In recognition of Native American Heritage Month, scholars and Indigenous language speakers/learners have organized an evening celebrating language preservation and revitalization.

The program, 7-8:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 2 at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History (SBMNH), is free to attend.

Presented by the Santa Barbara County Archaeological Society (SBCAS), it features a documentary titled “Chasing Voices: The Story of John Peabody Harrington,” which has regional significance.

Producer/director Daniel Golding (Quechan tribe) will introduce his 56-minute film (originally released in 2021).

“The film explores the national scope and profound impact of the work of a linguist and ethnologist who graduated from Santa Barbara High School and repeatedly returned to the area in his obsessive quest to document Native American languages,” organizers said.

During his 50-year career, John Peabody Harrington amassed well over one million pages of notes on over 100 different Native American languages, SBCAS said.

Descendants of these last speakers are now reviving their languages thanks to Harrington and the tribal elders who trusted him enough to speak.

One such descendant is James Yee, past chairman of the Barbareño Band of Chumash Indians and a UCSB linguistics Ph.D. candidate.

Yee’s aunt, the late Chumash Elder Ernestine Ygnacio-DeSoto, appears in the film, and the upcoming screening is dedicated to her memory.

Yee will give a welcoming statement before the screening in his ancestral language “alapkaswa,” the Indigenous language of the Santa Barbara region, also known as Barbareño Chumash.

After the screening, Golding and Yee will lead a panel discussion with other individuals involved in Indigenous language revitalization and answer questions from the audience. 

No tickets or reservations are required to attend this free screening and discussion.