Developing Identity through Immersion: Dakota Language Nest

The Dakota Language Nest is a preschool where children are developing their identity through immersion in Dakota culture, traditions and language. In this episode we spend a day with the children as they practice the traditions of smudging, tobacco harvesting, singing songs and showing respect and gratitude for the natural world’s gifts. We speak with lead teacher, Katie Bendickson, about the importance of keeping the language alive, and how the language and traditions are intertwined. We also speak with Nicole Cavender, a Dakota woman whose son attends the language nest: “I wanted to give them what I didn't have and wanted, which wasn't just language, it wasn't just answers to questions, but it's really about belonging, and belonging doesn't happen without community.”

Guest

Wóokiye wiŋ | Katie Bendickson
Lead Teacher, Dakhódiapi Wahóȟpi | Dakota Language Nest
University of Minnesota Child Development Laboratory School

Wóokiye wiŋ | Katie Bendickson spent much of her young life on her mother’s reservation, Fond du Lac Reservation in northern Minnesota, before her family moved to her father’s reservation at Upper Sioux Community in southwest Minnesota.

Bendickson is Sisseton Wahpeton Dakhóta. She began learning the Dakota language in high school at Yellow Medicine Senior High, but it wasn’t until college that the language truly captivated her. It transformed her sense of identity, reshaped her worldview and helped her along her personal healing journey.

Her main teaching enthusiasm is nature-based and play-based learning for young children in the Dakota language medium.

Episode Resources

Dakota Language Nest

Truth telling: Rethinking Thanksgiving: How to speak to young children about historical and racialized trauma

MN Humanities Center - Learning from Place: Bdote