"In", "for", or "with"? (was Re: [ILAT] LSA 2006)

[Susan Penfield]

David,
Thanks so much for these valuable insights. I agree that native scholars
have a distinct and special place in all of this and am happy that the ranks
are growing! I'd also like to call attention to those whom Phil and I have
refer to as 'community intellectuals' -- people whose intellectual expertise
has made a significant contribution to the advancement of language issues. I
count here, for instance,one person I worked with for many years who took it
really upon herself to become literate in Mohave and who began to write
materials (but very sadly passed away suddenly). These folks often go
unrecognized completely.
Interestingly, I've heard the term 'insider-outsider' lately used
in different ways. It is frequently used to describe native scholars, who
bridge both the community and the academy,  and sometimes also used to
describe outsiders who live/work in the community.

Like Jan, I hope more native scholars on this list will jump in here...
S.


On 1/11/06, David Gene Lewis <coyotez at uoregon.edu> wrote:
>
> Ilat members,
> As a constant lurker I thank you all for what you are doing for your
> communities. Not that you all need my thanks, but I am personnally
> benefitting from your leadership on how to help revive your languages.
>
>
> I am a peripheral member because my work is in historic ethnographic
> archives, specifically the Southwest Oregon Research Project. I have
> worked with Scott DeLancey, and Phil Cash Cash in the past. I do not
> work specifically in linguistics, althought thanks to Scott's great
> teaching, I can understand the lingo pretty well. I am in cultural
> anthropology/ethnohistory and my work overlaps with linguistic and
> native language issues quite a bit.
>
> My work with the SWORP collection here at the University of Oregon,
> where I archivally organized it and created the finding aid. The
> collection has an overlap with language revitalization as at least 75%
> of the collection contains historic language materials from Oregon
> Indians and other surrounding Tribes. As part of the history of SWORP,
> the collection has been gifted to all of the Tribes in Oregon, and
> many surrounding Tribes in California and Washington State.
>
> My interest in the questions of working "for" or "with" the tribe are
> really a part of everything I do. As a Tribal member and a cultural
> anthropologist I feel responsibility in two realms, to academia and to
> the Tribal communities in Oregon. In short I am an "insider" and an
> "outsider" according to what has been posted previously. I suspect
> that many on this list are in a similar situation...
>
> This difference was part of my decision process when I was
> reorganizing the SWORP collection for the library here at UO. I wanted
> the collection to be accessible to Indian people as well as academic
> researchers of any level of research experience. I knew that the
> collection would be given to the tribes in the future and so I created
> titles for the files that resonnated with Indian people and academic
> researchers. At that time, abt 1999, there was not a lot of direction
> from my tribe or really any tribes in Oregon about what they needed
> and so I had to think about it fresh and go with my instincts. I think
> it was successful. Many tribes and Tribal researchers have expressed
> an appreciation for the way the collection is arranged and the ease as
> to which they can do research within it.
>
> Not that my experience or actions are the answer, but it has worked
> here in Oregon. I would like to see a similar effort taken by other
> repositories of Native ethnohistory so that similar collections are
> made more accessible to Native communities.
>
> So what Scott is saying is incredibly important. In 1998 I took a trip
> to Australia, and the approach the Arrente (sp?) people were taking
> involved intentionally placing community members and students  with
> university professors to learn their methods, so that they may return
> to Alice Springs with that knowledge and use it in their community. I
> saw some amazing language resources being developed for communities
> that did not have ready access to computers and associated
> technologies.
>
> But I also think we can explore further the role of the native scholar
> working within academia and their community. These scholars,
> manytimes, have a completey different motivation for their work, and
> different responsibilities and expectations on them than non-native
> academics and scholars. In the past 30 years, anthropology and
> linguistics scholars have changed their methods and products to
> reflect the needs of the native communities but really it is the
> native scholars that can truly represent those communities in both
> worlds.
>
>
> Thanks for listening,
>
> David Lewis
> University of Oregon
> Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde
>



--
Susan D. Penfield, Ph.D.

Department of English
Affiliate faculty: Department of Linguistics
and the Second Language Acquisition and Teaching Program
American Indian Language Development Institute
Phone for messages: (520) 621-1836
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