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Indigenous Peoples have lived in the Arctic since time immemorial. Over millennia, they have developed their languages \u2013 critical sources of knowledge \u2013 and used them to support prosperous northern livelihoods. Indigenous Peoples\u2019 languages are essential to their cultural identities and worldviews.<\/p>\n
Arctic Indigenous languages exist in diverse political and cultural environments in what is now Canada, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States. Some Arctic Peoples have been divided across national borders, and all experienced assimilation policies. Speaking Indigenous languages was forbidden during most countries\u2019 colonial eras. Education and public services were only offered in the official state language, and children were taken to residential schools away from their families, culture and environment. Many people experienced lifelong trauma, rejected their mother tongue later in life and \u2013 to save their children from shame and oppression \u2013 did not pass it on to future generations.<\/p>\n
Between forty and ninety Indigenous languages are spoken in the Arctic, depending on the methods used to classify languages and dialects. Arctic Indigenous languages belong to five main families: Inuit-Yupik-Unangax (or Eskaleut), Na\u2019Dene (or Athabaskan), Uralic, Paleo-Asian and Altaic. The Ket, Nivkh, Tsimshianic, Haida, and Yukagir languages spoken in the region can be classified as language isolates.<\/p>\n
Today there are approximately 4 million people in the circumpolar Arctic, of which 10% are Indigenous. Indigenous languages must compete for young people\u2019s attention with majority languages on the internet, in movies, and other mainstream media. Urbanization also plays a part in weakening intergenerational transmission of Indigenous languages since youth move to cities and elders remain in rural areas. Moreover, there are still very few options to receive education in one\u2019s own language across the circumpolar Arctic.<\/p>\n
However, there is a growing movement to take pride in Indigenous languages. The goal of this exhibition is to showcase Arctic Indigenous Peoples\u2019 unique and clever initiatives to revive their languages and pass them on to future generations.<\/p>\n