Event Series Announcement: Indigenous Languages Initiative

We are excited to announce our first series of events related to the UNESCO Decade of Indigenous Languages 2022-2032, a global initiative to emphasize the value and importance of preserving and revitalizing indigenous languages.
These events are sponsored by the Institute for Native American Studies, Latin American & Caribbean Studies, the Department of Linguistics, the UGA Provost's Office, the Augusta University/UGA Medical Partnership, and Georgia Public Broadcasting.
Dr. Sara Snyder, our first speaker, is an Assistant Professor Anthropology & Sociology, and is the Director of the Cherokee Language Program at Western Carolina University. Dr. Snyder will discuss her current project - Eastern Cherokee Histories in Translation - her methodology, and the centrality of community-based research for revitalizing indigenous languages like Cherokee.
Immediately following Dr. Snyder's talk will be a special screening of the newest episode of the PBS series Native America, featuring Tom Belt, Cherokee language instructor and Cherokee Nation citizen who now resides on the Eastern Band Qualla Boundary. This episode focuses on Cherokee Language Revitalization in the Cherokee homelands of Southern Appalachia.
Rainy Brake, the first certified teacher in the EBCI New Kituwah Academy Cherokee Immersion Program, is currently the Cherokee Language Instructor at Western Carolina University's Cherokee Language Revitalization Program. Rainy will discuss Cherokee language, language loss, and revitalization initiatives. She will also guide us through a Cherokee language lesson so we can all introduce ourselves in Cherokee!
Next week, Dr. Pilar Chamorro, Associate Professor in the UGA Linguistics department, will present a talk as part of the 27th Annual Conference on the Americas. More details will be available about this event closer to the date.