Bgéji éyajmoyan ngom

On Immersion Camps…

Can you really take a native person to an immersion camp and bring them home speaking another language?  Hmmm….

Many Native American children, some by choice and some by force, were once enrolled in mission schools and boarding schools.  They would be removed from their communities, and they would be unable to see their families for long periods of time.  The various folks at these schools cut the children’s hair, altering their physical appearance.  They exchanged the traditional clothing for clothing representative of the particular group running the boarding school.  They took away any personal sacred articles, disregarded them as idols, and replaced them with a new religion. 

And they IMMERSED them in the English language, or the Spanish language, if they were in Spanish California.  They were Immersed.  The children were told not to speak their own language.  They were either disregarded and ignored, or even punished with loss of privilege or even physically beaten if they spoke their own language.  They had to learn English or Spanish to survive.  They had to learn it to eat.  They had to learn it to get basic necessities.  They had to learn it to avoid humiliation and pain.  They had to learn it to survive. 

That was the original immersion camp…

That is what your elders, the generations before you, suffered…

Is there any wonder why our languages are in such decline? 

It’s time for REVERSE IMMERSION.  It’s not enough to run an immersion camp with language only, nor is it enough to run a culture camp with no language.  The whole thing has to be reversed.  A high quality native immersion camp should incorporate both the language and the culture. 

1. Physical appearance.  That which was changed long ago is going to have to be symbolically restored.  You can’t just re-grow hair, not that fast, but some sort of visible mark needs to be incorporated.  Humans are visually oriented, and they think in symbols, and a symbolic gesture of the physical changes will mark that person.  It seems strange, but if you think about it, it is a rite of passage almost, and the missions and boarding schools used this technique to the extreme at one time.  A hairpiece, a token, something physical that connects the language learner with the language learning experience, will cause that language learner to relive those language memories every time it is touched and handled, this is something that has not been considered before….
2. Clothing.  We’re not talking powwow regalia here, nor are we talking reenactment.  Most of that is glass beads and European finery refashioned to somehow look natural.  We’re talking about simple changes.  A ribbon shirt for the men and a long skirt for the women.  Something to again physically mark the person, giving a visual cue to their brain that something is different, and a different mode of thought is necessary.  Something that causes the brain to relive language learning moments every time that shirt or skirt is worn.  Why?  Because until the Neshnabé culture is incorporated into the heart, incorporated into the being of a person, they are going to need those physical marks to remind them.  Once that incorporation is complete, and a Neshnabé thinks and acts like a Neshnabé, the visual cues and physical marks are no longer necessary.  
3. Religion.  We’re not talking forced conversion here, nor are we talking about beating the religion out of anyone.  What we are talking about is a basic appreciation for the spiritual nature of the Neshnabék, in a non-threatening way.  Remember, this is REVERSE IMMERSION, reversing what was done to cause many of our people to fear their own culture as laden with devil-worship and idolatry.  Many of our people don’t really know the truth about how the Neshnabék truly worshiped their creator and respected the rest of creation.  It’s time they learned, and if they are truly committed to Christianity or any other religion, the truth and the faith will work together, and they will simply gain an appreciation and understanding for their ancestors and their current relations who may chose to walk the Red Road.  And maybe some of these powwow dancers will begin understand what those dances were supposed to represent at one time, and not dance just for the prize money. 
4. Language.  This is the focal point.  This is the center of the whole thing.  Why? Because this is what they attempted to force out of us long ago.  You think they didn’t understand then how important language was?  Why do you think they fought so fiercely in Europe over translations of the Bible?  They knew how important language is, and they knew that if they took it away from the Native people, the culture would die.  SO REVERSE IT.  Bring the language back in its cultural context, to describe the physical appearance, the clothing, the foods, the spirituality, the traditions, the songs, the prayers, the stories, the speeches.  Use it to instruct in native cooking, native crafts, native Everything.

http://www.anishinaabemdaa.com/language-camp.htm#schedule  Reverse Immersion camps do exist!  The Little River Band of Ottawa Indians has been sponsoring this for 15 years!  AND THEY WORK.  Kenny Pheasant and the other fluent elders of the Ottawa and Ojibwe nations have been advocating this for their people all this while!

Why aren’t the Potawatomi doing this?  If our primary objective is to record and preserve the language, THEN WE HAVE ALREADY ADMITTED DEFEAT.  The primary objective should be to use, use, USE the language!!!  NOW!!  While our Elders are still HERE!!!!

These Potawatomi bands have managed to get together for the past 13 years at an annual gathering, and for the past 5 years at an annual language conference.  It is therefore entirely possible that they can get together, fund, and hold a Reverse Immersion Camp, incorporating language, language, language, and culture, funding their fluent elders to come together and teach, and helping the people come back to their roots, helping the people remember that they are Neshnabék. 

Iw énajmoyan

Nin se Neaseno

Hau, mégwa gi Neshnabémwik wi mawjeshnowat ibe kiwédnon gaga éwi yajmoawat

ékendemwat ode zheshmowen……..cho she nwi zhyasi ibe ode pon…..wi zhyéwat

gode nizho dések wa je wabdemwat, mine ébsedwat anet ékigdowat gode zheshmonajek

ibe kidwénon.  Hau, i yé bgéji ékedyan ngom……..

Hau wabek wi zekso’awat o ga je mbot wnago……..i ye i ga kedwat gi ksenyaniyek eyajmowat ngom egi shegnanowat shote. Gi mkche jiwenmo o mdemoze ga je mtoset shpemek wnago. Wegwendek wi nweshmo’awat ngoji pi ibe kiwednon gi wnijksenyaniyek……..nin se, nde kiwades ngom emikwendemyan jayek gi kekyajek ngodek egi bmadsewat ngoji wegwendek ga pa ndeswat gode Bodewadmik.

Hau iw se mteno enajmoyan ngom——Neaseno ndesh ne kas.

Hau, bo zho mine,

After taking some time off to get other things arranged and organized, I am now back to share some thoughts with ya all. First off, our beautiful language…..kyet nam she nde zabendan ode zheshmowen egi mingoyak mno wi pi…….

Our language is what describes us, it is what describes our world, our universe, our ceremonial lives, our eco systems, and the many other things we take for granted in this world of ours. I never want to take our world for granted, I don’t want to take this life for granted, I will not take my language for granted, any more than the air I breathe, for it is the air I breathe, it is the food I eat, it is the family I love, it is the mate I love, it is everything I care about and live for, am ready to die for and certainly all that I love for. I cannot stress how important this language is to me……

Today we lost yet another beautiful elderly lady; Mary Wensaut. I wonder if anyone else will really miss her and the huge gaping hole she will leave among our Potawatomi speakers. We are so very few these days, some have said about 44 speakers left in the entire world, but I beg to differ with them…….we have about 15 speakers left that I count who really speak this Potawatomi language. There are 5 of us who are actively teaching this language and perhaps 5-6 more who are not fully fluent yet, but will be if they give themselves time to learn to speak fluently.

We have some Canadian speakers left but they speak Neshnabemwen, which is not pure Potawatomi and if we, who still speak this language don’t take drastic steps to teach and share this language, it will die out. The Neshnabemwen language will be the only thing left that remotely resembles the old Potawatomi language. I do not wish to minimize that sacred tongue they speak in Canada, Grandmother’s Land, but we must not allow our original language The Spirit gave us to die out.

With the passing of another elder, we come that much closer to losing our precious mother tongue, Bodewadmi. I have witnessed so many beautiful elders leave us in the years I have traversed this sacred altar called Mother Earth. There was a time when we spoke only Potawatomi in our home and there were other Native languages we spoke as well. Those days are past and it seems there are no new speakers coming up who are learning to speak these languages. We hear of classes here and there, on line classes we have made available, books for sale with CD’s and DVD’s, but there still are no new speakers coming up through the rank and file of Potawatomi people. Many people would rather not even take classes to learn their language, even when we make it so readily available for them on the internet and through many other outlets, such as Amazon.com, and offering language classes through tribal programs as well.

When will the people take pride in who they are as Potawatomi and learn their language so it doesn’t get lost? When will they sacrifice their time and spend it “burning the mid nite oil” so to speak, to learn this language? When will the people spend their substance to do all in their power to learn their language, thereby saving it for their use? When will language become their world?

Iw enajmoyan…….Nin se Neaseno.