A Student-Led Project by CoDHerS
At CoDHerS, we are exploring and learning about language revitalization and preservation through multimedia creation and collaborative practice. The studio centers Indigenous research methodologies and community-based media production, emphasizing co-creation with language holders, participatory storytelling, and ethical engagement that respects cultural knowledge. In fall 2025, working and studying on the unceded, hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓-speaking territory of the Musqueam people, we are inspired by the many ways language connects memory, identity, and place, which motivated the initiation of this project.
Between Words and Worlds emerged as part of the course FNEL 380: Technologies for Endangered Language Documentation and Revitalization, taught by Dr. Kadir this term, and reflects her commitment to community-engaged, student-led research-creation.
The project brings together the creative work of Maria Entrekin (Tlingit and Sechelt), a student in Dr. Kadir’s course FNEL 380: Technologies for Endangered Language Documentation and Revitalization, along with Sarvenaz Nurly (Uyghur), project coordinator of the CoDHerS Lab, and Berfin Ustabaş (Hemshin) and Kamila Maral (Kazakh), research assistants of the CoDHerS Lab.
With guidance and support from Dr. Kadir, the team led all aspects of filming, interviewing, and editing — each of us on our own journey of re-learning, reclaiming, and revitalizing our languages. We were inspired by project based teaching of this class and decided to pursue our own initiative in language revitalization and preservation. We brought our vision, technical skill, passion to the process—learning that revitalization is not only about words, but about relationships, responsibility, and renewal. Each and every professor introduced to us by Dr. Kadir was warm and welcoming. Their insights were incredibly helpful, and we wanted to share their wisdom and inspiring stories with a wider student audience.
This three-part video series brings together seven Indigenous and ally professors at the University of British Columbia: Dr. Glen Coulthard, Dr. Alice Te Punga Somerville, Dr. Tolulope Akinwole, Dr. Phurwa Dondrub Dolpopa, Dr. Nesrine Basheer, Dr. Tricia Logan, and Dr. Aynur Kadir. Together, they reflect on language as memory, as resistance, and as world-making.
Part 1: 🌍 “Can you introduce yourself and your language?”
Part 2: 🌳 “What does language preservation and revitalization mean to you?”
Part 3: 🗣️“Is there a word in your language that English just can’t hold?
Through intimate storytelling and multilingual reflection, Between Words and Worlds invites viewers to listen across languages — to hear how words hold histories, carry hopes, and connect communities across continents.
Along the way, we met many students and faculty at UBC who are leading their own language-based projects and community archives. Between Words and Worlds is just the beginning of a broader effort to highlight and connect these voices. We invite you to join us in expanding this project—reach out via email or Instagram to share your story or collaboration idea.
Between Words and Worlds
Part 1: 🌍 “Can you introduce yourself and your language?”
Featuring:
Dr. Glenn Coulthard (Director of the Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies)— introduces Dene, and reflects on how colonial schooling has affected its intergenerational fluency.
Dr. Alice Te Punga Somerville (Department of English Language and Literature) — introducing te reo Māori as an oceanic language connected to cousins across the Pacific.
Dr. Tolulope Akinwole (Department of English Language and Literature) — sharing Yorùbá (and some Hausa) as part of a multilingual Nigeria, weaving African literature and urban life.
Dr. Phurwa Dondrub Dolpopa (Department of Geography) — recalls his childhood in Dolpo, Nepal, speaking Tibetan dialects in the Himalaya Regions.
Dr. Nesrine Basheer (Department of Asian Studies) — explains Arabic’s many dialects, from Egyptian to Modern Standard Arabic.
Dr. Tricia Logan — reflects on learning Michif, the language of the Métis, through mentor-apprentice programs.
Dr. Aynur Kadir (Department of Asian Studies) — introduces Uyghur, her mother tongue, and speaks of reading Uyghur literature as “therapy for the soul.”
They have shown us that language is the vessel of memory and the first world we inherit.
Part 2: 🌳 “What does language preservation and revitalization mean to you?”
Dr. Glenn Coulthard emphasizes that language revitalization is important, but not the only way to contribute to the community. There are ways far beyond language such as land based struggles and struggles over self determination.
Dr. Alice Te Punga Somerville frames revitalization as healing the wounds we carry by bringing language back into homes and hearts. She views revitalization as a practical commitment to bringing the language into our homes
Dr. Tolulope Akinwole speaks of passing Yorùbá to his children so they can carry everyday words home. He views language revitalization as all the efforts we can make to reinvigorate a language.
Dr. Phurwa Dondrub Dolpopa describes it as unlearning colonial values and reconnecting with the worth of one’s own words.
Dr. Nesrine Basheer discusses efforts to revitalize Arabic using teaching methods that honor dialects alongside Standard Arabic.
Dr. Tricia Logan describes the confidence to keep speaking Michif — imperfectly but proudly — as an act of cultural balance within colonial institutions.
Dr. Aynur Kadir reminds us that community-initiated revitalization “is not about freezing language, but creating new meanings, new relationships, a new world.”
Together they remind us of revitalization as a collective healing and the creation of new futures.
Part 3: 🗣️“Is there a word in your language that English just can’t hold?
Dr. Alice Te Punga Somerville reflects on Aroha (Māori) — a love woven with compassion, kinship, and care.
Dr. Tolulope Akinwole explains Bolekaja (Yorùbá) — come, let’s fight, the name once given to public buses in Lagos, a word charged with humour, struggle, and solidarity
Dr. Phurwa Dondrub Dolpopa offers Nyingje (Tibetan) — compassion infused with wisdom, rooted in the Mahāyāna tradition.
Dr. Nesrine Basheer introduces Ghorba and Ishra (Arabic) — the deep bond built through shared experiences, a communal history that should never be broken.
Dr. Tricia Logan speaks about Otopemîsowak (Cree/Michif) — people who own themselves, expressing sovereignty, kinship, and self-governance.
Dr. Aynur Kadir shares bahar kilidu (Uyghur) — spring will come, a gentle reminder of renewal and radical hope.
Together we learned untranslatable words in every language carries worlds of feeling, relation, and law.
Why It Matters
Between Words and Worlds began as a classroom experiment in collaborative learning and became a reflection on what revitalization feels like when practiced together. Through multilingual conversation, camera work, and editing, we learned that documentation can also be ceremony: an act of listening, witnessing, and care.
The project has since inspired other UBC students to begin recording stories of their own families and communities. As CoDHerS continues to highlight language-based projects across campus, these three videos stand as the first chapter in an ongoing effort to connect voices, archives, and living languages.
Maria Entrekin
“Being able to work on this project and with the people has been a changing experience. I got to know more about the Indigenous Professors at the university and I got to know what Language Revitalization means to them. I also got to hear first hand what they are doing to preserve their language for them but also for the future generations.”
Sarvenaz Nurly
“As an Uyghur who has had to relearn my own mother tongue and continues to work on perfecting it, I found this project deeply inspiring. Hearing Indigenous professors share their efforts to revitalize their languages resonated with me personally, and it made me reflect on the importance of preserving language not just for ourselves, but for future generations.”
Berfin Ustabaş
“As someone who grew up between Armenian and Turkish cultural worlds, I’ve always been fascinated by how language holds silence and survival at once. Working on this project reminded me that revitalizing a language is not only about preserving words but also about reclaiming histories, emotions, and connections that were once unspoken.”
Kamila Maral
“As a Kazakh who speaks four languages, I can definitely relate to this project. I often find that many words in my language can’t be fully translated into English and vice versa. Through this project, I’ve come to appreciate even more how deeply languages differ and how crucial language revitalization is, especially for Indigenous communities.”
Produced by: CoDHerS × UBC Arts
Concept & Facilitation: Dr. Aynur Kadir
The project was imagined, filmed, and edited collaboratively by:
- 🎬 Maria Entrekin (Tlingit & Sechelt), student filmmaker
- 🎥 Sarvenaz Nurly (Uyghur), project coordinator at the CoDHerS
- 🎞 Berfin Ustabaş (Hemshin) and Kamila Maral (Kazakh), research assistants at CoDHerS
Filmed on: The traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) people
Follow our journey on Instagram and stay updated on the voices preserving endangered languages.