Kumeyaay Specific Resources

Curriculum Guide

Kumeyaay Learning Landscapes Educational Curriculum

The Kumeyaay curriculum is an invaluable resource about the Kumeyaay people, created by community members Michael Connolly Miskwish, Stan Rodriguez, and Martha Rodriguez. The curriculum is organized into ten modules that introduce the Kumeyaay people and the plants and animals of the Sycuan Reservation Habitat Conservation and surrounding ecosystems. It also includes information about Kumeyaay culture, contemporary environmental concepts, and traditional land management practices.

Imperial Valley Desert Museum K-12 Virtual Classroom Video Series, Kumeyaay Based Education Curriculum

This guide outlines K-12 lessons based off Kumeyaay videos. Each lesson includes an overview, objectives, materials, resources, and procedures. For each lesson, there is an associated video. The average lesson is about 20 minutes in length.

Dissertation

Kumeyaay Language Loss and Revitalization

Abstract: Indigenous populations around the world face the culturally devastating prospect of language loss. In the United States, Native communities are at risk. This study examines the challenge of language loss for the Kumeyaay Nation, located in southwestern portion of the United States. It explores the language loss experienced by the Kumeyaay people, as well as the impact this loss has had on its people in San Diego, California, and Baja California, Mexico. This is a uniquely Indigenous study: the author is a Kumeyaay tribal member and fluent language speaker, and Kumeyaay elders provide insight for policy recommendations. Interviews with extant Kumeyaay speakers reveal their small number and the difficulties of language xii transmission for the individual, family, and community. Perceptions of Kumeyaay elders about language atrophy are mapped onto UNESCO factors of language loss and are placed in the context of language socialization literature. The practices of extermination, containment, and later, of assimilation are shown to have directly and indirectly threatened the Kumeyaay language. Interviews show that elders’ perceptions about the state of the language are accurate, and they support the UNESCO supposition that small numbers of speakers and a lack of intergenerational language transmission can produce language atrophy. Prospects for current revitalization of the language depend upon an inventory of Kumeyaay language assets and innovative language transmission programs tailored to Native Kumeyaay communities.

Videos

Address to Mt. Empire Teachers - Dr. Paul Cuero - (22 minutes)

Former Chairman Dr. Paul Cuero addresses Mt. Empire teachers and shares stories about his experiences with education, thoughts on supporting Native students, and the importance of Birdsongs.

CA Indian Songs and Stories - (not Kumeyaay specific) (UC Berkeley event) 2 hours – includes Cahuilla (Bird Songs)

A lively, intelligent evening of storytelling, song, and language. Presenters include Linda Yamane (Rumsien Ohlone), Mike Mirelez (Desert Cahuilla), Ron Goode (North Fork Mono), Clarence Hostler (Hupa/Yurok/Karuk), and Charlie Thom (Karuk). Supported in part by generous grants from the Fleishhacker Fund and the Consortium for the Arts at UC Berkeley.

How to Greet Someone in Kumeyaay Language with Sam Brown (Viejas Kumeyaay)(2.4 minutes)

Kumeyaay Language and Culture with Sam Brown (several)

History video from Ed Brown (Viejas) at 88, talking about the fiestas (intertribal week-long gatherings), games, old locations, priest who came once a year, farming, aqueduct, orchard, horses thrashing wheat, corn, beans, $1/day pay. He had polio as a youth – cured by Indian medicine.

Kumeyaay Songs and Stories: Stan Rodriguez (18 minutes)

Kumeyaay songs and stories, as told by Stan Rodriguez. Video is part of the Learning Landscapes curriculum produced by the Kumeyaay Diegueno Land Conservancy, with the contributions from: Laguna Resource Services, Inc.; Michael Connolly Miskwish, Stan Rodriguez, Martha Rodriguez.

Kumeyaay Village and Pictographs (7 minutes)

Video journey to one of the desert location of Kumeyaay pictographs and morteros

Our People. Our History. Our Culture. (48 minutes)

This award-winning video tells the story of Sycuan and the Kumeyaay nation through the words of its people—Tribal elders, Council leaders, family members and the next generation. Augmented by observations from Native American historians and a range of subject matter experts, this documentary follows the incredible 12,500-year journey of a People who has survived against overwhelming odds to become a sovereign, prosperous nation who continues to honor. The introduction features Stan Rodriguez, Richard Carrico, George Prietto, Mike Connolly Miskwish, Steve Newcomb, Ral Crisman, Daniel Tucker, Hank Murphy, Jamie LaBrake, Leroy Elliott. It includes some elements of their creation story. It covers tool making, art, culture and science, pre-contact. They speak of the shamul (clan), spirituality, the invasion, historical influences and invasions by the Spanish, Mexicans, Americans, the Treaty of Santa Ysabel --unratified and secret-- California’s extermination policies, forms of slave labor, and Sovereignty.

San Diego’s First People – Kumeyaay Native Americans (51 minutes)

Angela Santos Elliott (Manzanita Tribal Chair), Johnny Eagle Spirit Santos (Manzanita Kumeyaay). Stan Rodriguez (Santa Ysabel Kumeyaay), Frank Salazar (Campo Kumeyaay), Brian Williams (archaeologist), Leroy Elliot (former Chair, Manzanita Kumeyaay) Jamie LaBrake (Sycuan), Danny Tucker (former Chair, Sycuan). This video covers a wide range of topics, from Kumeyaay identity, location of their lands, and trails. They illustrate food sources indigenous to the land, with a strong segment on agave roasts and another on making of shawii, and tool making, gatherings and games.

Teresa Castro/Santa Catarina, BC Mxio Pai Pai (2010)

This video of one of the Kumeayaay communities located in México (Santa Catarina) features Teresa Castro speaking about her life there, a bit of history, making of pots, and a trip to Walapai in Arizona. Segments are in English, Spanish and Kumeyii. She says, for instance, “In pai pai god understands because he gave me that language to me. I am not Mexican I am Paipai.

Yucca Sandal Making with Stan Rodriguez (Iipay Kumeyaay, Santa Ysabel)

The Heard Museum sponsored this master artist workshop on the traditional technique of weaving yucca for sandals in Sept. 2017. The class was taught by Stan Rodriguez (San Ysabel, Kumeyaay) and held at the Sycuan Cultural Center at Kumeyaay Community College in El Cajon, CA. The video features commentary from multiple participants who come from multiple tribal nations.