Engaging Native American Publics: Linguistic Anthropology in a Collaborative Key

Engaging Native American Publics considers the increasing influence of Indigenous groups as key audiences, collaborators, and authors with regards to their own linguistic documentation and representation. The chapters critically examine a variety of North American case studies to reflect on the forms and effects of new collaborations between language researchers and Indigenous communities, as well as the types and uses of products that emerge with notions of cultural maintenance and linguistic revitalization in mind. In assessing the nature and degree of change from an early period of "salvage" research to a period of greater Indigenous "self-determination," the volume addresses whether increased empowerment and accountability has truly transformed the terms of engagement and what the implications for the future might be.

Table of Contents:
Introduction 1. Native American Languages and Linguistic Anthropology: From the Legacy of Salvage Anthropology to the Promise of Linguistic Self-Determination Barbra A. Meek Part I: Collaboration 2. There’s No Easy Way to Talk about Language Change or Language Loss: The Difficulties and Rewards of Linguistic Collaboration Gus Palmer, Jr. 3. Recontextualizing Kumeyaay Oral Literature for the Twenty-First Century Margaret Field 4. “You Shall Not Become This Kind of People”: Indigenous Political Argument in Maidu Linguistic Text Collections M. Eleanor Nevins 5. To “We” (+inclusive) or Not to “We” (–inclusive): The CD-ROM Taitaduhaan (Our Language) and Western Mono Future Publics Paul V. Kroskrity Part II: Circulation 6. Future Imperfect: Advocacy, Rhetoric, and Public Anxiety over Maliseet Language Life and Death Bernard C. Perley 7. Perfecting Publics: Future Audiences and the Aesthetics of Refinement Erin Debenport Part III: Scaling Publics 8. “I Don’t Write Navajo Poetry, I Just Speak the Poetry in Navajo”: Ethical Listeners, Poetic Communion, and Imagined Future Publics of Navajo Poetry Anthony K. Webster 9. Reflections on Navajo Publics, “New” Media, and Documentary Futures Leighton Peterson 10. Labelling Knowledge: The Semiotics of Immaterial Cultural Property and the Production of New Indigenous Publics Jane Anderson, Hannah McElgunn, and Justin Richland

About the Author :
Paul V. Kroskrity is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles, United States. He served as Chair of the Interdepartmental Program in American Indian Studies and is a past President of the Society for Linguistic Anthropology. Barbra A. Meek is an Associate Professor of Anthropology and Linguistics at the University of Michigan, United States.