Understanding Wampanoag Culture Through Wôpanâak Language

Language Education Guest Speaker Series with Dr. Nitana Hicks Greendeer, Brown University

The Wampanoag Nation has been reclaiming its language for over three decades. In 2016, the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project opened a school to help achieve this goal. Recently transitioned to a program of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, Weetumuw School aims to provide Wampanoag children with an education that is firmly grounded in their culture.

The effort to raise a new generation of Wampanoag people who know from a young age the values and responsibility of being a part of their community, is one that the whole tribe must undertake together. In this undertaking, older generations are learning too, and for those committed to the process, the community strengthens. Learning Wôpanâak Language is a critical piece, as it provides a direct link to the ancestors who spoke this language.

Dr. Greendeer will discuss how Wampanoag people are participating in this cultural revitalization both personally and as a community through their understanding of Wôpanâak Language, and how the cultural health of all is reflected in the children at Weetumuw School.

Sponsored by Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development