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Posts from the ‘Language and Culture’ Category

Jan 14

On the New Volume of Museum Anthropology Review

Museum Anthropology Review (MAR) has just published a new double issue—its first themed collection. Volume 7, number 1-2 of MAR collects papers originally presented at a January 2012 workshop titled “After the Return: Digital Repatriation and the Circulation of Indigenous Knowledge.” Hosted by the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution and funded by the (U.S.) National Science Foundation and the Understanding the American Experience and World Cultures Consortia of the Smithsonian Institution, the workshop was organized by Kimberly Christen (Washington State University), Joshua Bell (Smithsonian Institution), and Mark Turin (Yale University). The workshop brought together scholars from indigenous communities, cultural anthropology, folklore studies, ethnomusicology, linguistics, and collecting institutions to document best practices and case studies of digital repatriation in order to theorize the broad impacts of such processes in relation to: linguistic revitalization of endangered languages, cultural revitalization of traditional practices, and the creation of new knowledge stemming from the return of digitized material culture. Like the workshop itself, the peer-reviewed and revised papers collected in MAR ask how, and if, marginalized communities can reinvigorate their local knowledge practices, languages, and cultural products through the reuse of digitally repatriated materials and distributed technologies. The authors of the collected papers all have expertise in applied digital repatriation projects and share theoretical concerns that locate knowledge creation within both culturally specific dynamics and technological applications.

Find this special issue of MAR online at: http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/mar/issue/view/233

As it has always been, MAR is an open access, peer-reviewed journal free to all readers. With volume 8, to be published in 2014, MAR is becoming the journal of the Mathers Museum of World Cultures. It will continue to be published in partnership with the Indiana University Libraries with assistance from the IU Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology and other partners.

2014 will bring new enhancements to MAR. To keep up with the journal, please sign up as a reader, follow it on Twitter @museanthrev, and/or like it on Facebook.

Sep 27

“Ritual and Oratory Revisited” in Annual Review of Anthropology

The final, stable 2011 edition of the Annual Review of Anthropology (a vital, not-for-profit undertaking co-edited by Don Brenneis and Peter T. Ellison) is now available (toll access). Because the topic is of great interest to me, I was pleased to see Rupert Stasch‘s review essay on “Ritual and Oratory Revisited: The Semiotics of Effective Action.” Looking more closely, it was a welcome and nice surprise to see that he knew about my work in this realm and found a generous way to weave it into his general narrative. My writings are sometimes high in area studies interest and, conversely, less immediately engaging for scholars working elsewhere in the world, thus it is always nice when it is clear that they have been discovered by, and made sense to, a colleague working in a different context. This essay will be an invaluable resources as I take up new work on the topic. Thanks!

Sep 20

Check Out Roy Boney’s Awesome Graphic Feature on Cherokee Language and Literacy

Indian Country Today has just published an awesome graphic feature by Roy Boney on the history of Cherokee literacy from the time of Sequoyah to the time of unicode. I do not need to go on and on and on about it. Its really great and you need to check it out.

Sep 20

Recovering Voices Program Manager

Recovering Voices Program Manager (IS-301-12, $74,872)
Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

We are seeking a program manager for Recovering Voices, an interdisciplinary Smithsonian program that is working with communities to document and sustain endangered languages and knowledge. Read more

Aug 31

Oklahoma Native Language and History Projects Making Progress

A round up of some good news Oklahoma.

The team at the Euchee (Yuchi) History Project has published an account of the project’s work in the prestigious journal Native South. Native South is published by the University of Nebraska Press and is made available electronically via Project Muse. The article, by Stephen A. Martin and Adam Recvlohe,  is titled, appropriately enough “The Euchee (Yuchi) History Project.” It is accessible (toll access) here: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/native_south/v004/4.martin.html

The National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Science Foundation have announced a series of grant awards under the Documenting Endangered Languages program. I would like to highlight the following projects pursued by friends and acquaintances and to congratulate all the grantees. Durbin Feeling (Cherokee Nation) and colleagues have received funding for “Collaborative Research: Documenting Cherokee Tone and Vowel Length.” James Rementer and colleagues at the Delaware Tribe have been awarded a grant for “Lenape Language Database Project.” Mary Linn and Amber Neely have been funded for Amber’s dissertation research on “Speaking Kiowa Today” and Sean O’Neill and Elizabeth Kickham have received support for “Choctaw Language Ideologies and their Impact on Teaching and Learning,” Elizabeth’s doctoral research. Rounding out the good news for Oklahoma language efforts, Mary Linn and Colleen Fitzgerald have received additional support for the ongoing “Oklahoma Breath of Life Workshop and Documentation Project.” Congratulations to all of these language workers and the communities that stand behind them in support! Read the NEH/NSF press release here: http://www.neh.gov/news/archive/20110809.html

Mar 22

Collection Manager for Nation American Languages Collection (SNOMNH)

From Mary S. Linn, Curator of Native American Languages, Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History

Hello Friends and Colleagues,

I am writing you to announce the that we are taking applications for the position of Collection Manager (CM) for the Nation American Languages collection at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK. This is one of only a few digital and physical archives of endangered languages in a museum setting in the US. We are partnering with many different Oklahoma and regional tribes and tribal people as the collection grows, and we are involved in collaborative efforts to make the collection significant to revitalization work. The CM is directly responsible for the processing, care (of both digital and analog collections), and accessibility issues. In addition, we sponsor programming in language documentation, revitalization, and conservation, and the CM makes the collection available and user-friendly to patrons, and makes it up-to-date as technology and user-needs change. A proactive CM will also help shape the future growth areas of the department. So, this position is unique and exciting, and a great opportunity for someone starting their career.

I encourage you to pass this information on to students and others you know with a BA or MA degree and experience in language media.

Here are the instructions to get to the application:

http://hr.ou.edu//

left Quick Links: Job Postings

left: Search Listings

Job Listing Number: 11275 (this is enough to get you the full listing and application)

Title: Curator/Archivist I
For more information on the Sam Noble Museum, please go to : http://www.snomnh.ou.edu/
For a brief introduction to the NAL Collections, please go to: http://www.snomnh.ou.edu/collections-research/nal.htm
You can search our catalog at: http://www.snomnh.ou.edu/db2/nal/index.php

Thank you all,
Mary
Mary S. Linn
Associate Curator, Native American Languages
Associate Professor, Anthropology
Adjunct Associate Professor, Native American Studies

Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History
University of Oklahoma
2401 Chautauqua Avenue
Norman, OK 73072
405-325-7588 (voice) 405-325-7699 (fax)

Oct 4

Disappearing Languages at Albany

What is going on at SUNY? Even in terrible times, this is remarkable for a university at this level.

Disappearing Languages at Albany – Inside Higher Ed.

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