CAMPUS
Yw2222xZ
BACK TO
2016
A Language
Revived
LCC EXAMINES COMMITMENT TO CHINUK WAWA LANGUAGE COURSES by Kelsey Anne Rankin
U
nless you solely rely on your dusty
elementary school education to shape your
worldview, or you live beneath a social-
media rock, you ought to have a broadened
understanding of colonization (just in time
for Thanksgiving, y’all). European colonizers came, they
saw and then stole the land we now recognize as the
United States from its indigenous people.
Early settlers used many forms of sneaky fuckery — I
mean, cough, assimilation — to overpower indigenous
folks and force them to adopt a white code of conduct. One
of those methods was the forced erasure of native lan-
guages.
Two generations and one nearly extinct language later,
native and non-native community members are revitaliz-
ing the Northwest language Chinuk Wawa by securing it in
a place where it was once ruthlessly banned: our school
system.
In the 1800s, indigenous peoples of the Pacific
Northwest, together with the European settlers, created the
pidgin language Chinuk Wawa to communicate during
trade or for everyday conversation; this became the pres-
ent-day version of the language (tribes used a form of the
language during pre-colonial contact) the teachers of the
language at Lane Community College tell EW. The jargon
was a mixture of more than 20 native languages with
French and English influences — in a way, it was a bud-
ding cultural exchange.
But then came the boarding schools. Then came the
brutal methods that colonizers used to literally beat native
languages out of indigenous people.
Janne Underriner, director of the Northwest Indian
Language Institute (NILI) and former Chinuk Wawa pro-
fessor, says the language has been taught at LCC for a
decade. She taught the course for several years before
turning her focus towards planning and protecting the
class’ curriculum.
RETHINKING
SCHOOL
(LEFT TO RIGHT)
HEIDI HELM,
JEROME VILES
AND JANNE
UNDERRINER
Underriner explains how language courses across the
nation are increasingly difficult to protect from budget
cuts, and students are shifting their interest away from the
arts, including language studies. “There’s quite an empha-
sis on science, math and engineering,” Underriner says.
“We see across our state, at all levels of education, that
language is not well-financed.”
OPEN HOUSE
LIMITED SCHOLARSHIPS
Sunday,
October 23
K-12 Democratic Immersion
1 pm: Preschool
2 pm: K-12
& Play-Based Preschool
• Small Classes
• All Learning Styles Embraced
• Peer Problem-Solving
• Arts & Media
• College Prep and
Entrepreneurship
2370 Parliament St, Eugene www.eugenesudburyschool.org 541.683.5110
This past spring, LCC’s recent budget cuts threatened
the Chinuk Wawa curriculum (three 100- and 200-level
classes), which Underriner says caused multiple layoffs in
the language department and put a handful of other cours-
es at risk.
Jerome Viles, a member of the Siletz tribe, attended
LCC’s Board of Education meeting in May 2016 and saw
community members of different tribal affiliations and
backgrounds flood the room, then passionately argue
against the erasure of yet another native language.
The board decided in a 5-to-1 vote that Chinuk Wawa
would remain available for the 2017 school year, but
according to the board’s meeting notes of June 2016, the
discussion about funding the course remains unresolved.
Viles is taking over Underriner’s instructor position at
LCC and he now teaches three 100 level Chinuk Wawa
classes. Together, Viles and Underriner are building a cur-
riculum that focuses on the technical and cultural aspects
of the language.
He says that being able to teach and learn Chinuk
Wawa is a way of honoring the generations whose lan-
guage was taken from them, and its revival pays tribute to
his and other tribal cultures. “It’s trying to heal some of the
wound that boarding schools, removal [of native people]
and colonization have caused. We have a lot to say about
it, obviously,” Viles says.
Chinuk Wawa is becoming cross-generational again,
which Viles says is the biggest step in revitalization. NILI,
Grand Ronde members and other tribal organizations have
been teaching the language to younger generations through
preschool and high school courses, like the College Now
class at Willamina High School.
Our nation’s school system has an ethical and moral
responsibility to support and protect native cultures, Viles
explains, and it is up to our community to protect that
obligation to indigenous people.
t’s In The Stars
Wha Transformational
Gifts
CARDS K BOOKS
JOURNALS
TAPESTRIES
INCENSE K TAROT
CRYSTALS
JEWELRY
1374 Willamette St. • 541-342-8348
K 20% OFF
WELCOME STUDENTS
WITH COUPON • EXP 11/31/16
K
A K-12 Democratic
INSTA TWEETING THE GRAMS TO YOUR FACE IN CYBERSPACE
Part-time homeschool options also
eugeneweekly.com • October 13, 2016
21