This piece of material was given to me at a language revitalization meeting of faculty at the Alaska Native Studies Council. It is part of a huge piece of cloth that was dyed with words from Alaska Native langauges written on it to symbolize the importance of our languages being revitalized and restored. It was then taken to a traditionally sacred place by the participants, prayed over and then torn into strips and shared with the participants. A few people spoke, especially the organizer and Dena’ina host, Joel Isaak, during the ceremony but it was mostly a reflective period for participants to heal at the loss of our languages and to stay encouraged in our work. This was a ceremony, a beautiful ceremony that represented the shared purpose of working to create a path forward. This scarf represents what I see collaborative research to be.

You can find more information at: https://joelisaak.com/