“Wiinge chi-baapinizi geniin ode: It really makes my heart laugh”: Language, culture, identity, and urban language revitalization

Abstract

In Canada, the majority of Indigenous people live off-reserve in urban centres. Living offreserve is a risk factor for language loss, as indicated by the fact that 44.9 percent of First Nations people on-reserve are able to conduct a conversation in an Aboriginal language, compared to only 13.4 percent of First Nations people off-reserve (Statistics Canada, 2019). For this reason, urban language revitalization is vital, yet it remains understudied and underfunded (Ball & McIvor, 2013;Chao & Waller, 2017;Jewell, 2016). The Kingston Indigenous Languages Nest (KILN) is an example of grassroots urban language revitalization. KILN presents Indigenous families in Kingston, Ontario, with opportunities to access language and culture through weekend family-focused sessions, as well as immersion weekends, evening adult language classes, digital resource development, and community partnerships focused primarily on Anishinaabemowin, Kanien'kéha, and Cree. Using qualitative data collected through talking circles, I explore what effect the weekend sessions have on participants' lives. The results indicate that participation improves language use. However, its impact stretches beyond this; participants describe a deepening of their cultural understanding and connection to community as key parts of the development of their identities as urban Indigenous people. It is clear that culture-based pedagogy is central to both language survivance and cultural and identity growth. It deepens participants' understanding of themselves as urban Indigenous people, allows them to experience their culture as a way of life, creates new understandings of Indigenous identity and community, and validates their community identity as equal to other Indigenous ways of being.