The 17 (out of 21 or so) surviving indigenous languages of Taiwan are the oldest and most diverse languages in the widespread, 1200-language Austronesian family of languages.  The linguistic importance of the Taiwanese languages lies in the fact that of the ten major branches of Austronesian (Blust, 1999), nine are exclusively Taiwanese.  (These branches are…

Kmbiyax Su Hug! “Are you strong?” is the traditional greeting in the Truku language of Taiwan. Before being colonized by foreign countries, the Truku people lived in the mountains. Only strong people can survive and live in the mountains, so Truku people say hello to tribal members by asking “Kmbiyax Su Hug?” My name is…

Taiwan is a small, densely-populated (second only to Bangladesh among nations) island in the Western Pacific off the southeast coast of China, that has a significant population of Austronesian indigenous peoples. The indigenous peoples of Taiwan consist of 14 different officially recognized tribes, as well as some unrecognized tribes, totaling nearly 500,000 people. This represents…

A large and celebratory assembly of tribal leaders and community members, and University of Washington officials, students, faculty and staff gathered on October 25 to witness the groundbreaking ceremony for Wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ (“Intellectual House” in the Lushootseed language).  Intellectual House, the new longhouse-style facility on the UW campus, will serve as a learning and gathering place…

Polly Olsen, IWRI Director of Community Relations was the recipient of the UW 2013  Vice President for Minority Affairs and Vice Provost for Diversity Award for Community Building. The award recognizes a UW student, staff member, faculty member, or community organization whose efforts toward positive change on campus have resulted in multicultural community building. The…

Traditional Māori ways of childrearing taught that raising children was the responsibility of the entire community. Children were raised with gentleness and love, and encouraged to be children. In their August 20 presentation at the UW, Māori researchers Rihi Te Nana and Leonie Pihama, PhD, called upon the beloved New Zealand flax bush to symbolize…

Cynthia Pearson (Hungarian Jewish ally), PhD, is a research assistant professor in the School of Social Work at the UW.  She received her PhD in Health Services at the UW’s School of Public Health in 2006.  Trained as a sociologist and health services scientist, Dr. Pearson has a strong commitment to making healthcare widely accessible…

International Indigenous Health Research Training Program Application Dr. Karina Walters received a promising score for her National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) International Research Training Grant (T37) application titled “Mahina Project: International Indigenous Health Research Training Program.”  This 5-year training grant, requesting $1,351,600, is designed to develop the Mahina International Indigenous Health…

Bonnie Duran (mixed race Opelousas/Coushatta), Dr.PH, is an associate professor in the Department of Health Services, University of Washington School of Public Health and is also Director of the Center for Indigenous Health Research (CIHR) at the Indigenous Wellness Research Institute (IWRI, www.iwri.org). “At CIHR, our goal is to work with Tribes, Native organizations and…

On July 30, 2013, IWRI hosted Dr. Clyde McCoy (Eastern Band Cherokee) for a presentation on The Importance of Culture in Living and Learning. Clyde noted, “Growing up in the Appalachian Mountains near my ancestral home of the Cherokee, I did not have parents or relatives who had finished higher education… Even though my parents…