Rokeby Elementary School, 2001
UNL Office of Research, 2008
Rockeby Elementary School, 2001
Dr. Mark Awakuni-Swetland
Ph.D. (Anthropology) University of Oklahoma, 2003
Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Ethnic Studies (Native American Studies)
Office: 841 Oldfather Hall
Email: mawakuni-swetland2@unl.edu
Phone: (402) 472-3455
Fax: (402) 472-9642
Subfields:
Cultural Anthropology
Anthropological Linguistics
Primary Research Interests:
Indigenous Peoples: Prairie/Plains, California, & Hawaii, ethnohistory, oral history sociolinguistics, Native language ideology, Dhegiha languages with a focus on the Omaha language
Educational Background:
Ph.D. (Anthropology) University of Oklahoma, 2003
M.A. (Anthropology) University of Nebraska, 1996
B.A. (Anthropology, History, Great Plains Studies) University of Nebraska, 1994
Recent and Representative Research Activities:
Omaha and Ponca Digital Dictionary Project
Awakuni-Swetland and colleagues are creating a comprehensive Omaha and Ponca digital dictionary, which will be available online for native communities, students, researchers and the public. A $348,800 NEH grant funds this work through a joint NEH-National Science Foundation-Smithsonian Institution "Documenting Endangered Languages" initiative. It's also a "We the People" project, a special NEH recognition for model projects advancing the study, teaching and understanding of American history and culture.
This project will make it easier to teach, preserve and revive the language. Originally a united group, the Omaha and the Ponca became distinct political and historic entities long ago. Today, only a few dozen elders in Nebraska and Oklahoma speak Omaha and Ponca as their first language. This project will provide extensive information on the language and will be far more robust and usable than existing resources.
We are going to dust off a historically and linguistically important collection of Omaha and Ponca language. Twenty years ago at the Smithsonian's National Anthropological Archives, I microfilmed the field notes and unpublished lexicon of James Owen Dorsey, a 19th century ethnographer and linguist. The dictionary will include Dorsey's 20,000 handwritten slips -- each containing an Omaha word, most with an English translation. Words will be transcribed into modern spelling systems, and linguists and native speakers will add grammatical information and cultural notes. Many of Dorsey's slips include sample sentences in Omaha that describe how the Omaha were living in the 1870s-1890s. It's a treasure of both language and Omaha history
Omaha Language Text Book Project
Awakuni-Swetland, Mark, et al. Omaha Language and Culture Textbook. Collaborative first year Omaha language textbook with Umonhon Nation Public School, Umonhon Language and Culture Center. Under contract with University of Nebraska Press. NOTE: As of 2/2009, the completed manuscript is under final review for Omaha language content by elder native speakers of the Umonhon Language and Culture Center at Umonhon Nation Public School, Macy, Nebraska.
On-Line Omaha Language Resource
http://omahalanguage.unl.edu An Omaha language resource with bilingual materials (audio and text), list of Omaha personal clan names, Omaha ethno-botanical list, and gallery of material culture images. Creation of the site was initially funded in part by a UNL Initiative for Teaching and Learning Excellence grant. It is supported by the UNL Center for Digital Research in the Humanities.
The site is used regularly by the UNL Omaha language students, the Omaha tribal community, tribal language programs and members from linguistically related languages (Kaw, Osage, Ponca, and Osage), and linguists/scholars of the Siouan languages. Site content continues to be modified and expanded.
Book
2008 Awakuni-Swetland, Mark. Dance Lodges of the Omaha People: Building from Memory (senior honors thesis originally published 2001 in the Routledge Press monograph series), with a foreword by Roger Welsch and new chapter on dance lodge research throughout the Great Plains region since 2001, 200 pages. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Article
2008 Awakuni-Swetland, Mark, and Rory M. Larson. Umónhon Ié the - Umónhon Úshkon the, the Omaha Language - the Omaha Way: Omaha Language and Culture Textbook Progress Report. The Proceedings of the 2007 Mid-America Linguistics Conference, online volume of the Kansas Working Papers in Linguistics, Vol. 30.
2008 Awakuni-Swetland, Mark J. "Make-Believe White-Men" and the Omaha Land Allotments of 1871-1900. Great Plains Research 1994, Vol. 4, number 2, mounted to the UNL Digital Commons.
Booklet: Student Co-authored
Peer Reviewed by Omaha Elder Speakers
2008 Awakuni-Swetland, Mark, writer/editor/illustrator. Wab´snide, Omaha Corn Pancakes. Illustrated bilingual instructions for cooking a traditional corn dish, 50 pages. Department of Anthropology/Native American Studies: UNL Omaha language class.
2007 Awakuni-Swetland, Mark, writer/editor. Umónhon Tí Ukéthin, The Common Omaha House. Illustrated bilingual instructions for assembling a tipi, 30 pages. Department of Anthropology/Native American Studies: UNL Omaha language class.
Foundational Research
1991. Umónhon Iye of Elizabeth Stabler, With an Omaha to English Lexicon. Macy, NE: John Mangan Printing.
Recent Courses Taught at UNL:
Omaha I (ANTH/ETHN 104A)
Omaha II (ANTH/ETHN 105A)
Omaha Accelerated 2nd Year (ANTH/ETHN 210A
Introduction to Anthropology (ANTH 110)
Anthropology of the Great Plains (ANTH 130)
Indigenous Peoples of North America (ANTH/ETHN 351)
Indigenous Garden, 2005 and 2008. A summer-long hands-on exploration of gardening practices of indigenous peoples of the Great Plains by planting, maintaining, and processing heritage varieties of corn, beans, squashes, and other cultigens.
