Scholar wants to create Ojibwe language center (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

Posted on Wed, Apr. 06, 2005

Scholar wants to create Ojibwe language center

NEWS TRIBUNE
http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/local/11322770.htm

CARLTON - Charisa "Chris" Homan is working toward a Ph.D. in
sociolinguistics, focusing on endangered languages.

But she doesn't want to simply study people and books and publish a
bunch of statistics for her graduate project. Instead, she wants to
help create an Ojibwe Language Resource Center.

"I'm offering my work to the community," she said Tuesday at the
Minnesota Indigenous Language Symposium. "I'm trying to make a
difference. The most important part of this is language
revitalization."

Homan graduated from the University of Minnesota Duluth in December 2003
with double majors in English and American Indian studies with an Ojibwe
emphasis. She's working on her Ph.D. at Georgetown University in
Washington, D.C.

While at UMD, Homan heard of the idea of creating an Ojibwe Language
Resource Center to help revitalize the language.

"This isn't my idea. It's an idea that was identified by members of the
community," she said.

Such a center could be a meeting place for community members and
language experts, a place where people could meet to talk about the
language -- in Ojibwe, if they chose. Its staff could work with other
communities involved in language revitalization efforts. They could
collect, record and share language resources.

Homan is looking for help and guidance from the Ojibwe community to
answer questions like where a center should be located and whether it
should be affiliated with a tribal college.

While Homan is willing to help organize efforts to create the center and
to help find funding, she doesn't want to control the center.

"What I want is the experience and knowledge gained from the work I do,"
she said.