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"Creating a New Framework for Renewing Indigenous Languages" (Part II), a short seminar chaired by Mary Eunice Romero, University of Arizona, November 14-15, 2003.

Participants

Mary Eunice Romero, Chair
Language, Reading and Culture Department, University of Arizona

Carnell Chosa

Lily Wong Fillmore
Professor, Graduate School of Education, University of California, Berkeley

Richard Littlebear
Vice President, Cultural Affairs, Dull Knife Memorial College

Regis Pecos
Native American Leadership Program, Santa Fe Indian School

Christine Sims
Acoma Pueblo

Richard Leventhal
President, School for Advanced Research

From left: Richard Littlebear, Christine Sims, Lily Wong Fillmore, Regis Pecos, Mary Eunice Romero, Richard Leventhal

Summary

Former Katrin A. Lamon resident scholar Mary Eunice Romero (Cochiti; University of Arizona) returned to the School in October as chair of a follow-up seminar to an earlier conference, “Creating a New Framework for Renewing Indigenous Languages” (April 2003). “After consulting with Native communities, we are beginning to identify and support tribal language initiatives across the country and to discover specific problems. For instance, there are new pressures created by the No Child Left Behind Act, which requires teachers to have associate degrees. This policy pushes many Native-language speakers out of the classroom,” Romero reported. The core group met again in May 2004 to develop long-term strategies for language preservation, including plans to form a national association of Native American educators and a national indigenous language center for training, planning, and research.
     “With SAR’s early and continued support, the work we began in 2003 has gained momentum this year,” Romero said. “And as we worked with communities in the heart of Native country, we were able to educate people about the School and what a wonderful institution it is.”