“Telling stories through stars
New York high schoolers studying the nighttime skies in their astronomy classes could soon also be learning how the Gayogohó:nǫˀ people use stars to plan ceremonies, determine planting times or just find their way home.
Through the project, funded by a NASA New York Space Grant, Cornell faculty are working with local Indigenous people to transfer Gayogohó:nǫˀ oral history about astronomy into a curriculum option for the Six Nations reservation in Canada and for New York State public schools.
“A lot of the teaching we have to do with stars tells us when to have ceremonies or helps with planting practices or direction, telling us to come home,” Henhawk said. “A lot of this teaching is on the verge of being lost because the stories were only told in Gayogohó:nǫˀ.”
A challenge for teaching Gayogohó:nǫˀ related to astronomy has always been location. Most of the members of the nation don’t live in New York anymore.
“A lot of times when we’re doing teaching about the traditions with an Oklahoma group, it’s tough because they’re looking at a different sky,” Henhawk said. “So, the stories about the stars helping us with directions are off for them.”
The public school curriculum won’t be able to go in-depth about Gayogohó:nǫˀ language and culture, but “my hope is that it will spark some interest in these kids in Gayogohó:nǫˀ and they will want to learn more,” Henhawk said.
Along with the NASA project, grants have funded:
Twice-weekly Zoom language classes taught by Henhawk, which reach students spread as far as Canada, Alaska, Oklahoma and Washington state, funded by an Engaged Cornell grant from the David M. Einhorn Center for Community Engagement and a Migrations Initiative grant;
Projects underway with the Cornell Botanic Gardens and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to add Gayogohó:nǫˀnames to their public-facing information about plants and birds; and
A new course taught by Whitman, Introduction to Language Endangerment and Revitalization, with a focus on Gayogohó:nǫˀ language.
The new initiatives – spearheaded on campus by AIISP and faculty in A&S and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences – build on efforts that brought about the creation of the GLP. It also helped spark community language classes for two years at the History Center of Tompkins County that reached 75 people, following the initiation of a Gayogohó:nǫˀ language class, Linguistics/AIISP 3342 Cayuga Language and Culture, in A&S in 2019.“
— Kathy Hovis, College of Arts and Sciences
Read more at: https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2023/10/coming-home-gayogohono-language-programs-expand-reach