Our Vision
About Us
We are a partnership of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people working to promote awareness and practice of the Gayogohó:nǫˀ (Cayuga) language in its ancestral homeland and beyond. We hope to carry the idea of sgę́:nǫˀ gó:wah into our work, cultivating peace and cooperation through education and community outreach.
The Gayogohó:nǫˀ Learning Project is a fiscally sponsored project of the Center for Transformative Action (CTA). CTA, an educational 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, is legally and financially responsible for all our project activities.
Our Project
The Gayogohó:nǫˀ Learning Project seeks to complement and amplify existing Gayogohó:nǫˀ (Cayuga) language revitalization efforts from within Gayogohó:nǫˀ ancestral lands by supporting educational programs, providing access to language resources, and increasing opportunities to hear and see the Gayogohó:nǫˀ language in public spaces. Through this work of tangibly teaching and using the Gayogohó:nǫˀ language in the place it developed, and by creating opportunities for dialogue around difficult topics such as colonization, we hope to increase understanding of the history and current status of Gayogohó:nǫˀ people, language, and culture. A key part of our work lies in providing support for Gayogohó:nǫˀ people and others working to revitalize the Gayogohó:nǫˀ language. Through our work we hope to both explore and spread awareness of ways in which Gayogohó:nǫˀ and other Hodinǫhsǫ:nih languages and cultures are connected to the land of the Finger Lakes and explore ways in which all people might cultivate healthy relationships with the land.
Our Vision
Through education and outreach activities based out of Onǫdi:yo:geh (Ithaca, NY area), we aim to ensure that:
The critically endangered Gayogohó:nǫˀ language is revitalized to be heard and spoken locally and throughout North America.
Gayogohó:nǫˀ people are able to speak their history in their own voices.
A productive dialogue grows between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people through exploration of the connections between land, culture, and language.
The Gayogohó:nǫˀ language has a renewed presence in its ancestral lands.
A network of supportive relationships develops with like-minded organizations undertaking similar or complementary language revitalization work.
Who We Are
Stephen Henhawk, Language Teacher
Gayogohó:nǫˀ, otahyǫ́:ni: (Wolf clan). Historian and first-language speaker. Stephen grew up in a traditional Gayogohó:nǫˀ household at Oswé:gęˀ (Six Nations of the Grand River reserve in Canada). Stephen is our language teacher, historian, and conveyer of the inspiration behind the Gayogohó:nǫˀ Learning Project. The inspiration itself comes from the wisdom and strength of all Gayogohó:nǫˀ people who came before who maintained language and culture and ties to the land against much adversity.
Michelle Seneca, Project Leader
Gayogohó:nǫˀ, ganyáhdę: (Turtle clan). Michelle grew up on the Seneca Cattaraugus reservation in Western New York and lived for a number of years in the Gayogohó:nǫˀ community at the north end of Cayuga Lake. She currently resides in Ithaca. Michelle holds our whole project together.
Sarah Buffett, Project Manager
Cree-Métis from the border of Treaty 4 and Treaty 6 territory in Saskatchewan, Canada. Sarah’s experience of growing up lacking cultural traditions and community of her own has guided her toward supporting Indigenous communities to reconnect with their roots and one another. She brings over a decade of community-engaged research, non-profit organizational development, community capacity building, food systems revitalization, and cultural fluency education to our project. Having recently relocated as an uninvited guest to Gayogohó:nǫˀ territory, her highest value is in supporting the people of this place.
Jim Wikel, Advisory Board Member
Sgę́:noˀ Swagwé:gǫhˀ (Greetings/Peace All of You). Jim Wikel ni gya:soh (I am called). I am from Onǫdowáˀga:ˀ Gayogo̲hó:nǫˀ neh:ni Gahnawiyóˀgeh (Seneca-Cayuga Nation of Oklahoma). I currently reside in Salem, OR. I began learning language in 2015 in Oklahoma. As a person in recovery, I found that language and culture was the missing piece of my identity. I have worked in the behavioral health/addiction field since 2008. Working with Native clients I encourage them to learn their own languages. Recovery means getting back something you thought was lost. Ogwa:węh means "It belongs to us." I am reclaiming what belongs to us.
Adrianna Hirtler, Advisory Board Member
Adrianna was born and raised on Gayogohó:nǫˀ lands, of Latvian/Slovenian/German heritage. She is the biomonitoring coordinator for the Community Science Institute and a nature/culture interpreter. Adrianna is a lover of water, trees, plants, rocks, animals, dirt, winds, thunder, and language of the land that she calls home.
Noah Mark, Advisory Board Member
Noah been a student of Gayogohó:nǫˀ nigawęnóˀdęˀ since June 2021. The mission of the Gayogohó:nǫˀ Learning Project resonates with him as someone who was born and raised on traditionally held Hodinǫhsǫ́:nih lands and as a descendant of Japanese immigrants who underwent intergenerational loss of language and culture. His past work experience includes grassroots organizing and fundraising on environmental issues and sexual assault prevention, vegetable farming, and research on emerging contaminants. Currently, he serves as technical director of a citizen science-based nonprofit called the Community Science Institute.
Risa Mark, Advisory Board Member
Risa immigrated to Ithaca from Japan and started learning about Gayogohó:nǫˀ language and culture in June 2021. Risa has always worked in the health sciences field: as a pharmacy technician, pharmacist and researcher (strong interest in sleep research). Living abroad, she realizes that language and culture play a very strong role in her identity and this has motivated her to join the working group. She is also interested in medicinal use of native plants.
Josephine Martell, Advisory Board Member
Josephine is the associate dean of academics at the Cornell University Graduate School and a social scientist who studies how communication strategies can influence human behavior to promote equitable outcomes and policy for marginalized communities and wildlife. She has more than twenty years of experience in public policy, research, advocacy, and grant writing. Josephine has lived with her family on Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ lands since 2012.
Karen Melamed Smith, Advisory Board Member
Karen has lived on Gayogohó:nǫˀ land for forty years. With a background in music, philosophy and education, she served as the education director of the Community School of Music and Arts (CSMA) from 1998-2018 and continues to teach piano and to perform with Music’s Recreation. Of Eastern European Jewish heritage, she has always wondered about the interrelationships of heredity, culture and place and feels honored to learn and support the language that is rooted here.