nēhiyawētān kīkināhk /Speaking Cree in the Home

nēhiyawētān kīkināhk /Speaking Cree in the Home: A Beginner’s Guide for Families
by Belinda Daniels and Andrea Custer
Foreword by Solomon Ratt, Illustrations by Lana Whiskeyjack
Published by University of Regina Press
Review by Shelley A. Leedahl
$89.95 Hardcover, $19.95 Paperback ISBN 980889779037

It’s been said that learning one’s Indigenous language is fundamental to the process of decolonization, of understanding one’s culture, and also of understanding the world, and thus I’m pleased to see this book that helps Indigenous peoples’ learn Cree at home, and “begin their own journey of reclaiming and revitalizing Cree.”

nēhiyawētān kīkināhk / Speaking Cree in the Home: A Beginner’s Guide for Families is an attractive manual that “helps re-forge connections between identity, language, family, and community” in a practical way. Authors Belinda Daniels (founder of the not-for-profit language revitalization organization nēhiyawak Language Experience Inc. and an assistant professor at the University of Victoria in Indigenous Education, Daniels hales from Sturgeon lake, SK) and Andrea Custer (a Woodland Cree from Pelican Narrows who earned her MEd from the University of Saskatchewan, taught in numerous schools, writes curriculum, and now works at Regina’s First Nations University as a Cree language lecturer) are equally passionate about language revitalization. Custer says “language shapes our beliefs and values, which in turn affect our attitudes and behaviours.” On her website, andreacuster.ca, she writes: “For over a decade, I’ve dedicated my life to teaching and preserving nīhithawīwin, our Cree language, as I believe it holds the key to our identity, culture, and future.”

Custer is a first-language speaker, Daniels a second-language learner. Together these educators have the rich experience necessary to steer Cree language learners in the right direction, as “The way Indigenous people learn and understand this world is very different from how Europeans learn and understand this world.”

This guide, shortlisted for theSaskatchewan Book Award Publishing in Education Award 2023, includes short chapters that outline Cree language history, Cree’s broad geographical landscape and the five dialects of the language (Plains Cree is the ‘Y’ dialect), a section called “The Invasion” concerning the arrival of European explorers to “the territory of what is now called Saskatchewan,” plus a few pages on Indigenous ways of learning, education, and “Colonization and Decolonization.” In Part Three readers are treated to personal essays in which the editors “position [themselves] as mothers and caregivers of [their] homes.” Custer explains that her youngest daughter “learned English first and Cree second,” and her last-born child (she has five) “is currently immersed in Cree so that it becomes his first language.”

The chapter on various methods of learning Cree is interesting, ie: “Once you learn a word or phrase in Cree … never use that word in English again,” clapping syllables, using complete sentences when talking to children, and monthly goal-setting. As “language activists” and parents, Daniels and Custer include practical and fun ways to bring Cree into the everyday, ie: via beading, berry picking, road trips, mealtimes, nature walks, music, websites, Facebook, creating a photo album, smudging and praying.

Parents may chuckle over a few phrases in the glossary which demonstrate that this is a very realistic guide for contemporary families. If parents wish to communicate “Put your iPad away” or “No more gaming,” they’ll find the Cree translations here.

THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE OR FROM WWW.SKBOOKS.COM