Host Erik Redix talks with Michael McNamara, Orla Kearns, and Louise Gibbons about the challenges of Gaelic language preservation in Ireland. Both internal cultural factors, and the strong prevalence of the English language in their midst parallel the challenges faced with a similar goal in the Ojibwe community.
4/15 Ojibwe Stories: Gaganoonididaa - The Irish Language
Language revitalization in the Ojibwe community is a paramount concern to many in our region, but it is by no means a unique situation. Our guests recently came to the University of Minnesota Duluth from Ireland to talk about sustaining the Irish language on the Emerald Isle. The cultural factors involved in preserving the practice of speaking Gaelic reveal some interesting parallels to the issues of Ojibwe language revitalization here in the upper Midwest. Our guests share with us their experiences and, just as we regularly feature a story in Ojibwe, they also tell us an ancient Irish myth in Gaelic.
Gaganoonididaa is produced by KUMD-FM and the Department of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota Duluth, with funding provided in part by a UMD Strategic Initiative Grant from the Chancellor's Office of UMD, and by Eni-gikendaasoyang - the Center for Indigenous Knowledge and Language Revitalization at the University of Minnesota Duluth.