Opinion: Revitalizing a voice of the land

A narrative of genocide and displacement: that’s the first — and until recently, only — story that most people hear about the inhabitants of the lands surrounding Cayuga Lake prior to European colonization. Knowledge about the Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ (pronounced “guy-oh-KHOH-no”, and also known as “Cayuga”) people who lived in this region for thousands of years is too often summarized by roadside “historical” markers that catalog a few days of the scorched-earth campaign of Washington’s troops in late September of 1779, as they burned villages and crops in their attempt to drive out Indigenous people.

Carrying few physical items other than treasured seeds, and holding tight to their language and traditions, Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ families fled to Ohio, Canada, and western New York; later, some moved to the Oklahoma territories. Facing starvation and a bitterly cold winter ahead, many lost their lives during the initial exodus.

This tragedy, however, along with the continuing trauma of diaspora and disenfranchisement, is not an endpoint in the story of the Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ people, although the simplified road signs might make you assume this is the case.

Descendants of these courageous and resilient people have survived, and with them, so have cultural identity, language, and foodways. The Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ people and their language are richly tied to the landscape from which they sprang, here in what we know as the Finger Lakes region. Embedded in this language structure itself are profound lessons about relationships with the natural world, and guidance for responsible and gratitude-filled stewardship of our environment.

Alarmingly, Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ language is now designated as critically endangered by UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Fewer than a dozen people survive today whose first language is Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ — and only one lives in the traditional Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ homelands in New York State. Nonetheless, many more are now learning to speak Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ and are working towards its revitalization and spread.

The Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ Learning Project is a fiscally-sponsored project of the Center for Transformative Action, based in Ithaca. The Project offers place-based Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ culture and language classes taught by a first-language speaker. Year-round classes are offered virtually to reach the Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ diaspora throughout the U.S. and Canada, and are also presented locally to familiarize non-Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ people with the language and perspectives of the First Peoples of this land.

Fees from locally-presented classes help support the Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ Learning Project’s main mission: to support Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ language revitalization efforts that are rooted in ancestral Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ lands and to serve as a politically neutral meeting point for Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ people wanting to learn more about their language, culture and ancestral lands.

People and culture thrive when language and connection to place stay alive. Remember that highway historical markers only tell the stories of those who erected the signs.

Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ culture and language persist right here in the Finger Lakes Region, through language study, perspective, and in relationship with the landscape.

For more information about attending Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ culture and language classes or becoming a part of the Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ Learning Project’s crucial language revitalization efforts, visit gayogohono-learning-project.org. The next session of local in-person classes starts September 28.