Ella Cara Deloria, of the Sioux Nation, was born in 1889 on the Yankton Sioux Reservation in South Dakota. She attended Columbia Teacher’s College in New York City, where she studied education. While there, she met Franz Boas, an anthropologist—a scientist who studies human societies past and present. His research focused on Native American languages. Deloria, who was fluent in the Dakota and Lakota dialects of the Sioux language, helped Boas translate Native texts and recorded audio pronunciations.
This work inspired Deloria to devote her life to collecting information about the Sioux and their language through interviews with tribe members. After her death in 1971, her novel Waterlily was published. The book is a compilation of her work and has helped keep the history of the Sioux people alive.
Manuelito Wheeler is Diné and the director of the Navajo Nation Museum in Arizona. He also works to preserve his nation’s history and language. That’s important so people within the community can better share tribal knowledge. It’s estimated that only 170,000 people currently speak Diné, the language of the Navajo people, and that number is declining. Wheeler wondered if dubbing a popular movie in Diné could promote the language and help it survive.
Wheeler is a fan of the movie Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope. He thought it would be the perfect film to dub because so many people are already familiar with it. Wheeler’s wife Jennifer, who teaches Diné to students, and four other translators translated the script. Then Lucasfilm (the makers of Star Wars) agreed to release a version of the movie with characters speaking Diné.
In 2020, Wheeler got another movie dubbed in Diné: Disney’s Finding Nemo. Today, both films can be streamed on the Disney+ platform. “Our culture is embedded in our language,” says Wheeler. “That’s not just true for Navajo people, but for all cultures, so when a language goes away, a big part of those people’s culture goes with it.”