What We've Been Up To In 2025!
Posted June 23rd, 2025
As you may have noticed, we have not updated our site much over the past year. This is not because we've been stagnant in our work; we are doing more as a department than ever! Unfortunately, the nature of research and development is that it is a lengthy, detailed process which doesn't produce many showy progress points along the way. However, the finished product will be more than worth it in the end! Although we are a long ways off from finishing our big projects, we are hard at work on them and will continue to be for the coming months and years.
Our department's director, Mary Jacobs, has kept very busy so far this year. She has attended a number of indigenous language conferences across the Midwest, a workshop on immersive teaching methods put on by the Indigenous Language Institute, and several other language-based events. Additionally, she spent every week this past semester teaching Quapaw language classes to various age groups within the Quapaw public school system. She also developed, hosted, and taught a series of "Lunch and Learn" sessions for during the month of May which was a big hit with tribal employees. Mary also taught a Quapaw language-focused painting class for Camp Quapaw during the month of June. She also develops and writes curriculum for future language classes when time permits!
Our department's researcher, Tehya Deardorff, has been working on a multitude of long-term projects in addition to maintaining this website, working on data collection behind the scenes, and other administrative duties. However, she has had the privilege of solely working on her bigger projects over the past month or so. She is currently sifting through thousands of pages of archival materials to create a definitive, publishable edition of a Quapaw language dictionary. While the finished product is a long way out, she makes significant progress on entries each week and hopes to have a published edition out sometime next year. She also worked with a non-profit called 7000 Languages to get our department (free!) access to a virtual language learning software called Transparent Language. Once developed, this program will become available to the public so that anybody may learn Quapaw at their own pace in an online format! Additionally, Tehya continues to develop new tools (like the Quapaw virtual keyboard) and assist with curriculum creation and language classes.
As you can see, even though our department doesn't always have shiny, social media-worthy productions to show off, we are always hard at work in our community and in-office to bring Okáxpa to our tribal members. We ask for your patience in allowing us adequate time to create excellent, definitive curriculum and published works on the Quapaw language. Until next time, we thank you for your patience and hope you join us for future language classes and events!
Have you registered for the Dhegiha Language Conference? It's free for Quapaw Nation employees. Click here to fill out the online registration form! The registration deadline is July 13th, 2025.