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https://ubc.zoom.us/j/68613353119?pwd=Q09sWXF3a0Jib29oNG5ubFQzMkNrUT09
Meeting ID: 686 1335 3119 Passcode: 091440
“The Politics of Hopi Language Circulation: How to make a sign point back”
Speaker: Hannah McElgunn
Abstract:
In this era of language revitalization, Indigenous languages are increasingly recontextualized into new settings. They are found in dictionaries, on roadside signage, on tattoos and clothing, even on branded commodities. In light of these events, this talk pauses to consider the way different forms of information circulation mediate relationships within and across Indigenous and settler social orders. I focus on the dynamics of recontextualization as they relate to Hopi, a language spoken primarily on Hopitutskwa (in what is currently Arizona), but which has travelled far beyond the high desert mesas in various forms. I describe the semiotic strategies of Hopi tribal members who seek to correct the inappropriate dissemination and extractive recontextualization of Hopi words and imagery. Their responses can be seen as efforts to bring outsiders into appropriate positions within a shared intertextual regime that is anchored at Hopi, an expansive social collective, ever-emergent in the here-and-now.
Speaker’s Biographical Note:
Hannah McElgunn received a joint PhD in Anthropology and Linguistics from the University of Chicago in 2020, and incorporates methodologies and theories from both disciplines into her work. Her research and ethical commitments are centered at Hopi, the name for an Indigenous community, language, and way of life in Northeastern Arizona. Since 2014, she has been exploring the often competing frameworks of knowledge production and exchange that underlie Indigenous linguistic and cultural revitalization efforts.
