fischer
National Community Engagement & Education, Manager Annelise Wunderlich
Director of Digital initiatives
, Matthew Meschery
President, CEO, Sally Jo Fifer
Senior Vice President of Content Management, Jim Sommers
VIDEOGRAPHERS:
Dru Carr, April Counceller, Sydney K. Freeland, George Hargrave & Paul Rickard, Sterling Harjo & Matt Leach, Allison Herrera, Shawn F. Holz, Liz M. Jones, Arlan Manatowa, and Tony Torn.