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Chasing Voices: The Story of John Peabody Harrington poster

Chasing Voices: The Story of John Peabody Harrington

Film202157 min

Directed by Daniel Golding

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The Story of John Peabody Harrington

For 50 years, controversial ethnographer John Peabody Harrington crisscrossed the United States, frantically searching and documenting dying Native American languages. Harrington amassed over a million pages of notes on over 150 different tribal languages. Some of these languages were considered dead until his notes were discovered. Today tribes are accessing the notes, reviving their once dormant languages, and bringing together a new generation of language learners in the hope of saving Native languages.Read moreLess

For 50 years, controversial ethnographer John Peabody Harrington crisscrossed the United States, frantically searching and documenting dying Native American languages. Harrington amassed over a million pages of notes on over 150 different tribal languages. Some of these languages were considered dead until his notes were discovered. Today tribes are accessing the notes, reviving their once dormant languages, and bringing together a new generation of language learners in the hope of saving Native languages.

The story

For 50 years, controversial ethnographer John Peabody Harrington crisscrossed the United States, frantically searching and documenting dying Native American languages. Harrington amassed over a million pages of notes on over 150 different tribal languages. Some of these languages were considered dead until his notes were discovered. Today tribes are accessing the notes, reviving their once dormant languages, and bringing together a new generation of language learners in the hope of saving Native languages.

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Cast & crew

Jack Marr
Jack Marr
Self - John P. Harrington's assistant
Kathryn Klar
Kathryn Klar
Self - Harrington biographer, UC Berkeley
Ernestine DeSoto
Ernestine DeSoto
Self - Barbareño Chumash, daughter of last native speaker
David Oechsner
David Oechsner
Self - Fort Mojave Tribe
Leanne Hinton
Leanne Hinton
Self - Prof Emeritus of Linguistics UC Berkeley
Nora McDowell
Nora McDowell
Self - Fort Mojave Tribe
Nakia Zavala
Nakia Zavala
Self - Santa Ynez Band of Chumash
Frank Dominguez
Frank Dominguez
Self - Santa Ynez Band of Chumash
Kathleen Marshall
Kathleen Marshall
Self - Santa Ynez Band of Chumash
Carmen Sandoval
Carmen Sandoval
Self - Santa Ynez Band of Chumash
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