'One generation away'

The first eight graduates of a new program run by the University of British Columbia Okanagan, the En’owkin Centre, and the Nicola Valley Institute of Technology received their bachelor's of nsyilxcən language fluency degrees. The program is one of the ways the syilx Nation is revitalizing their language, which is critically endangered. Students spend their first two years learning from fluent speakers in the community and the second two years working on a capstone project that includes an internship.

Waadookodaading is an Ojibwe immersion school that meets state and federal academic standards but does so entirely in the indigenous language by connecting children to their cultural heritage. The school goes through 8th grade and uses the forest as its classrooms where traditional ceremonies and practices are used to teach lessons. For example, students learn math while harvesting maple sap and wild rice and biology through practicing sustainable fishing and hunting. Community elders play an important role in passing on their knowledge to students and the 100 graduates provide hope for the language’s future

The Myaamia Center, a language initiative led by the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma and Miami University, has led to the preservation of the Myaamia language and culture. The center, which has become a model for other universities, is the result of a relationship between the university and the tribe that dates back to 1972. Together, they have helped move predominantly white institutions like Miami University towards racial equity.

Tribal colleges like Tohono O’odham Community College provide an accessible route for indigenous students to pursue higher education, with tuition waivers available for students from federally-recognized tribes. Tohono O’odham’s enrollment has grown from about 700 in 2019 to more than 1,200 last year, but funding for tribal colleges is in jeopardy due to proposed federal budget cuts.

A graduate student from British Columbia, the Arctic Energy Alliance, and the elders of the Inuvialuit people may seem a strange team, but together they are tackling the dual concerns of climate change and the loss of indigenous language in Canada. By inventing new terms and words in the Inuvialuit language to describe renewable energy technologies, they are increasing awareness about sustainable development while helping preserve the culture and heritage of this unique population.

The Matsés, an indigenous population in Brazil in Peru, teamed up with Acaté, a conservation group, to create a medicinal knowledge encyclopedia. The encyclopedia was compiled by five shamans, took two years, is 500 pages long, and “details every plant used by Matsés to cure a massive variety of ailments.” It not only preserves ancestral knowledge, but is seen as a way to improve the health of Matsés and future generations. “Until their encyclopedia, the Matsés entire traditional health system was on the unchecked verge of disappearance.”

Montana, home to nine Native American languages, becomes the second state to fund indigenous language immersion programs in public schools. The same languages were once forbidden, but now they are helping to preserve a disappearing culture and closing the graduation rate gap for Native American students.

Cal Poly Humboldt's Native American Studies Department created an Indigenous food sovereignty research lab through a student-led, community-driven process that now supports Indigenous students' cultural connections, advances traditional ecological knowledge research, and demonstrates how Indigenous knowledge can be valued in higher education.

Nonprofits, schools, and individuals are working to revitalize the Lakota language by making it more accessible in a variety of ways, including classes, dictionaries, podcasts, and passing on knowledge from elders.

Defining and maintaining indigenous identity is an ongoing process for tribes who want to ensure a strong future. Various enrollment policies have worked for different tribes, from lineal descent to blood quantum requirements. Tribal leaders are trying to strike a balance between shrinking populations in some cases and the fear of sudden increases in enrollment, which could put “a strain on already scarce resources."