Language Keepers: The Struggle for Indigenous Language Survival in California (2019) (trailer)

California once had more linguistic variety than all of Europe. “Language Keepers” is a 6-part series following four Indigenous communities in California who are working to revitalize their languages.

The series explores how the loss of a language reaches much further than the disappearance of words.

Part 1: At eighty-five, Marie Wilcox is the only fluent speaker of Wukchumni. Having spent twenty years compiling a Wukchumni dictionary, she and her family are now embarking on a language revitalization project across four generations.

Part 2: The Klamath River is the ancestral home of the Karuk people. Phil Albers, Julian Lang, and Maymi Preston-Donahue are learning to speak Karuk in order to keep the people connected to their language and the river.

Part 3: Julie Girado Turner is the daughter of one of two remaining fluent speakers of Kawaiisu. For sixteen years, she has been documenting the language and stories still alive within the memories of her father and aunt.

Part 4: Loren Bommelyn is the sole fluent speaker of Tolowa Dee-ni’, a language of California’s Pacific coast. Faced with generations of trauma, he is teaching the language and traditions to his children and grandchildren.

Part 5: On a walk through a redwood preserve near Crescent City, the Bommelyn family shares their commitment to carrying on the Tolowa Dee-ni’ language.

Part 6: The Bommelyn family reflects on the knowledge that is held within the Tolowa Dee-ni’ language.

 

Presented by Emergence Magazine, a quarterly online publication featuring innovative stories that explore the threads connecting ecology, culture, and spirituality.

languagekeepers.us
Culture   Education   Environment   Indigenous Issues   Philosophy
Rate this video 
Indigenous Issues
Trending Videos
Anonymous Issues DIRE WARNING To MAGA | The Kyle Kulinski Show
11 min - Anonymous has released a new video warning about the growing threats posed by Trump, JD Vance, and Elon Musk. They outline how economic policies, mass firings, and regulatory rollbacks are...
Capitalism Is Over: What's Next Is Worse
18 min - The Silicon Valley Plan to End Capitalism While the billionaires of Silicon Valley might seem like they're pushing capitalism into a brave new world, they're actually trying to move beyond it all...
How To Stop Being Controlled By Social Media | Your Tools to Fight Back In The Attention Economy
43 min - Do you ever feel like social media is manipulating your emotions? That’s not a coincidence. Platforms thrive on outrage, keeping you engaged by feeding you rage-inducing content. But you don’t...
Tearful Trump Voter HORRIFIED After Getting EXACTLY What She Voted For
21 min - A Trump voter named Mayra Aluna is going viral on TikTok after uploading a video where she tearfully explains that she fears for her family’s safety now that Trump is instituting the mass...
Schooling the World (2010)
66 min - If you wanted to change an ancient culture in a generation, how would you do it? You would change the way it educates its children. The U.S. Government knew this in the 19th century when it...
FASCISM: An In-Depth Explanation
43 min - "We have created our myth. The myth is a faith, a passion. It is not necessary for it to be a reality. . . . Our myth is the nation, our myth is the greatness of the nation! And to this myth, this...
The Time To Fight Is NOW
12 min - 📋 Take Action! Organizations to Join/ Support: https://www.ahsantetheartist.com/pro-democracy-groups  📖 Pro-Democracy Reading Guide: https://ahsante-b.ck.page/2e85af7c78  🎥 Video Notes/ Sources...
Trending Articles
Communalism
Manifestos!
Subscribe for $5/mo to Watch over 50 Patron-Exclusive Films
Subscribe $5/mo View All Patron Films

 

Your support keeps us ad-free and financially independent

Our 10,000+ video & article library is 99% free, ad-free, and entirely community-funded thanks to our patron subscribers!


Want to donate extra? You can subscribe and donate an extra $5/mo or more.