February 11, 2024
#LanguageBack Initiative 2024 Wisconsin Workshops
By Emily Clarke, Indigenous Nations Poets Staff
Indigenous Nations Poets was proud to hold two #LanguageBack workshops in Wisconsin during the month of November 2024. The #LanguageBack initiative encourages Indigenous language revitalization, creativity, and community building through a series of language lessons and poetic activities. The first workshop, held on November 9th at the College of Menominee Nation in Keshena, focused on Menominee and Mohican languages and Indigenous poetics. With help from site coordinator Dr. Ryan Winn, language experts Richard Oshkeshequoam (Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin) and Brock Scheiber (Mahican), and Indigenous poets Halee Kirkwood (Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe) and Kimberly M. Blaeser (Minnesota Chippewa, IN-NA-PO Director), the first workshop welcomed over 25 participants.
The second workshop, held on November 23rd at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, explored Oneida and Anishinaabemowin languages as well as Indigenous poetics. Site coordinator Dr. Michael Wilson hosted IN-NA-PO staff and poets Kimberly M. Blaeser (Project Director), Sunni Parisien (Chippewa, Project Assistant), and Kenzie Allen (Haudenosaunee), as well as language expert Kai Pyle (Métis/Sault Ste. Marie Ojibwe) to facilitate activities for a group of more than 20 participants. Over the span of the two workshops, IN-NA-PO welcomed over 45 participants identifying from 15 different tribal backgrounds. The participants also represented a wide-range of experience when it came to both Indigenous languages and poetry, which allowed for a communal learning experience that centralized collaboration. Some entered the workshop space as fluent language speakers who were experiencing poetry for the first time, others were avid poets interested in learning Indigenous languages and implementing their knowledge into their poetic work.
Throughout both workshops, filmmakers Dusan Harminc (Stumptown Media) and Lane Hall (UWM) worked on creating a documentation of the #LanguageBack workshops that celebrated the work each participant created as well as showcased communal activities and writing sessions. Through this effort, In-Na-Po hopes to have curated workshops that not only played a key part in our participant’s linguistic and poetic journeys, but also serve as a tool to inspire other communities to create similar programs. Thanks to our participants, language experts and site coordinators, participating poets, and filmmakers, the #LanguageBack workshops were a monumental success that IN-NA-PO hopes to continue in the new year and beyond.
