AN INSPIRATION. The late Don Moccasin created Lakota Documentaries—and his legacy inspires those who carry on his work today. Photo by Adamson Studios

For the last 11 years Sinte Gleska University (SGU, Mission, SD) has been documenting the Lakota language in use today, preserving family stories and tribal history, and making a blueprint of the language for future generations. Called Lakota Documentaries, it is the first cultural documentation project designed and implemented by a Lakota person on the Rosebud Reservation.

The project’s creator, Don Moccasin (1948-2009), videotaped elders and others who were interested in sharing their stories. Due to Don’s outgoing personality, language ability, and involvement in the community, the stories maintain the uniqueness of Lakota voice and expression. The recordings tell stories of Sicangu Lakota individuals, families, and communities, tiyospaye (extended family) connections, childrearing practices, and individual life experiences.

Don enjoyed visiting with the elders, and he appreciated the technology that allowed him to record his language and the cultural knowledge he wanted to preserve. Lakota is an oral language; technology allows us to share the language in its oral form. Video-recordings are perfect for creating visual, interactive materials for both teaching and broadcasting.

“I started this project in 2000 because I wanted to record information on how to be Lakota,” Don Moccasin told me in 2008, when I joined his project and started seeking funding for the translation work. “I wanted to keep the histories and stories, family trees, and genealogies. I want (the children) to know who their relatives are.”

He had collected hundreds of hours of recorded material, of which about 100 hours are personal interviews. Two-thirds of the interviews are in Lakota. The rest of the collection includes community and family events, most of which are in Lakota as well. Don’s next plan was to videotape the elders and distribute copies to their families and relatives.

At that point, the project entered a new era. In addition to videotaping elders, we began digitizing the collection and translating people’s words. By transcribing recordings and then translating them into English, we have ensured that the translation is as accurate and complete as possible.

In the beginning, teams formed to assist the elder translators with technology and Lakota orthography. This practice developed into a mentor-apprentice model: The elder guides the younger person through translation, and the younger person operates the technology and learns the language. Both often find they know more than they had thought.

Gary Antoine, his mother Lavina Milk, Erin Black Feather, Myron Bone Shirt, Mary Young Bear, and Martha Moccasin enjoy working on translations together. “Our elders have a lot of knowledge of our culture and history,” says Young Bear. “I think it is a good learning process for our future generations—and also for the present generation.”

Originally, Lakota Documentaries was a program at SGU’s Sicangu Heritage Center. Due to Don’s failing health, it was moved to the Great Plains Art Institute in 2007, and since then has been an independent research project at SGU.

The project has generated language activism in the community and sparked debates on Lakota orthography and literacy, development of the Lakota language, and sociolinguistic aspects of the video narratives. It has also inspired more cultural documentation in the community and within families—and as many elders have become more familiar with technology, they have begun using it themselves.

Today, most of Don’s collection is digitized; translations are still underway. The project has received a number of academic grants, including Jacobs Research Grant (2008), American Philosophical Society (2009), and Endangered Language Fund Native Voices Grant (2010).

Dr. Jurgita Antoine is a project coordinator and linguist at Lakota Documentaries project at Sinte Gleska University. She resides on the Rosebud Reservation with her husband and daughter. “Don’s legacy is a lot more than his collection,” she says. “He was and remains an inspiration to many of us who will continue and develop the work he started.”