In April, the Linguistics Program and the English Department are sponsoring a series of talks on Native American issues. The series will include talks on linguistics, literature, and digital media as well as a new documentary by award-winning Navajo director Bennie Klain. Please share this information to help us publicize these events. Here are the details:
April 1, 1p.m. William Young Library Auditorium: Jenny L. Davis,"Chickasha meets aerospace technology and gourmet chocolates: Tribal enterprise and language revitalization in the Chickasaw Nation"
Jenny Davis is a Chickasaw linguist and PhD candidate at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Her research focuses on language revitalization in her home community. Her research addresses a wide range of interesting issues, including the social negotiation of identity as a "language expert" and the difficulty of preserving traditional forms of verbal art in a community dominated by conservative forms of Christianity. She has also done extensive research on language issues related to Two Spirit identity. Her talk at UK will look at the role of commercial capitalism and marketing in Chickasaw language revitalization.
April 8, 3p.m., Student Center Room 249: Anthony Webster, "From Shibuddy to Nihik'inizdidláád: On the intimacies of grammar in Navajo expressive life and poetry"
Anthony Webster (Associate Professor in the Anthropology Department at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale) is a leading authority on Navajo and Apache literature and linguistics (both in English and Navajo) and the author of Explorations in Navajo Ethnopoetics (2009 University of New Mexico Press). He has published widely on a wide range of topics including the role of Navajo English in Navajo literature, representations of boarding schools in Navajo literature, Navajo sound symbolism, and the role of language in Apache hip hop. His talk at UK will focus on the relationship between grammar and poetic structure in works written in both Navajo and Navajo English.
April 18, 1 p.m. William Young Library Auditorium: Leighton C. Peterson, “‘You might be a Navajo Jedi’: Speech play and new literacies in Navajo online interactions”
Leighton Peterson is an Assistant Professor in the Anthropology Department at Miami University and a producer for TricksterFilms, LLC and Native American Public Telecommunications, Inc. (NAPT). He has produced several films with Bennie Klain (see below). In addition to his work in ethnographic film, Leighton has conducted extensive research on Native American language use in digital media and the role of technology in language revitalization efforts. His dissertation examining online uses of Navajo was awarded the Oustanding Dissertation Award at the University of Texas, Austin.
April 18, 4 p.m. William Young Library Auditorium: A special screening of the film Columbus Day Legacy followed by a discussion with director Bennie Klain
Navajo filmmaker Bennie Klain is founding partner of Austin, Texas‐based production company TricksterFilms, LLC. His film,Weaving Worlds, has won numerous awards, including Best Documentary Feature at the Black Hills Film Festival (2010), an Award of Commendation from the American Anthropological Association (2008) and the Deuxieme Prix de Rigoberta Menchu for social justice films at the Montreal First People’s Festival (2007). His newest film,Columbus Day Legacy, examines issues of free speech and ethnic pride through the cultural tensions that arise between Denver, Colorado’s Native and Italian-American communities during the city’s annual Columbus Day parade. Columbus Day Legacy is an official selection for the 2011 Big Sky Documentary Film Festival and the 2011 Smithsonian Native American Film+Video Festival.
