Arcadia University Presents We Still Live Here—Âs Nutayuneân, Nov. 15
An ITVS Community Cinema Presentation
Glenside, PA—Nov. 1, 2011—Arcadia University’s Community Cinema presents the ITVS Community Cinema film We Still Live Here—Âs Nutayuneân on Tuesday, Nov. 15 at 5 p.m. in Murphy Hall Stiteler Auditorium. The film viewing is free and open to the public. Arcadia University is located at 450 S. Easton Road, Glenside, Pa.
Produced and directed by Anne Makepeace, We Still Live Here—Âs Nutayuneân tells the remarkable story of the recent cultural and linguistic revival of the Wampanoag tribe of Southeastern Massachusetts. Their ancestors ensured the survival of the Pilgrims—and lived to regret it. Now they are bringing their language home again.
The story begins in 1994 when Jessie Little Doe, an intrepid, 30-something, Wampanoag social worker, began having recurring visions and dreams: familiar-looking people from another time addressing her in an incomprehensible language. Jessie was perplexed and a little annoyed—why couldn’t they speak English? She soon realized they were speaking Wampanoag, a language no one had used for more than a century. This astonishing discovery sent Jessie and the members of her community on an unprecedented odyssey that would lead her to a linguistics research fellowship at MIT and the discovery of a huge trove of documents written in Wampanoag, including deeds, contracts, and an entire translation of the King James Bible (published at Harvard in 1663). Together with her MIT colleagues and the Wampanoag community, Jessie achieved something that had never been done before—bringing an American Indian language back to life after many generations without native speakers. By unlocking the secrets of the Wampanoag language, the community has been able to rediscover their history and culture. Now a new generation of children is breathing life into what was once thought to be a lost language.
Screenings are followed by a panel discussion that includes featured speakers and Arcadia University Faculty.
The ITVS Community Cinema series at Arcadia University is part of a local producing affiliate in Suburban Philadelphia/Montgomery County through the PBS series Independent Lens. To learn more about the film, and the issues involved, visit the film’s companion website at http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/we-still-live-here.
About Arcadia University: Arcadia University is a top-ranked private university in metropolitan Philadelphia and a national leader in study abroad and international education. Arcadia University promises a distinctively global, integrative and personal learning experience that prepares students to contribute and prosper in a diverse and dynamic world. The 2010 Open Doors report ranks Arcadia University No. 1 in the percentage of undergraduate students studying abroad. U.S. News & World Report ranks Arcadia University among the top regional universities in the North, and as one of the top study abroad programs in the nation. The Physical Therapy program is ranked seventh in the nation. (www.arcadia.edu)
###R8002###
