The Pertame Master-Apprentice Program (MAP) is an Indigenous community-led project that seeks to grow the next generation of Pertame speakers while nurturing a prosperous community through strong cultures and identities.
The Pertame MAP focusses on uplifting all generations of Pertame women and girls, creating a space for our Pertame Grandmothers to pass their knowledge, culture and responsibilities onto their daughters, grand daughter and great-grand daughters.
Pertame is a critically endangered Central Australian language. There are less than 10 fluent speakers of Pertame, all within the grandparent generation. Without serious action, Pertame language will be lost within the next generation. Pertame is an ancient and rich language, carrying 60,000+ years of history, heritage, knowledge of country and a unique perspective of the world. Speaking language has deep and enduring benefits on the mental, spiritual and physical health and wellbeing of Aboriginal women and children.
MAPs are a world-leading method of Indigenous language revival developed by Native American communities. MAPs rapidly grow new fluent speakers, through intensive oral immersion sessions with elder speakers (the master) and adult learners (apprentices). The methodology emulates how infants first acquire language naturally from their family & home environment. The Pertame MAP seeks to professionally develop three female apprentices into fluent language teachers, linguists and community leaders.
Goals of the Pertame MAP:
- 3 female apprentices are completely fluent in Pertame within 12 months
- The program provides intergenerational learning and knowledge transfer between the five generations of Pertame women
- Pertame women are brought together to grow strong community support networkds
- Our female Apprentices became community leaders and role models within their teaching positions
- Language revival supports Pertame women and girls to build strong identities to increase self-esteem and cultural pride
- The female apprentices gain work experience, skill development and new qualifications within education, language work, linguistics and use of technology. Activities:
- Immerse 3 female apprentices in Pertame for 15-20 hours a week through MAP sessions with Elder speaker and Matriarch, Christobel Swan
- Apprentices teach weekly children's classes at Bradshaw Primary, weekly community classes for Pertame mother's and run four school holiday programs for Pertame families.
- Apprentices will produce online language learning videos
- Conduct 6 on-country apprentice immersion camps
- Employ one female full-time Pertame Project officer, three part-time female apprentices and one female Elder at the Batchelor Institute
- Support three apprentices to undertake a Cert I in ATSI Language and Knowledge Work through Batchelor
- Pertame apprentices and children host information stalls and language performances Alice Springs events
Pertame young person, Vanessa Farrelly, is currently employed by the Batchelor Institute to project manage the Pertame MAP and conduct her Masters through Batchelor’s Post Graduate program to monitor and evaluate the successes, lessons and methods of the project. This Masters project will uphold Indigenous research methodologies and leadership, to ensure the voices of Pertame women are heard on our language revival journey.
The Pertame MAP will constantly seek media opportunities, and share our project experiences at relevant conferences and events. Our Project has already been featured on SBS, ABC, NITV, ICTV, NT News, Alice Springs News, Territory Q, Centralian Advocate and Borderlands. The Pertame MAP team has presented about our Pertame MAP at Batchelor Institute’s seminar series on Indigenous knowledge (which can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-gUgHnL2pk). The Pertame MAP team will also be presenting at the Knowledge Intersections Symposium 2021 hosted by Batchelor Institute, CDU and the Desert Research Institute, as well as present at the 2021 AIATSIS Summit National Indigenous Research Conference.
Additionally, The Pertame MAP has also entered into a collaboration with First Languages Australia to collate data about the Pertame Master Apprentice Program for public distribution, so that other Indigenous communities may be able gain a sufficient understanding of the program so as to replicate the activity in a way that suits their needs.
Because of existing inequities, if we fund men and women equally, women will still be unequal.
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