WE STILL LIVE HERE: As Nutayunean
Celebrated every Thanksgiving as “the Indians” who saved the Pilgrims from starvation, then largely forgotten, the Wampanoag of Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard are bringing their long-dormant language back to life. Spurred on by their intrepid linguist Jessie Little Doe Baird, recent winner of a MacArthur genius award, they are saying loud and clear, and in their Native tongue, “Âs Nutayuneân,” – “We Still Live Here.”
Longer Synopsis
WE STILL LIVE HERE: Âs Nutayuneân tells the amazing story of the return of the Wampanoag language, a language that was silenced for more than a century. The Wampanoag’s ancestors ensured the survival of the first English settlers in America, and lived to regret it. A century ago, their language virtually disappeared. Spurred on by an indomitable Wampanoag woman named Jessie Littledoe Baird, who just won a MacArthur genius award for her unprecedented work, the Wampanoag are bringing their language and their culture back to life.
Like many Native American stories, this one begins with a vision. Years ago, Jessie began having recurring dreams: familiar-looking people from another time speaking in an incomprehensible language. These visions sent her on an odyssey that would uncover hundreds of documents written in Wampanoag, lead her to a Masters in Linguistics at MIT with Noam Chomsky, and result in her accomplishing something that had never been done before in an American Indian community– bringing a language with no Native speakers alive again.
The film interweaves contemporary verité scenes of cultural revival among the Wampanoag on Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard with dark events in New England history that nearly obliterated their culture. Ruth Lingford’s powerful animation provides darkly beautiful images as Wampanoags recount these horrific events.
The film ends on a hopeful note, with an image of JessieÂ’s youngest daughter, the first Native speaker of Wampanoag in a century.