Lance (X̱’unei) A Twitchell, M.F.A., Assistant Professor of Alaska Native Languages, will be in Fairbanks to give a talk on language revitalization efforts from a Tlingit perspective. This will be held at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in the Brooks Building Gathering Room at 2:30pm on Thursday, April 28, 2016.
Here is the title and description: Official Languages, Tribal Schools, and New Media: Facilitating Structural Changes That Foster Language Revitalization in Alaska.
This talk explores the pieces in place and potential next steps for reversing language shift for Alaska Native languages. By studying Hawaiian, Māori, Sámi, and Gaelic language movements, one can see that Alaska is ready for structural changes that decolonize landscape, insert Tribal self-governance into education, and change the ways we value our indigenous languages.