Keynote speaker: Dr. Lorna Wanosts'a7 Williams
Affiliation: University of Victoria
Language: Ucwalmícwts
Country: Canada
Dr. Lorna Wanosts’a7 Williams has a legacy of being devoted to promoting, restoring, and saving Indigenous knowledge and language in her own community in Mount Currie, BC, Canada as well as regionally, provincially, nationally and globally. She has worked as an Indigenous educator and language specialist for more than 50 years. In 2004, Dr. Wanosts’a7 joined the University of Victoria as Director of Aboriginal Education (now Office of Indigenous Education). As a Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Knowledge and Learning and Associate Professor she developed and delivered an innovative series on learning and teaching in an Indigenous world. Throughout her career she has continuously worked side-by-side with communities on language and culture initiatives.
Pius Akumbu (PhD)
Affiliation: LLACAN (CNRS-INALCO)
Language: Babanki
Country: Cameroon
Pius is a teacher and scholar of Bantu and Grassfields languages of Africa. His research is in African linguistics, language documentation, sociolinguistics, language planning and fieldwork methods. He started a bilingual nursery and primary school in his own Babanki community in Cameroon, with a focus on mother tongue medium education in Babanki. He begins his work in Paris with an appointment at LLACAN (CNRS-INALCO).
Ibrahima Cissé (PhD)
Affiliation: Chaire UNESCO de Recherche Communautaire sur les Leviers du Développement : « l’Emergence par l’Innovation »
Languages: Fulfulde, Bambara, French, English
Country: Mali
Ibrahima Abdoul Hayou Cissé is a senior lecturer at Institut de Pédagogie Universitaire (Doctoral School), the Operations Coordinator at UNESCO Chair for Community Research on the Levers of Development: "Emergence through Innovation" in Bamako, Mali. His research interests include language policy, language and power, language and human rights, language acquisition and socialization in multilingual settings and language and education in Africa. He is an education consultant for international organizations in Mali on girls’ education, education strategy for internally displaced children, social cohesion and peace.
Hilaria Cruz (PhD)
Affiliation: University of Louisville
Language: Chatino
Country: Mexico
Hilaria Cruz is a Chatino linguist and an Assistant Professor in the Comparative Humanities Department at the University of Louisville. Working with elders and accomplished speakers in her community, they have recorded prayers, political, and ceremonial speeches. Looking to promote literacy in Native languages, she and her students have created and published 13 children’s books in Chatino and other Indigenous languages of the Americas.
Dawn Foxcroft
Affiliation: Tseshaht First Nation
Language: Nuu-chah-nulth, Barkley Dialect
Country: Canada
taaʔisumqa, Dawn Foxcroft is the Language Coordinator for the Tseshaht First Nation. In October of 2021, she helped to launch a two-year adult intensive using immersive techniques. Dawn completed her Masters in Indigenous Language Revitalization in 2016 from the University of Victoria. She also operates White Raven Consulting alongside her sister čiiʔiłumqa, Kelly Poirier where she connects her passions for graphic design, facilitation, education, and Indigenous language revitalization.
Gerardo Garcia Chinchay
Affiliation: Directorate of Indigenous Languages of the Ministry of Culture of Peru
Language: Peruvian Indigenous languages
Country: Peru
Gerardo García Chinchay is a linguist by the Federico Villareal National University and holds a master's degree in letters from the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul (Brazil) and another one in public administration from the Universidad Católica Sedes Sapientae (Peru). He has worked with almost all Peruvian Indigenous languages on issues of technology development and guarantee of linguistic rights. He is currently the director of the Directorate of Indigenous Languages of the Ministry of Culture of Peru.
Wanda Good
Affiliation: Gitanyow First Nation
Language: Gitxsan
Country: Canada
Wanda Good was born and raised in northwest British Columbia in the village of Gitanyow. Born from a long line of proud Chiefs and Matriarchs. Knowing only her mother tongue, Gitxsan as a child, Wanda describes the effect that Indian Residential School and Indian Day School has had on her ability to speak the language, the effect on her community and the her Gitxsan Nation. Wanda will talk about what she is doing today to bring back the language and will show the video ‘Calling Back Our Language’ created by her daughter Ravyn Good.
Tracey Herbert
Affiliation: First Peoples' Cultural Council
Language: Secwepemctsín
Country: Canada
Tracey Herbert is the Chief Executive Officer of the First Peoples’ Cultural Council (FPCC), a First Nations-run provincial Crown Corporation that supports the revitalization of First Nations languages, arts, culture and heritage in B.C. She is a member of the St'uxwtews First Nation (Bonaparte Band), located in the territory of the Secwepemc Tribe in the Thompson Okanagan region of B.C.’s interior. Tracey has spent 27 years in the service of First Nations communities across the country, motivated by a strong belief that Indigenous peoples must be recognized and respected as experts of their own cultures.
Raymond Kelly (PhD)
Affiliation: University of Newcastle
Languages: Dhanggati, Gumbayingirr
Country: Australia
Dr Raymond Kelly is a Dhangatti /Gumbayngirr Gurri with a keen linguistic interest in numerous oral recordings and other digital materials involving First Peoples across the State of NSW. In 2015 he was awarded a PhD from the University of Newcastle for his thesis entitled: 'Dreaming the Keepara: New South Wales Indigenous Cultural Perspectives, 1808—2007'.
Larry Kimura (PhD)
Affiliation: University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo
Language: ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian)
Country: USA
Dr. Larry Kimura is Associate Professor, College of Hawaiian Language, University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo. He is cofounder of the Pūnana Leo Hawaiian Medium Preschools establishing Hawaiian Medium Education in 1987 in Hawaiʻi's Public School System, Chairperson of the Hawaiian Lexicon Committee and Director of the online Kaniʻāina Hawaiian speech repository.
Candace Kruger (PhD)
Affiliation: University of New South Wales
Language: Yugambeh
Country: Australia
Candace is a Yugambeh yarrabilginngunn (song woman) and proud Kombumerri (Gold Coast) and Ngugi (Moreton Island) Australian Aboriginal woman. Candace is the founder and director of the Yugambeh Youth Choir and author of Yugambeh Talga: Music Traditions of the Yugambeh People (2005). Candace was recently awarded the 2021 National Australian Society for Music Education Teaching award for Excellence in Indigenous Music Education.Candace has taught classroom music in both Primary and Secondary schools for over 25 years, and has been appointed as the Pedagogical Leader for the Culturally Nourishing Schooling Project for the University of New South Wales.
Emmanuel Ngué Um (PhD)
Affiliation: University of Yaoundé I & University of Ngaounderé
Language: Basaa
Country: Cameroon
Emmanuel Ngué Um is Associate Professor of African Languages and Cultures at the Higher Teacher College of the University of Yaoundé 1, Cameroon. He is currently on secondment as Head of Department of Cameroonian Languages and Cultures at the Higher Teacher Training College of Bertoua. Emmanuel Ngué Um research interests include: Language description, Language Documentation & Archiving, Natural Language Processing. He is currently one of the leading figures in the emerging movement of Digital Humanities scholarship in Africa.
Maung Nyeu (PhD)
Affiliation: New York University & Our Golden Hour
Language: Marma
Country: Bangladesh
Dr. Maung Nyeu is an Indigenous research scientist at New York University. He is the founder and executive director of Our Golden Hour, an organization committed to extending educational opportunities for children in marginalized communities and underserved areas. He is an award-winning author of children’s books and multilingual picture dictionaries. He was nominated as one of the fifty most inspiring stories by BBC World Service. His research interests include Indigenous languages and literacy, oral storytelling, Indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing, culturally responsive pedagogy, and moral education. Maung’s research is grounded in equity, diversity, belonging, and justice. Maung belongs to Marma Indigenous Peoples of Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh.
Annika Pasanen (PhD)
Affiliation: Sámi allaskuvla (Sámi University of Applied Sciences)
Languages: Finnish, Inari Saami, North Saami
Country: Finland
Annika Pasanen is working as a professor of Sámi sociolinguistics at the Sámi allaskuvla, Sámi University of Applied Sciences. She has a Ph.D. degree in Finno-Ugric studies, and the topic of her Ph.D. dissertation is revitalization of Inari Sámi language. Her interests cover language endangerment, language politics, multilingualism, and especially language revitalization. She has both researched and participated in revitalization activities among several Indigenous and minority peoples especially in Sápmi and the Arctic regions of the Russian Federation. She is Finnish, originally from Central Finland, lives in Inari and speaks Inari and North Sámi languages.
Prem Phyak (PhD)
Affiliation: Chinese University of Hong Kong
Language: Limbu
Country: Nepal
Dr. Prem Phyak teaches at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. His research areas include language policy, multilingualism, language ideology, teacher education and the sociolinguistics of Indigenous/minoritized languages. He has published papers in various journals such as Language Policy, Language in Society, and International Journal of the Sociology of Language.
Julia Sallabank (PhD)
Affiliation: SOAS, University of London
Language: Guernesiais
Country: UK
Julia Sallabank is a Professor of Language Policy and Revitalisation at SOAS University of London. She is co-editor of Revitalizing Endangered Languages: A Practical Guide. Her research focuses on language revitalisation, language policy at all levels, and the needs and experiences of new speakers of small and endangered languages, building on her PhD research and experiences with Guernesiais, her heritage language.
Christine Sims (PhD)
Affiliation: University of New Mexico
Language: Acoma-Keres
Country: USA
The focus of my work is in the areas of Indigenous bilingual education and language revitalization. I obtained my doctoral degree from UC-Berkeley with a specific focus on indigenous language revitalization. I am a faculty member of the Bilingual Program in the Department of Language, Literacy & Sociocultural Studies (LLSS), in the College of Education and Human Services (COEHS) and serve as a faculty member in the Educational Linguistics Program at the University of New Mexico (UNM). I direct the American Indian Language Policy Research & Teacher Training Center which I founded in 2008 in the UNM COEHS. We prepare Indigenous language speakers to teach in community and school-based language initiatives providing technical assistance to tribes in language program planning and related areas of program implementation. I am an enrolled tribal member of Acoma Pueblo.
Jeannet Stephen (PhD)
Affiliation: Institut Kajian Orang Asal Borneo/Borneo Research Institute for Indigenous Studies (BorIIS), Universiti Malaysia Sabah
Languages: Kadazan, Dusun, Malay, English
Country: Malaysia
Jeannet heads the Language and Linguistics Cluster at the Borneo Research Institute for Indigenous Studies (BorIIS), Universiti Malaysia Sabah. She holds a PhD from the University of Auckland, New Zealand and is one of the 2021 Endangered Language Fund’s Language Legacies grant recipients for her IBUNDA (Indigenous literacy in Books – Unlocking Developments and Achievements) project. She believes that everyone plays a role in revitalizing, reclaiming, and promoting the Indigenous languages because there is still much to do. She is a receptive bilingual in Kadazan and Dusun and continues to self-learn her mother tongues.
Jüvä Sullõv (PhD)
Affiliation: Võro Institute & University of Tartu
Language: Võro
Country: Estonia
Jüvä Sullõv is a linguist (PhD on Finnic languages), Võro and South Estonian lecturer, teacher and researcher at the University of Tartu and Võro Institute. He is an activist of Võro language revitalisation and normalisation, an administrator of the Võro Wikipedia and FB group "Võro kiil", and father of three Võro-speaking (Võro-Estonian bilingual) children.
Jakelin Troy (PhD)
Bio coming soon!
Irma Tzirin Socop
Affiliation: Escuela Urbana 25 de julio de 1524
Language: Kaqchikel, Kiche'
Country: Guatemala
Irma Tzirin Socop es Licenciada en Lingüística, también tiene el Profesorado en Educación Bilinguüe Intercultural. Ha realizado consultorías de traducción en kaqchikel en Ministerio de Educación, Fundación de Desarrollo Integral (FUDI). Actualmente labora como Maestra de Educación Primaria Urbana en la Escuela Urbana 25 de julio de 1524. Apoya a la Municipalidad de Tecpán Guatemala en la redacción de 85 monografías de cada aldea del municipio de Tecpán Guatemala.
Irma Tzirin Socop has a degree in Linguistics, she also has the Teaching Staff in Intercultural Bilingual Education. She has done translation consultancies in Kaqchikel at the Ministry of Education, Fundación de Desarrollo Integral (FUDI). She currently works as a Teacher of Urban Primary Education at the Urban School July 25, 1524. She supports the Municipality of Tecpán Guatemala in the writing of 85 monographs for each village in the municipality of Tecpán Guatemala.