Toward Language in Action: Agency-Oriented Application of the GRASAC Database for Anishinaabe Language Revitalization

Under the direction of Ruth Phillips, GRASAC (Great Lakes Research Alliance for the Study of Aboriginal Arts and Culture) is a worldwide collaborative research consortium composed of indigenous community members, museum professionals, and academic researchers. This article discusses a project that e...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Museum Anthropology Review
Main Authors: Willmott, Cory Ann, Taitt, Alexandra, Corbiere, Mary Ann, Corbiere, Alan
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Indiana University Press 2016
Subjects:
Language Revitalization
Translating (Language)
Language Documentation
Second-Language Acquisition
Endangered Languages
Collaboration
Anishinaabe
Language Acquisition Theory
Beadwork
Database
anishina*
Online Access:https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/mar/article/view/19322
https://doi.org/10.14434/mar.v10i2.19322
Description
Summary:Under the direction of Ruth Phillips, GRASAC (Great Lakes Research Alliance for the Study of Aboriginal Arts and Culture) is a worldwide collaborative research consortium composed of indigenous community members, museum professionals, and academic researchers. This article discusses a project that explored the potential of GRASAC’s database to support language revitalization. The authors video recorded interviews with two beadworkers in the Anishinaabe language. Applying andragogy theory to the natural approach to language acquisition, the team processed the video into content rich video clips with a focus on the domain specific vocabulary of beadwork that is relevant to the heritage items in the GRASAC database. The team applied an agency-oriented approach to software development by systematically testing five use cases for uploading the language data into the GRASAC database. The collaborative process revealed unexpected results at the intersection of language and culture revitalization, and recommendations for applying new technologies to develop new techniques for promoting indigenous language acquisition.

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