Native Plants and their Usage in an Indigenous Language Community

California State University-Dominguez Hills Foundation, Carson CA

Investigators

Abstract

By combining the work of Indigenous communities, linguists, biologists, and journalists, this project documents an Indigenous language, specifically as it relates to local wild and cultivated plants, and the traditional and modern knowledge related to their use. The project documents (1) local plant names, descriptions, uses, and digital photos; (2) traditional and modern uses of the local plants in cooking, decoration, construction, tool creation, rituals, and medicine through videos and narratives; and (3) the current community-led eco-friendly crop revitalization effort to repair damage stemming from the effects of colonization on the land. The project is grounded in the knowledge of the Indigenous people and the organization of labor and knowledge for collective benefit. It also trains a number of student assistants, contributing to the development of the next generation of language researchers. Indigenous communities' knowledge is crucial to restoring the wellbeing of the planet. Robust documentation of the wealth of multi-generational community knowledge of local plants enriches existing understanding of this topic, as well as continuing the documentation efforts an understudied language which serves as the reservoir for such knowledge. Documentation of the language facilitates comparative linguistic work, informing our theoretical understanding of Indigenous languages and cross-linguistic studies. This project also develops a comprehensive illustrated field guide and produces a video documentary for general public and academic use on practices involving plant knowledge and traditional uses. Furthermore, the project produces short videos for use in teaching, a lesson plan for language workshops based on the plants and their traditional use, and other pedagogical materials. This award is made as part of a funding partnership between the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities for the NSF Dynamic Language Infrastructure – NEH Documenting Endangered Languages Program. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.