Research in the Teaching of English Nov 2025

Native Youth Re-Learning Their Language to Story the Future Examining Indigenous Language Revitalization, Relationality, and Temporalities

Robert Petrone University of Missouri ; Adrianna González Ybarra The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley ; Nicholas Rink The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

Abstract

This article reports the findings of a long-term qualitative study that examines the experiences and perspectives of Native youth re-learning their tribal community’s language. Situated within notions of Indigenous relationality, “identity resources” from the learning sciences, and Indigenous futurisms, findings reveal that, through learning their ancestral language, Native youth: (a) develop a deeper sense of their cultural identity, (b) imagine new linguistic futures and possibilities for their tribal community, and (c) recognize ways they, themselves, can become contributors to the cultural continuance of their tribal community. Set against the backdrop of structural settler colonialism and ongoing apocalypse within what is currently known as the “United States,” this research demonstrates the ways language revitalization operates as an anti-colonial act of rupture to settler colonialism’s ongoing attack on Indigenous Peoples, as well as an Indigenous-centric act of healing and self-determination .

Journal
Research in the Teaching of English
Published
2025-11-01
DOI
10.58680/rte2025602143
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Topics
decolonial rhetorics qualitative research editorial matter
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