Dr. Kari A. B. Chew is a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation. She is a postdoctoral fellow with the NEȾOLṈEW̱ Partnership. Her scholarship focuses on the motivations and experiences of adult additional language learners who are reclaiming their Indigenous heritage languages. Her current research considers the role of technology in connecting learners who live outside their communities to their languages. She earned her doctorate in Language, Reading, and Culture from the University of Arizona in 2016.
Chew, K.A.B. , Anthony-Stevens, V., LeClair-Diaz, A., Nicholas, S.E., Sobotta, A. & Stevens, P. (2019). Enacting Indigenous Language and Cultural Reclamation across Geographies and Positionalities. Transmotion, 5(1), 132-151. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1828/10977
Chew, K.A.B. (2019). Weaving Words: Conceptualizing Language Reclamation through a Culturally-Significant Metaphor. Canadian Journal of Native Education, 41(1). URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1828/10962
McCarty, T.L., Nicholas, S.E., Chew, K.A.B., Diaz, N.G., Leonard, W.Y. & White, L. (2018). Hear Our Languages, Hear Our Voices: Storywork as Theory and Praxis in Indigenous-Language Reclamation. Daedalus: Journal of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, 147(2), 160 -17 2. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1828/10964
Chew, K.A.B. & Anthony-Stevens, V. (2017). Teaching from a Place of Hope in Indigenous Education. Anthropology News, 58(2). e265-e269. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1828/10728
Chew, K.A.B. (2015). Family at the Heart of Chickasaw Language Reclamation. The American Indian Quarterly,39(2), 154-179. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1828/10730
Chew, K.A.B., Hicks, N. & Keliia, C. (2015). Claiming Space: An Autoethnographic Study of Indigenous Graduate Students Engaged in Language Reclamation. International Journal of Multicultural Education, 17(2), 73 -91. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1828/10729
Chew, K., Keliiaa, K. & Hicks, N. (2015, March). Studying Indigenous Heritage Languages at Universities: A Collaborative Autoethnography. Paper presented at the 4th International Conference on Language Documentation and Conservation (ICLDC). URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1828/10731
Barbara Jenni, Project Manager
Barbara is of Swiss, German, and French heritage. She has lived in Switzerland, Guatemala, and Canada, and is a grateful settler on Lekwungen and W̱SÁNEĆ territories. She is the Project Manager of the NEȾOLṈEW̱ Partnership, after having served as the coordinator of the preceding SSHRC Partnership Development Grant, also with co-leads Onowa McIvor and Peter Jacobs. Barbara also supported the coordination of Trish Rosborough’s SSHRC Insight Grant ‘Beautiful Words’ and Jean-Paul Restoule’s SSHRC Partnership Development and Insight Grants.
Nicki is of Jewish ancestry and grew up on Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, səl̓ilwətaɁɬ, and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm territories in Vancouver. She has an M.A. in Language Education from the University of British Columbia and has been working in language education for 15 years as a teacher, researcher, and education consultant. Since 2013, Nicki has supported Indigenous language revitalization initiatives with organizations such as UNICEF Peru, the BC Ministry of Education, and Kwi Awt Stelmexw.
Nicki is a PhD student in Indigenous Language Revitalization under the supervision of Dr. Onowa McIvor. Her doctoral research will explore success factors in adult immersion education for language reclamation through a case study with the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Language Immersion Program. Nicki is the founder of Esperanza Education, the facilitator of the Spanish for Social Justice Teacher Network, and the mamá of a bilingual two-year-old.
Adam Stone, Research Assistant
Adam Stone is a PhD student of Applied Linguistics and Discourse Studies at Carleton University, in Ottawa, Ontario. He is a Research Assistant with the NILLA project, where his responsibilities have included informing NILLA map design through surveys of similar maps that exist elsewhere, and the production of supplementary language distribution maps. His main research interests include geolinguistics, supporting Indigenous language education, GIS cartography, and acoustic phonology, and he is currently also serving in other mapping projects focusing on Indigenous and minority languages in Kurdistan, Iran, and Canada. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with family, rock climbing, visiting new countries, and learning new languages.
Robyn Giffen, Research Assistant
Robyn Giffen is of German and English ancestry and grew up on Treaty 7 land in Calgary, AB. She spent most of her adult life in Kelowna, BC, living, studying, and working on the unceded and ancestral territory of the Sylix and Secwepemc people. She now lives as grateful settler on the traditional territory of the Lekwungen peoples.
As a NEȾOLṈEW̱ research assistant, Robyn currently contributes to the NILLA project. She has an M.A. from the University of British Columbia specializing in Linguistic Anthropology and has worked on Indigenous language revitalization projects in Ghana, Alaska, and Vancouver, BC. Robyn is now a PhD student in Education at UVIC, focusing on Indigenous Language Revitalization. Her research project will analyze and evaluate the Where Are Your Keys (WAYK) teaching and learning method.
Zola Kell, Research Assistant
Zola Kell is a white Settler living on the unceded territories of the Lkwungen and W̱SÁNEĆ people. She holds an M.A. in Germanic Studies from the University of Victoria, with a focus on translation. As an editor, grants crafter, and visual artist, Zola has been fortunate enough to work in a variety of support roles for a number of Indigenous language revitalization initiatives. Her main scholastic interests include the dynamic space of translation, collaborative strategies, and language curriculum development. As a NEȾOLṈEW̱ research assistant, Zola will be working closely with NEȾOLṈEW̱ co-investigator Edōsdi.
Acknowledgement of previous team members
Many wonderful people have contributed to the work of NEȾOLṈEW̱ over the years. They are (in alphabetical order of last name): Adar Anisman, Carolyn Belleau, Emily Comeau, Nicole Davies, Pierre Iachetti, Samaya Jardey, Anureet Lotay, Layla chuutsqa Rorick, Robby Smoker-Peters, Danielle Sullivan.
