“Language as Resistance”: Intertribal Rematriation Retreat coming to Tulsa

(TULSA, Okla.) From April 10-12, Native Americans and Native allies interested in learning more about ancestral language and heritage will gather for a Rematriation Retreat at the Thomas K. McKeon Center for Creativity in Tulsa.

The event is intertribal. The theme is “Language as Resistance."

Clare Maracle is the Executive Director of Words of the People, the leading force behind the event.

“When we start to learn the language and to think in that way, it's re-Indigenizing our worldview, or decolonizing,” Maracle said. “I like the term re-Indigenizing because we're remembering what we always have known: that we are dependent on each other, and this is an interdependent world that we live in.”

Maracle says there is a feminine component to taking back Indigenous languages. 

“We think of rematriation more in feminist terms, rematriation as the mother. So, returning land back to people, languages back into the mouths of the people and also, centering the matriarchal and matrilineal ways that we come from,” said Maracle.

Speakers from several different Tribal nations will be present at the event including Muscogee (Creek), Cherokee, Quapaw, Kiowa, Osage, Mohawk, and others. 

Mary Jacobs, the Director of the Quapaw Language Department. will talk about efforts to preserve and revitalize the Quapaw language. 

The event will include more than just the language component. There will be a Water Protectors panel with Jordan Harmon, Cheyenna Morgan and Ash Lamont. 

Tulsa Indian Education will host a Stomp Dance at Rogers High School Auditorium. 

There will also be free headshots and an interactive activity that will teach people how to barter. 

Attendees are invited to bring jewelry, clothing, seeds, or other unique items to participate in the barter market that will be led by Veronica Pipestem. 

“Veronica is great about teaching the history of bartering in our trade routes here on Turtle Island, and this sense that the work of your hands is worth more than money,” Maracle. “And that you can have and make and do things that are worth beyond just cash.” 

Maracle says that this event is also great for Native Americans who are unfamiliar with the tribe they come from and their culture. 

“The land is always waiting for you to return,” said Maracle. “The language is always waiting for you to return. Your ancestors are always waiting for you. To return to those ways and to be involved.”

Autumn Star Catering will provide dinner for attendees on Friday, April 10. 

The full agenda and registration information can be found on Eventbrite.