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Vann Bighorse named as director of the Osage Language Department

Photo Caption: Vann Bighorse (center) sings for the handgame demonstration at the Braiding the Sacred Gathering of Traditional Corn Growers event in Pawhuska on Nov. 3, 2017. CHALENE TOEHAY-TARTSAH/Osage News

Vann Bighorse is the new Director of the Osage Nation Language Department as of Dec. 1.

As Language Director, he oversees one of the Nation’s most important cultural initiatives, saving the Osage language.

“Vann was director of our cultural department and he went to work for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. We were really glad to see him return to the Osage Nation to share his talent and experience,” said Principal Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear. “As head of the language department, I think he is the right person at the right time.”

Standing Bear said the Osage language is in a period of preservation and recovery. He told a story of when he, Bighorse and his Senior Advisor, John Williams, went to Cuba, Mo., together nearly four years ago. They were attending a meeting on proposed 30-foot statues of Osages, which later became the Osage Trail Legacy and was unveiled in September of last year. At the meeting Bighorse prayed in Osage as Cuba officials and residents listened. He said he and Bighorse talked after the meeting about the fact that the Osage language had not been uttered in Missouri for nearly 200 years until that moment when Bighorse prayed.

“He said, ‘You know chief, this language is so endangered, we’re on the last train out.’ Right then almost four years ago, the way he said it gave me the sense of urgency you have seen me display in our language preservation and recovery,” Standing Bear said. “Because we are not losing it anymore, we are gaining it.”

As Language Director, Bighorse will oversee the Pawhuska Language Department and its staff of teachers, language curriculum development, the Osage language app, the Osage language taught in the public schools, the adult Osage language classes taught in seven locations and the online Osage language website.

“From where I sit we’ve had to really drive the Osage language curriculum and classes, and drive it hard. That’s why when that position came up and he took that position, I knew we had the right person at the right time,” Standing Bear said.

Bighorse has taught at and been involved with the Osage language department since its inception in 2006. He has also served as the director for the Wah-Zha-Zhi Cultural Center and started the annual Cultural Walk and has hosted many dances and handgames.

He is well known throughout the Osage community and the larger Native American community for his singing. He is known for his Osage language abilities, knowledge of the Osage culture and is an Osage artisan. He has served as a singer on many In-Lon-Schka Dance Committees and is a former Pawhuska District Drumkeeper.


By

Shannon Shaw Duty


Original Publish Date: 2018-02-07 00:00:00

Author

  • Shannon Shaw Duty

    Title: Editor

    Email: sshaw@osagenation-nsn.gov

    Twitter: @dutyshaw

    Topic Expertise: Columnist, Culture, Community

    Languages spoken: English, Osage (intermediate), Spanish (beginner)

    Shannon Shaw Duty, Osage from the Grayhorse District, is the editor of the award-winning Osage News, the official independent media of the Osage Nation. She is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and a master’s degree in Legal Studies with an emphasis in Indigenous Peoples Law. She currently sits on the LION Publishers board of directors, the Freedom of Information Committee for the Society of Professional Journalists, and she is also a member of the Pawhuska Public Schools Board of Education. She served on the Board of Directors for the Native American Journalists Association (NAJA) from 2013-2016 and served as a board member and Chairwoman for the Pawhuska Johnson O’Malley Parent Committee from 2017-2020. She is a Chips Quinn Scholar, a former instructor for the Freedom Forum’s Native American Journalism Career Conference and the Freedom Forum’s American Indian Journalism Institute. She is a former reporter for The Santa Fe New Mexican. She is a 2012 recipient of the Native American 40 Under 40 from the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development. In 2014 she helped lead the Osage News to receive the Elias Boudinot Free Press Award. The Osage News has won Best Newspaper from the SPJ-Oklahoma Chapter in their division the past five years, 2018-2022. Her award-winning work has been published in Indian Country Today, The Washington Post, the Center for Public Integrity, NPR, the Associated Press, Tulsa World and others. She currently resides in Pawhuska, Okla., with her husband and together they share six children, two dogs and two cats.

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Shannon Shaw Duty
Shannon Shaw Dutyhttps://osagenews.org

Title: Editor

Email: sshaw@osagenation-nsn.gov

Twitter: @dutyshaw

Topic Expertise: Columnist, Culture, Community

Languages spoken: English, Osage (intermediate), Spanish (beginner)

Shannon Shaw Duty, Osage from the Grayhorse District, is the editor of the award-winning Osage News, the official independent media of the Osage Nation. She is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and a master’s degree in Legal Studies with an emphasis in Indigenous Peoples Law. She currently sits on the LION Publishers board of directors, the Freedom of Information Committee for the Society of Professional Journalists, and she is also a member of the Pawhuska Public Schools Board of Education. She served on the Board of Directors for the Native American Journalists Association (NAJA) from 2013-2016 and served as a board member and Chairwoman for the Pawhuska Johnson O’Malley Parent Committee from 2017-2020. She is a Chips Quinn Scholar, a former instructor for the Freedom Forum’s Native American Journalism Career Conference and the Freedom Forum’s American Indian Journalism Institute. She is a former reporter for The Santa Fe New Mexican. She is a 2012 recipient of the Native American 40 Under 40 from the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development. In 2014 she helped lead the Osage News to receive the Elias Boudinot Free Press Award. The Osage News has won Best Newspaper from the SPJ-Oklahoma Chapter in their division the past five years, 2018-2022. Her award-winning work has been published in Indian Country Today, The Washington Post, the Center for Public Integrity, NPR, the Associated Press, Tulsa World and others. She currently resides in Pawhuska, Okla., with her husband and together they share six children, two dogs and two cats.
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