The Language of the Abenaki People with Jesse Bruchac

Join the Bidwell House Museum for the first program in our online winter lecture series focused on the Indigenous Peoples of Western New England. On February 16, Jesse Bruchac will share a presentation about the ongoing language reclamation work being done by Abenaki people across Ndakinna , their home land. In addition to sharing the history of this work, which he has been personally involved in for the last three decades, he will share the language in a traditional context through several bilingual traditional stories and songs using the drum, rattle, and Native American flute. Jesse will be happy to take questions from the audience at the end of the talk.

Jesse Bowman Bruchac is a traditional storyteller, musician, and Abenaki language instructor. In an ongoing effort to make the language more accessible, he created the free language teaching website WesternAbenaki.com. He is the Director of the School of Abenaki at Middlebury College and has also written and published several bilingual books and recordings in the language. He has lectured at Yale, Harvard, Dartmouth, Princeton, and is currently co-teaching two Wabanaki Language courses at the University of Southern Maine. He is also on the advisory committee of Nibezun and The Nolumbeka Project. Additionally, Jesse has been a consultant, translator, composer, and language coach for programs on AMC, National Geographic, and PBS.

This program will be held via Zoom and details for how to access the event will be sent via email a few days in advance.

This program is supported through a grant from Housatonic Heritage.