This week, we hear about how the box-office hit, Star Wars: A New Hope returns to the big screen in one of Minnesota’s Indigenous languages.
Transcript
ANNOUNCER MARIE ROCK: This is Minnesota Native News, I'm Marie Rock. This week, we hear about how the box-office hit, Star Wars: A New Hope returns to the big screen in one of Minnesota’s Indigenous languages.
DEANNA STANDINGCLOUD:
(Star Wars Trailer Theme)
The Star Wars films have become a symbolic part of everyday life with their renowned characters, extensive media impact, abundant merchandise, and decades of a dedicated fan base from all walks of life. The Star Wars legacy we are all familiar with is getting a facelift from Anishinaabe language warriors. The same film since 1977, but in the Ojibwe language. Cary Miller, an Associate Professor for the Department of Indigenous Studies at the University of Manitoba and with family from Saint Croix Ojibwe and Leech Lake Ojibwe nations, served as the Project Manager for the audio production. She says this project connects the Ojibwe language to everyday life.
CARY MILLER:
Our kids watch Star Wars, they play Star Wars. Whether it’s with their action figures or their friends. When we bring language into that, then they’ll bring language into that play. And it’s both normalizing it, but it’s making sure that it’s in the places and spaces where our children are.
STANDINGCLOUD:
Efforts to revitalize the Ojibwe language in Minnesota continue, but it remains endangered. The most recent data from 2011 estimated that there were about 678 first-language speakers, predominantly over age 70. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many speakers have been lost, and more up-to-date studies are yet to be conducted. The Midwest Indigenous Immersion Network now projects only 60 first-language Ojibwe speakers in Minnesota. The Ojibwe-dubbed film, "Star Wars: A New Hope," aims to spark interest in new learners.
Audio: (Help Me Obi Wan Kenobi in Anishinaabemowin)
Dustin Morrow, Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Ojibwe member and voice actor for Obi-Wan Kenobi, shares his passion as a linguistics graduate from the University of Minnesota.
DUSTIN MORROW:
I’ve been learning the language I would like to say it’s kind of a like a lifelong endeavor…..….that’s where my heart is, that’s where my passion is, my language and culture is always where I felt more at home.
STANDINGCLOUD
Indigenous community members, including an intergenerational team with award-winning Ojibwe language impact leader in Canada, Patricia Ningwewance, led the project. She is joined by her son, Maeengan Linklater, Director of Operations with the Dakota Ojibwe Tribal Council, and her grandson, Aandeg Muldrew, who also holds his Master’s in Linguistics and voices the character for Luke Skywalker. All played a prominent role in bringing the project to the big screens.
MILLER:
She has worked across a lot of different dialects herself. But the Star Wars galaxy is full of people from many planets who have many dialects. We have different dialects.
(Ojibwe Language clip from Anangong Miigaading)
STANDINGCLOUD:
Those working on this project are devoted to revitalizing the Ojibwe language for future generations. Dustin Morrow says it is an innovative means to restore the Ojibwe language and reignite a passion for learning.
MORROW: (Timestamp 24:05)
We rely on our elders and all these ones that came before us and all this intergenerational knowledge to carry us through and help us survive as Anishinaabe people. In our own language, that just really feeds the fire for rekindling what was stolen from us.
(Trailer Clip: “…To bring the language back out into the world”
STANDINGCLOUD:
Anangong Miigaading, or Star Wars: A New Hope in Ojibwe, is now playing at Marcus Theaters in Minnesota, including in Duluth, Oakdale, St. Cloud, and Shakopee. The film will also be accessible on Disney+ by this winter. For Minnesota Native News, I’m Deanna StandingCloud.