Mother Languages: Multigenerational Trauma, Resilience and Identity Healing

This International Center for MultiGenerational Legacies of Trauma webinar is held immediately following 21 February -- the International Day of Mother Languages that, according to UNESCO’s Director General’s Audrey Azoulay, “shape millions of developing young minds,” as it is in their mother tongue that children learn best.  Recognizing the importance of implementing multilingual education, our esteemed presenters have not only experienced the colonizing forced alienation from their mother languages but have been in the forefront of developing programs that promote intergenerational language revitalization, and the preservation of their culture and heritage for their communities.

Speakers:

Georges Eugene Fouron, PhD
Distinguished Professor of Africana Studies at Stony Brook University (SBU), Dr. Fouron is a seasoned educator with a career spanning more than four decades, having begun as a primary school teacher in 1979 and joining SBU in 1985. As a teacher, he speaks powerfully to the complexities of racial politics, calling attention to the Haitian diaspora and issues of transnationalism.

Stanley Ralph Rodriguez, PhD
From the Santa Ysabel Band of the Iipay Nation, a U.S. Navy Desert Storm Veteran, and California Indian Heritage Commissioner, Dr. Rodriguez is Director and faculty of Kumeyaay Community College. He teaches at Cuyamaca Community College and California State University San Marcos. Dedicated to educating indigenous communities about Kumeyaay history, culture, and language, his passion to revitalize Kumeyaay language and culture inspires his students to carry on their Kumeyaay traditions.

Aurelio Agcaoili, PhD
Associate Professor at University of Hawaii - Manoa in the Department of Indo-Pacific Languages & Literature, where he coordinated the Ilokano Language, Culture, and Literature Program for years, Professor Agcaoili founded NAKEM Conferences in 2006 - an international consortium of language, culture, and education advocates. The consortium has been at the forefront of pursuing language justice, cultural democracy, and liberatory education. His publications are written in his three languages. 

Kaimana Barcarse
An educator in the ʻĀina Pauahi Group at Kamehameha Schools focusing on capacity and well-being of kanaka Hawaiʻi through a healthy community ecosystem with ʻĀina, Education and Culture, Kaimana is Hawaiʻi State Board of Education’s Vice-Chair and DJ/producer on KWXX-FM’s Hawaiian language radio program "Alana I Kai Hikina". He is a deep-sea voyager captain and educator in diverse disciplines - Voyaging & Navigation, Ethno-zoology, indigenous media, and beyond. 

Moderator:

Dr. Yael Danieli
A Clinical psychologist, traumatologist, victimologist and psychohistorian, Dr. Danieli is Founder and Executive Director of the International Center for the study, prevention and treatment of MultiGenerational Legacies of Trauma; Director, Group Project for Holocaust Survivors and their Children and Past-President, International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies.