Victoria Aboriginal Language Health Check
Victorian Aboriginal Corporation of Languages (VACL)
Project lead: Dr Vicki Couzens (Researcher)
2023
Project Summary:
This project aims to better understand the status of Aboriginal languages and how the Mother Tongue can be maintained and revitalised using the Indigenous methodological approach of Ways of Knowing, Being and Doing through the Indigenous pedagogies of Yarning and Storying in the community. This is proposed through a series of ‘Campfire’ yarns (on-Country and online) with language communities across Victoria. The research is Indigenous led, seeking to reveal the ways in which language revitalisation serves as a binding tool for interconnectedness, belonging, and how this empowers communities to further participate in society, exercise agency and create synergies towards our notions of self-determination.
“Our research focuses on Language Revitalization, fundamental for the health and well-being of our mob. Lowitja Institute has made a difference to our long term experience working in the area of Language Revitalization. With their support, we been able to do this research in our own terms and further implement our ‘fire camp’ methodology which is a holistic approach to get together and work towards our aims. Languages are diverse and so are the interests in doing Language revitalization.”
– Dr Vicki Couzens, Researcher and Project Lead
