Indigenous Community-Led Language Technology for Cultural Vitality

This research examines how language technologies can be designed to support Indigenous cultural vitality by centering Mvskoke knowledge systems, relationality, and community leadership. While language technologies are often proposed as tools for revitalization, they are typically grounded in Western assumptions about language as text-centric, individual, and able to be separated from context. In contrast, Mvskoke language and knowledge are transmitted through relational, multimodal, and culturally situated practices, including oral, performative, and embodied forms. This project adopts a community-engaged, Indigenous-led design approach that positions Mvskoke community members as knowledge holders and co-designers of technology. The methodology for this study builds on a Mvskoke framework for futurity. It begins with listening to community stories to surface values and priorities, followed by group workshops where community members collaboratively imagine technologies aligned with those values. Emerging ideas are developed into small prototypes and introduced into the community, where their use (or “misuse”) offers insight into what kinds of tools best support knowledge production and cultural flourishing. The study includes ongoing analysis of the risks, benefits, and sustainability of these technologies. Throughout, the process is prioritized over the final product, with the concluding reflection focused on the design process as a whole.