Indigenous media, participatory democracy and language revitalisation in Abya Yala and Aotearoa: The centrality of language in indigenous transformation 
(Seminars)
2 December 2011
9am - 12noon
Venue: Room 201, Arts 1 Building
Contact email: s.abel@auckland.ac.nz
Research seminar with David Hernández Palmar, Wayuu language activist and media producer (Venezuela), and Dr Leonie Pihama, Moana Jackson, Robert Pouwhare, Phoebe Fletcher and Mayra Gomez.
Revitalising language as a taonga traverses generational, regional, and political boundaries - enhancing peoples’ awareness of their own identity, culture, history and future.
In both Aotearoa and Abya Yala (America), language revitalisation has strengthened and unified local communities to challenge transnational colonial practices. The Wayuu language crosses two countries with different nation-state histories. David Hernández Palmar’s mother is one of the leading language activists in Wayuu language revitalization efforts, and he will discuss initiatives of the Wayuu people to protect their language, land and water, through education, the media and political action. How does the process of locating Wounmainkat/Pachamama/Papatuanuku (Mother Earth) at the centre of thinking, redefine fundamental concepts such as nature, rights, democracy, constitution, citizenship, sovereignty, and dignity?
David Hernández Palmar is a photographer, videographer, curator and writer of the Iipuana clan, Wayuu nation, Maracaibo, Venezuela. He co-directed the documentary Owners of the Water, (2008) with the Xavante people of Central Brazil.
Funded by Te Whare Kura: A Thematic Research Initiative into Indigenous Knowledges, Peoples and Identities, The University of Auckland. Supported by Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga, NZ’s Indigenous Centre of Research Excellence, and the NZ Centre for Latin American Studies,The University of Auckland. Organised and hosted by Dr Kathryn Lehman (NZCLAS), Dr Sue Abel (Māori Studies/Film & Media) and Dr Joe TeRito (Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga).
Numbers are limited to 50 so please register your interest by emailing Sue Abel at s.abel@auckland.ac.nz
