PULLMAN, WA – Tipiziwin Tolman (Sihasapa & Hunkpapȟa Lakȟota; Wičhiyena & Tizaptaŋna Dakȟota), a doctoral candidate in Washington State University’s Cultural Studies and Social Thought in Education program, has been appointed to UNESCO’s Ad-hoc Group 2 on Indigenous Language Transmission and Resilience Building, part of the Global Task Force for Making a Decade of Action for Indigenous Languages.
The group supports the United Nations’ International Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022–32), a global effort to protect, revitalize, and promote Indigenous languages as vital to cultural diversity and human rights.
Tolman, an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and a descendant of the Spirit Lake Dakota of North Dakota, conducts research at WSU on Lakota and Dakota language pedagogy, literacy, and the intergenerational teachings embedded in her great-grandparents’ winter count. She is also a certified elementary educator in Washington State.
Her appointment to the UNESCO Global Task Force showcases her leadership in community-based language revitalization, including organizing international exchanges between Dakota and Lakota language communities and Māori language experts in Aotearoa (New Zealand), developing language pedagogy and literacy lessons from her great-grandparents’ winter count teachings, and promoting a praxis of peace for indigenous language teachers in their classrooms to challenge the school-to-prison pipeline.
Our languages carry the wisdom, laws, and lifeways of our people as learned from the land and water. This work is about ensuring that future generations inherit the strength of our ancestors’ voices.
Tipiziwin Tolman, doctoral candidate
Washington State University
As part of her appointment, Tolman will participate in upcoming UNESCO meetings to help shape international strategies for Indigenous language transmission and resilience.
“I’m honored to contribute to this global effort,” said Tolman. “Our languages carry the wisdom, laws, and lifeways of our people as learned from the land and water. This work is about ensuring that future generations inherit the strength of our ancestors’ voices.”
The Secretariat of the International Decade of Indigenous Languages, Audrey-Maude Perreault, expressed enthusiasm for Tolman’s appointment:
“Tipiziwin Tolman’s expertise, experience, and commitment to advancing the objectives of the Global Action Plan of IDIL2022–2032 will make an invaluable contribution to the work of the group. We are confident that her participation will enrich the collective efforts to safeguard, support, and promote Indigenous languages worldwide.”
Tolman is from the Pretends Eagle, Yellow Lodge, and Half Skunk extended families of Standing Rock, and the Young and Longie families of Crow Hill at Spirit Lake, North Dakota. She and her husband, T Tolman, have six children and one grandchild, and make their home in the homelands of the Nimiipuu people in eastern Washington.
