Abenaki Language Revitilization in New England and Quebec

Bobo Room, Hodgin Hall, Third Floor

Since the 1800s, European and American settlers have denied the existence of the Abenaki people in New England. Due to wars, intermarriage with Anglos, disease, mass migrations, and a eugenics movement of the 1920s in Vermont and New Hampshire, many people have assumed that the Abenaki are extinct. It is a testament to the Abenaki people that they have survived and thrived. One aspect to the Abenaki surviving as a people is through their language. This presentation will focus on both the Abenaki in Quebec and the Western Abenaki people in New Hampshire and Vermont, what steps they are taking to revive their language. With input from Abenakis in New England and utilizing current scholarly research, my presentation will focus on Abenaki language revitalization programs. I will also discuss how new generation gives hope to the Abenaki communities. Not only adults are learning the language, the children are learning it as well. Thanks to efforts from the Bruchac family—notably Joseph and his son Jesse—a completely new generation of Abenaki children are learning their language, and in some cases, they are speaking it as a first language. By reviving their language, they are forming new connections with one another, the land and with their ancestors.