Hul'q'umi'num' heroes: Reclaiming language through theatre

Drs. Pulla and Sadeghi-Yektea used a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council grant to stage Hul'q'umi'num' stories and document on using theatre for language revitalization.

The goal of this project was to support Hul'q'umi'num' language learners by bringing traditional stories about heroes to life in dramatic performances that spark and hold the interest of language speakers, language learners, and the general public.
The territory of the Hul'q'umi'num' people extends along the Salish Sea from Nanoose to Malahat on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. Today around forty fluent first-language speakers remain, mostly over the age of sixty, and thus Hul'q'umi'num' is considered an endangered language. However, amongst the population of over 6000 Hul'q'umi'num', there are many people who desire to learn the language or to improve their fluency. Our project will bring the language to the eyes and ears of the community, and, for the participants, it will help unlock their ability to speak Hul'q'umi'num'.

Coast Salish culture is centered on performance and storytelling. Most of the Elders we work with are rich in traditional knowledge, have much to say on the subject, and have decades of experience in mentorship. Stories have previously been recorded in Hul'q'umi'num' and transcribed and translated by our experienced team of native speakers and linguists, giving us a collection of oral histories and a digital archive to work from. The language teachers have devoted much effort over the past years to studying traditional stories and to learning to create authentic-sounding new stories. In this three-year project, our team will embark on the next step---turning stories into theatre.

In a series of workshops with Elders and language teachers, we selected several stories, learned them, and then re-designed them as dramatic art. We interpreted the stories through techniques of image work, sculpting, movement, improvisation, dialogue, and music. We also built a website featuring the results of our workshops in a fashion accessible to language teachers. Web is the preferred delivery method for these materials because it allows the presentation of audio and video files linked to transcriptions and translations.

Over the course of the three-year project, we also formed a drama troupe that perform their plays in public at various venues throughout the Hul'q'umi'num' territory. We seek to reach as many people in the area as possible and to perform to a wide variety of audiences. While it is a challenge to perform to an audience in a language they may not understand, we have learned to convey meaning with our movements and through the use of costumes, props, sets, and media.

We believe that this project supported the social, spiritual, and cultural well-being of the Hul'q'umi'num' participants by grounding them in their Coast Salish identity, heritage, and traditional knowledge. Our research model fostered the connection between young performers and the Elders who serve as their mentors. Other social benefits included training Aboriginal youth and teachers in performance and technical skills, as well as research techniques, which can lead to future employment. Our team of Hul'q'umi'num' knowledge holders and academic experts supported the development of a range of resources to be used by teachers in their efforts to integrate drama in into their classes as a tool for language revitalization. Our hope is that by making the language accessible and entertaining, we will galvanize a new generation of language learners. Our university students also learned how to engage in participatory research with a First Nations community. Documenting the process allowed us to report to the scholarly community on best practices of using theatre for language revitalization.