Conference helps expand ideas and research around indigenous languages

Serafín M. Coronel-Molina, Professor and Conference Organizing Committee Chair, with a group of students at the conference

The IU School of Education hosted the third International Conference on Literacy, Culture and Language Education this month, bringing together over 200 researchers, educators, scholars, instructors, practitioners, activists and graduate students from around the world.

With the goal of advancing knowledge about languages, cultures and literacies from multiple perspectives by including the margins and contact zones, conference attendees enjoyed individual presentations, panel sessions and interactive workshops, providing an excellent atmosphere for discussion and networking.

“A conference of this magnitude constitutes a breeding ground for the School of Education faculty and students to get involved in a local and global dialogue and exchange of ideas, research and practice with scholars from across the globe and from a wide range of perspectives. This event also invigorates the national and international mission of the School of Education,” sad Serafín M. Coronel-Molina, Professor and Conference Organizing Committee Chair.

A conference of this magnitude constitutes a breeding ground for School of Education faculty and students to get involved in a local and global dialogue and exchange of ideas, research and practice with scholars from across the globe and from a wide range of perspectives.

Serafín M. Coronel-Molina

The theme of this year’s conference was “Languages, Cultures, and Literacies in the Margins and Contact Zones.” Three distinguished Keynote speakers were brought in: Suresh Canagarajah, Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Applied Linguistics, English, and Asian Studies at Pennsylvania State University, Angela Reyes, Professor and Chair of the Department of English at Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY) and Doctoral Faculty in the Program in Anthropology at the CUNY Graduate Center, and Jonathan Rosa, Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Education, Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity, and, by courtesy, Departments of Anthropology, Linguistics and Comparative Literature at Stanford University.

The highlight of the conference was the presence of eleven Indigenous scholars and educators from Canada and the United States who participated as special invited guests in two panels and roundtables. Among them are Emerson Bull Chief, Vance Crookedarm, Velma Pretty On Top and Roanne Hill from the Crow Nation, Bryan Hudson from the Eastern Shoshone Nation, Shane Yellow Thunder from the Ho-Chunk; Alex Fire Thunder from the Lakota Nation, Šišóka Duta from the Dakota Nation, Cherith Mark and Terry Rider from the Stoney Nakoda Nation and Juanita Plentyholes from the Ute Mountain Ute Nation.

Five members and experts in Indigenous Languages from the Language Conservancy, a worldwide leader in supporting endangered Indigenous languages, also participated: Wil Meya, CEO, Elliot Thornton, Dictionary Database Manager, Abbie Hantgan-Sonko, Linguist, Bob Rugh, Crow Specialist, and Corey Telfer, Stoney Nakoda Linguist.

The conference was organized by the Department of Curriculum and Instruction in the School of Education. This event was sponsored by the African Studies Program, the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, and the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies within the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. This conference is also supported by the IU Conferences.