Addressing historical trauma and healing in Indigenous language cultivation and revitalization

Abstract This paper demonstrates that historical trauma, healing, and wellbeing require attention in Indigenous language cultivation and revitalization. While historical trauma affects Indigenous peoples across the spectrum of language knowledge and use, little is written about the ways it can be addressed in the teaching, learning, and development—the cultivation—of Indigenous languages. For Indigenous language educators, how we address historical trauma in our language cultivation may be one of the most critical factors affecting our potential to cultivate the wellness we seek, and new generations of speakers of our languages. Drawing on a Diné (Navajo) lens and voices from other Indigenous communities, this article focuses on historical trauma, healing, and wellbeing as important considerations in Indigenous language cultivation and revitalization, to which applied linguists, Indigenous peoples, and others interested in Indigenous language revitalization and Indigenous wellbeing should pay attention. It argues that many of the most appropriate approaches can and will come from within our own Indigenous ways of knowing and healing, and that sharing more work of this kind can strengthen cultivation and revitalization efforts. It provides recommendations for applied linguistics and allied fields, educational, governmental and other resource holders, and Indigenous communities, programs, language cultivators and revitalizers.