What’s it called?
The Tongue Unbroken
Where’s the name from?
It’s a reference to the undying nature of Native American languages.
What about it makes me wanna listen?
There are five-hundred languages that are indigenous to North America. I wanna know more about them and the people who still speak them.
Is it banter and filler or does it get right into the kaupapa?
The shows are a mix of wisdom from elders, updates on language preservation and kōrero about things that bring hope. Even though most shows are over an hour long and focus on education over entertainment they are super interesting.
Who’d be embarrassed to tweet a quote from this show?
Former US Senator Rick Santorum because European colonists who came to America “birthed a nation from nothing”.
Which Bible character would have made this?
Moses, he knew that words have the power to set people free. Literally and figuratively.
Does it make you wanna ka whawhai tonu?
This show doesn’t ignore the reality of Native American people – grief and trauma are written on every history page since colonists arrived. But hope is the focus of this show. What is beautiful and true has withstood the worst of empire and we are a better world because of it.
Bangin’ quote from the podcast
‘These language talks for too many years have been doom and gloom narratives – trauma narratives. These trauma narratives get used to create fear, to create dependence. Endangered. Extinct. But our language isn’t dying, it’s buried, and we can go and dig it back up.’
Check it out
Click here to have a listen
B.C.