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University plans to spotlight namesake tribe at conference

Bridget Clegg

Miami University will host a conference this March that will be devoted to research and presentations about the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma from tribe members and researchers actively engaged in projects.

This is the third time Miami will host the conference and it is organized every other year. Called the Myaamiaki Conference, it will look at the Miami tribe scholarship and it will bring together some of those studying the university's historic tribal ties, the current state of the tribe's language and other researchers from across the country.

"(The conferences) tries to primarily deal with the tribe as a living entity today," said faculty member Daryl Baldwin, member of the Miami Nation and its primary language teacher.

He said a documentary film, from the perspective of the tribe, would also debut. The piece has been in the works for a few years and will hone in on the Miami language and cultural vitalization.

The event will be open to the public, yet an exact speaker lineup and more details are still in the works. Baldwin said in the past, the event has been heavily attended.

Yet outside of orchestrating the conference, the Myaamia Project for Language Revitalization and American Indian Cultural Awareness, created in 2001, is working to complete a few books for publication, including a collection of bilingual traditional stories.

All of the project's efforts are aimed at the revitalization process of a dying language.

The Miami Nation is a sovereign Native American Nation that used to occupy lands in Indiana, western Ohio, eastern Illinois and the lower portions of Michigan and Wisconsin. After U.S. government-directed relocations from Kansas to Indiana, the tribe is now located centrally in northeastern Oklahoma, according to the Web site for the Myaamia Project.

The Miami Tribe, from which Miami University received its name, is working to develop an interest and an appreciation for its language. The Web site for the Myaamia Project says that in 1995, the tribe began a language reclamation effort, reconstructing the words from a language not spoken conversationally since the 1960s, when the last everyday speakers died.

Through the Myaamia Project, Baldwin and several Miami students initiate research about aspects of language, from developing a dictionary for the Miami Tribe to putting together language materials such as lessons or booklets. According to Baldwin, the research can also involve ethno-botany, the study of a culture's traditional uses of plants, or the reconstruction of a lunar calendar.

Students from a diverse cross-section of majors participate in the research, including geography, linguistics, environmental studies, and history, Baldwin said.

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Baldwin said he spreads awareness of the tribe and the Myaamia Project through visits to Miami classes where he speaks about the importance of language and cultural revitalization.

"Language is tied to an individual's identity," Baldwin said. "Embedded in language is a worldview and it's important to maintain your language heritage."

He added that the Miami Tribe's language celebrates a perspective that understands relationships.

"The language is verb-heavy, speaking more in action and interaction," Baldwin said. "English is more of a noun language concentrating on things and the ownership of things."

In Oklahoma, Baldwin oversees camps where children in the Miami Nation can learn the language during the summer.

Teresa Zaffiro, a sophomore interdisciplinary studies major, is building her focus on Native American studies. She has been researching ways to get involved in helping to preserve tribal culture.

After speaking with Baldwin, Zaffiro realized that if she were going to help the Miami Tribe, she would have to do it for the right reasons.

"If you are really going to make a difference, you have to gain an understanding of their lifestyle and want to really help the tribe," Zaffiro said. "You shouldn't do it if you just have a fascination with 'the other.'"

The Living Tongues Institute Web site identifies the dominance of a political or social culture as the main reason for the loss of a minority language.

The Myaami Project and its supporters strive to instill an appreciation for the tribe's unique culture through the revitalization of its language.

"Learn as much as you can first," Zaffiro said. "To build a cultural respect, you have to avoid seeing other cultures as less than yours."