A journey of identity and advocacy: How FPCC’s Arts Program supports the development of community-centered design in language revitalization resources.
Lydia Prince is a Dakelh/Cree designer and language advocate working on her Master of Design at Emily Carr University of Art + Design. With support from the Scholarship stream of FPCC’s Individual Artists Program, Prince’s project to design language tools led her to advocate for culturally aligned research protocols in academia.
The strong connection between First Nations languages and arts is evident in Prince’s work, which focuses on culturally appropriate design methods for language and other learning resources. She researched case studies and various approaches to language revitalization to support her creation of new Dakelh and Cree learning materials – including a mobile language app, video game and syllabics flashcards that also function as a spelling game.
Inspired by the work of Dr. Wesley Leonard (Miami Tribe of Oklahoma), Dr. Onowa McIvor (Swampy Cree) and Dr. Belinda kakiyosēw Daniels (nēhiyaw), Prince’s approach is very different when she’s designing for language reclamation than when working on other design projects.
“Designing for language reclamation means creating with the awareness of the spiritual and emotional aspects involved in learning your language. These aspects speak to the healing that takes place as you reclaim your language,” she says. “It’s more of a holistic understanding of the process.” She designs with the intention of understanding “where a person is coming from and how they’re going to be using the resource.”
The focus of her Master of Design work explored different ways to design learning resources and included testing different learning material formats with her classmates. Based on her classmates’ responses to different types of media, like flashcards and audio experiments, she says she was “looking at how [they] picked up the language. Were they engaging with it?”
Designing With Purpose
During these exercises, Prince explains she encompassed both reclamation and revitalization, knowing that people reclaiming their languages are also working through a range of deep emotions. Prince says she seeks to design “activities that are good for the spirit when you’re learning your language and creating positive associations with the language.”
One of her projects especially captures this goal: Prince designed a language blanket and stuffed toy to physically embody the language, to “be used in times of distress, anger or when a learner is feeling overwhelmed; it allows the user to be ‘wrapped’ or hugged by the language and offer comfort during the difficult times in language learning,” she explains.
Bringing awareness to language learners’ range of emotions and experiences is important to Prince because of her own experience and feelings from her language being taken from the generations that came before her. “A lot of my work comes from a place of empathy and where the person is starting their language learning journey,” she explains.
Making Change Through Design
Working in an academic setting provided the opportunity for Prince to challenge colonial approaches to design research ethics from an Indigenous perspective when working with First Nations communities. Prince’s project challenged institutional research ethics requirements so she could complete her work in a good way by prioritizing cultural safety.
At the university, Prince explains, “you have to be approved to work with community members. And that [process] proved to be a huge barrier” to her interviewing Elders. “It was kind of like a culture shock. How dare they make me go through this colonial bureaucracy just to communicate with my own relatives,” she says. “That’s not how we work, and that’s not how I wanted to approach the Elders.”
Prince challenged the approval requirements for involving research participants in her work, transforming a barrier into a new path of learning that resulted in a strengthened commitment to culturally safe research protocols for working with Indigenous communities at Emily Carr. “I could tell the ethics board were doing their best, however the typical approach was just really out of alignment with how my community works,” she says. “I’m glad I had the courage to speak up and I have to commend the staff and faculty for listening to my concerns and following through with changes to their approach that better align with the cultural protocol of Indigenous communities.”
The experience confirmed Prince’s belief in the importance of community-centred design, her values of co-creation and community empowerment, and advocating for inclusive research practices that honour Indigenous sovereignty.
“I did learn a lot while in university and had an overall great experience thanks to the support of the staff, faculty and Indigenous community at Emily Carr, but there’s still work to do in such spaces – like advocating for culturally safe research ethics processes when working with Indigenous Knowledge and communities,” Prince says.
Prince recently shared what she learned as a presenter at the Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Symposium (SILS) in June hosted by NEȾOLṈEW̱ at the University of Victoria. “I gave some practical advice to language advocates and community members on how they can design effective language learning resources for their community,” she explains.
Prince’s has some advice for those interested in applying for FPCC funding.
“Reach out to the FPCC team and talk to them, ask questions. They’ve always been so welcoming and accommodating for any sort of questions that I had. I’m sure they would be happy to point you in the right direction or connect you with someone that they feel would be helpful for whatever your goals are as an artist and/or designer.”
FPCC Individual Artists Program
The Individual Artists Program supports the artistic development of B.C. First Nations creators residing in B.C. The program supports creative practices of any medium or expression and those who have demonstrated a commitment to their artistic practice. The Individual Artists Program offers two funding options: Individual Artists and Scholarships. For more information on the program click here.
We thank Indigenous writer Odette Auger for developing this story with us.
Learn More
To view all current FPCC funding opportunities please visit our Grants page.
To view more Arts Program stories click here.
Connect with Us
To receive FPCC news and funding announcements, please sign up for our email list here.
Follow FPCC on social media for updates: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
Share Your Story!
Do you have a story about the work your community is doing to revitalize First Nations languages, heritage and arts in B.C.? We want to hear from you! Please send your story to info@fpcc.ca and check back as we post more stories about the good work being done across the province.