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Abstract
Indigenous teacher education programs constitute important sites for the creation of Indigenous language speakers, writers, and future language teachers. Such speakers are key agents for the maintenance and revitalization of minoritized Indigenous languages. Peru and Norway are interesting Indigenous teacher education sites as both countries have established and support teacher training programs in Indigenous languages. Although teacher education programs across these contexts respond to different normative and curricular orientations, they share the goal of forming future generations of language educators and students have a range of different minority language speaker profiles. Drawing on new speaker scholarship (O’Rourke, Pujolar & Ramallo, 2015; Lane and Walsh 2014), our research attends to the experiences of learners who have not acquired their Indigenous language at home, who understand but don’t speak their Indigenous languages, and those who reclaim their languages as adults in formal educational settings, profiles which are all present in our research sites.
Drawing on qualitative participatory research with Quechua, Aimara and Sámi learners across our Peruvian and Norwegian sites, we analyze individuals’ narratives of language revitalisation and processes of reclaiming their Indigenous languages. We will examine how participation in university Indigenous language learning constitutes a critical transitional moment for new speakers. Walsh and O’Rourke (2014) propose the notion of muda to describe junctures in speakers’ trajectories which lead to changes in linguistic choices and practices favouring the use of a minority language. In our analysis, we address cases of mudas and reverse mudas to highlight the constellation of language practices, ideologies, emotions, and identity positions (Walsh, 2017) which university learners make sense of and enact as they turn towards, and sometimes away from, new speakerness. We identify a range of constellations which shape processes of becoming a new speaker as a difficult and frustrating one for some learners, as well as ones where insecurity and silence are transformed into pride and voice. Drawing on perspectives from Southern Theory (Connell 2007), this presentation will provide insights into Quechua, Aimara and Sámi language education experiences to better understand the diverse educational experiences of new speakers of Indigenous languages.
Bios
Pia Lane is Professor of Multilingualism at the Center for Multilingualism in Society across the Lifespan (MultiLing), University of Oslo, Norway. Her research focuses on multilingualism, with a particular emphasis on language policy, language shift and language revitalisation of Indigenous and minoritised languages. She served on the Norwegian Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Frances Kvietok is a MSCA Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Multilingualism in Society across the Lifespan at the University of Oslo. She researches, teaches and consults on bilingual education, Indigenous language revitalization and language planning and policy informed by ethnographic and participatory perspectives. She has recently co-edited a special issue on Quechua language planning and policy for the International Journal of the Sociology of Language.
Carola Kleemann is associate professor in Linguistics at UiT The Arctic University of Norway, campus Alta, where she teaches Norwegian language and literature at ECE and general teacher education. Her research is mainly within multilingualism, outdoor activities and play in Sámi kindergartens, and developing methodologies for kindergarten practice and research which are in line with Sámi traditions and perspectives. Use of GoPro®-cameras is central in her research to get closer to children’s perspectives and obtain linguistic data. Her most recent project within kindergarten research involves a Sámi artist and a Norwegian boat builder and focusses on transforming outdoor play areas in a Sámi kindergarten with Sea Sámi inspired play installations.