Please join us for Cheyenne Cunningham’s PhD proposal defence tomorrow, Friday, August 29 from 11am – 12pm virtually via Zoom.
Supervisor: Dr. Jan Hare
Committee Members: Dr. Cash Ahenakew & Dr. Amy Parent
Dissertation Title: Indigenous Language Revitalization Through Storied Landscapes of Katzie First Nation
Abstract:
British Columbia, home to over half of all Indigenous languages in Canada (Gessner et al., 2022), remains deeply impacted by colonial institutions such as the residential school system, which contributed to the decline of Indigenous languages. Despite these challenges, community members in Indigenous communities like Katzie First Nation are actively engaged in language revitalization efforts. My doctoral research centers on the revitalization of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language and cultural knowledge through a focus on place names, drawing from the Katzie Ethnographic Notes (Suttles, 1955), a comprehensive historical account documenting Katzie subsistence, kinship, territory, and genealogy. In the absence of fluent Katzie speakers, my study aims to analyze the linguistic, cultural, and geographical knowledge embedded in place names through a storied-walking methodology in collaboration with Katzie community members. Guided by Stó:lō scholar Dr. Jo-Ann Archibald’s (2008) seven Indigenous storywork principles: respect, responsibility, reciprocity, reverence, holism, interrelatedness, and synergy, this research employs an Indigenous storied walking approach to support Indigenous land-based education and community-led knowledge transmission. Storied walking will be used to engage with traditional territories, drawing both on historical documentation and on stories shared by community members to fill gaps left by settler researchers such as Jenness (1955), Suttles (1955), and Pearsall (1978). By centering Katzie voices and knowledges, the research seeks to revitalize Indigenous ways of knowing that are deeply rooted in place, land, and story. Ultimately, this work contributes to the broader movement of Indigenous language and cultural resurgence, offering a collaborative, community-grounded model for research and education grounded in land, language, and story.