Empowerment through Revitalization

As Indigenous communities around the world work to ensure the survival of their languages, it is becoming clear that the best language planning approaches involve learning opportunities for families and individuals of all ages.

Building on current on-reserve and urban research on language revitalization, Dr. Lindsay Morcom, Canada Research Chair in Language Revitalization and Decolonizing Education, will work in partnership with Indigenous communities to identify goals and best practices for education and language planning. Her research interests include the role native language plays in building self-esteem and improving graduation outcomes for Indigenous children, as well as grassroots approaches to language revitalization in on-reserve and urban contexts. Morcom also researches decolonizing and reconciliatory education. She is part of a collaborative research group made up of Indigenous and non-Indigenous female researchers at Canadian universities researching decolonizing and reconciliatory behavior at various academic institutions, and holds a collaborative SSHRC New Frontiers in Research grant that examines the use of virtual reality technology for building reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities.

By taking a multigenerational approach that focuses on various geographies, Morcom will be able to contribute to larger academic and social discourse on language revitalization, education, and self-determination for today’s modern, dynamic Indigenous peoples and communities.