Blog Post IV: Senior Thesis Project and Working Research Question

As I have mentioned in previous posts, my thesis is going to explore the ways in which museums and archives can contribute to language preservation and revitalization efforts. I believe museums and archives have a great potential to help for a variety of reasons. First, museums are tasked with being the repositories that preserve, educate, and spread awareness of different cultures, groups, movements, individuals, and more. Language is a central component of culture and tradition, and it can therefore potentially tie in with a museum’s mission. Furthermore, taking the time to highlight the importance of language will be key so that my audience/readers are invested and have a reason to care. Second, there are many challenges with teaching endangered languages compared to majority languages. There are limited speakers, most of whom may be elderly, and they aren’t trained in education. Most linguists aren’t, either. Therefore, museums and archives can be that means of supporting endangered languages and educating the general public about them beyond the classroom. Third, cultural institutions already have a great basis for contributing to these efforts. In many collections, there are oral histories, old manuscripts, and other materials that could be of use to the preservation and revitalization of languages. Museums and archives can curate exhibitions or promote programs to make use of these materials. One example is The National Breath of Life Archival Institute for Indigenous Languages, which is a two-week long workshop where native community members from across the country come together in Washington, D.C. to research documents relating to their languages and cultures. The members are partnered with professional linguists and “navigate Smithsonian and Library of Congress archives and collections, locate and acquire documents, interpret writing systems, and transform archival materials into practical lessons for language learning” [1]. I get excited thinking about the possibilities when uncovering the efforts of museums in language revitalization. I plan on researching more about language preservation and revitalization from a linguistic perspective, other current connections to museums, and then suggesting methods for the future.

This screenshot from The National Breath of Life's page highlights the mission and includes a quote from a participant that demonstrates the positive impact projects like this have.

With all of this in mind, my working research question is: Given the missions of cultural institutions (e.g. museums, archives), their collections, and their relationships with surrounding communities, how can these institutions successfully contribute to the preservation and revitalization of endangered languages in the long-term, and how can success be evaluated? The question aims to encompass both linguistic and museum perspectives, to consider current cases while maintaining a vision for the future, and to captivate readers and encourage them to learn more about endangered languages.

Source:

[1] “About the Workshop.” National Breath of Life Archival Institute for Indigenous Languages, 2017.