Revitalizing Culture

Knowledge Creators Next response

Nän / Nün Nänkai akändür dän äłek’e ädesedèyè

A panel discussing small steps towards bringing back culture makes me more determined to learn about my culture. 

Culture was not lost. It was taken away from us. To this day, it still isn’t lost.

As strong young Indigenous people, we have the power to bring our culture back to life. During Panel 11: Cultural Revitalization: The Continuity of our Traditional Practices,  there were four amazing women who discussed their perspectives and described how their communities are trying to make their cultures come alive again. 

Bringing the culture back can be done by performing different practices that are important to the culture—such as singing and dancing. Not only is this bringing the culture back, but it’s also honoring the people that came before you, especially the people who weren’t allowed to be a part of their culture. And for younger people who struggle to feel a connection to their culture—such as myself—that resonated, because I realized I don’t have to learn everything about my culture all at once. I can do it little by little and take my time to really appreciate it—that care and attention is enough to revitalize the Inuvialuit culture.

 

The Arctic Arts Summit’s Knowledge Creators Next program brings together northern Indigenous post-secondary students, young activists and emerging professionals to attend the Summit. Participants in the Knowledge Creators Next (KCN) program will be sharing their daily reflections—in the form of tweets, photographs, poems, sketches, videos or other short responses—on the Arctic Arts Summit’s digital platform and across social media.