Name
Mapping Kanyen'kehá:ka Knowledge: Revitalizing Language and Landscape Through the Atlas of Kanyen'kehá:ka Space
Date & Time
Thursday, May 22, 2025, 10:15 AM - 10:30 AM
Description

The Atlas of Kanyen'kehá:ka Space is a digital mapping project that documents and revitalizes the Kanyen'kéha (Mohawk) language by preserving Indigenous place names and landscape knowledge. Led by the Mohawk Mapping Collective and supported by the Geomatics and Cartographic Research Centre at Carleton University, the project enables Kanyen'kehá:ka communities to document their own language, culture, and landscape for language revitalization. The project addresses the loss of Indigenous place names, which hold deep knowledge of the landscape. As Ingram and Horn-Miller (2024) note, language, landscape, and culture are interconnected, and this loss erodes not only language but also cultural and environmental understanding. The atlas visually represents nearly 200 locations each with associated media files, including photos, drone footage, PDFs, historical documents, audio, and videos of cultural activities and interviews. Built using the Nunaliit framework and hosted at Carleton, the atlas follows the Two Row Wampum and OCAP principles, ensuring Kanyen'kehá:ka data sovereignty. Mapping workshops engage community members and language speakers to document local knowledge, while summer camps have allowed youth to explore the land and contribute to the atlas. Youth participants report increased ability to identify plants, and initial language assessments indicate increased knowledge of Kanyen’kéha, indicating a strengthening of the relationship with both the language and the land.

Location Name
Canal (CB) 3400
Session Type
Oral Presentation
Abstract ID
326
Speaker Name
Rebekah Ingram
Speaker Organization
Carleton University
Session Name
CS134A Indigenous and Historical Cartography and Geomatics