Saving the Dakota language, and saving a worldview

When Joe Bendickson was growing up, first on the Lake Traverse Reservation near the Minnesota-South Dakota border and then in St. Paul, he did not speak Dakota, his ancestral tongue. Few did. Generations of Native Americans had been institutionally raised in boarding schools, which banned students from speaking their native language. The Dakota language was becoming extinct.

As he grew older, he became more interested in his ancestry as a member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate tribe. He asked his grandfather to give him a Dakota name. His grandfather chose Šišókadúta, which means "robin red." At 19, Šišókadúta took a Dakota language class, which inspired him to major in American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota.

Today, Šišókadúta teaches the Dakota language there and serves as project director for the first comprehensive Dakota-language dictionary app, unveiled this month. And he continues his quixotic quest, dedicating his life to saving a language he didn't grow up speaking - which he hopes can preserve the identity of his people.

https://www.startribune.com/saving-the-dakota-language-and-saving-a-worldview/600254452/