Language, Identity, and Power: Navajo and Pueblo Young Adults' Perspectives and Experiences with Competing Language Ideologies

Abstract

Native American languages, contemporary youth identity, and powerful messages from mainstream society and Native communities create complex interactions that require deconstruction for the benefit of Native-language revitalization. This study showed how Native youth negotiate mixed messages such as the necessity of Indigenous languages for cultural continuity and a belief in the superiority of English for success in American society. Interviews and reflective writing from Navajo and Pueblo youth constituted the counter-narratives that expressed the youth's concerns, values, frustrations, celebrations, and dilemmas with regard to their heritage language and identity. The youth perspectives extended across 5 thematic areas: respect, stigmatization and shame, marginalization, impact on identity, and agency and intervention. These counter-narratives demonstrate that the Indigenous language plays an important and complex role in contemporary youth identity. Yet, their Indigenous consciousness was not diminished by limited fluency in their heritage language—an important finding for inspiring a commitment to language revitalization.