According to a recent publication from KUNM, a radio station supported by the University of New Mexico (UNM), the university has acquired new resources for Zuni language speakers. Penned by Spencer Beckwith, the brief article discusses the Zuni Pueblo bilingual school system located in northwestern New Mexico and their collection of documents written in the Zuni language.
Beckwith states that UNM student and Zuni Pueblo member Arin Peywa is attempting to make these documents accessible online. In Peywa’s opinion, this collection is for “people who are in the military, people who have been forced out of the Pueblo, and people who are like me and want to pursue a higher education and have to leave the reservation.” Language is, to Peywa, fundamental to cultural identity: “Without the Zuni language there is no Zuni culture. We have to keep pushing to teach our youth and to understand that this language is who we are.”
UNM’s Digital and Scholarly Communication department has made the Zuni Language Materials Collection accessible online to current Zuni speakers and potential speakers alike.
Within the article itself is an audio interview between Beckwith and Peywa, during which Peywa speaks in the Zuni language for all to hear!
Please find the complete article here.
