The Language Warrior's Manifesto: How to Keep Our Languages Alive No Matter the Odds by Anton Treuer (review)

"Language loss is self-perpetuating. All that's necessary for most languages to die is for us to do too little or nothing" (p. 44), writes Anton Treuer, in what is perhaps his most personal book to date. Equal parts motivational self-help guide for language workers and gripping narrative of his own language-learning journey to reclaim Ojibwe, the title of Treuer's monograph is well-chosen. The book does exactly what it says it will do on the cover.

Lucid and refreshingly free of footnotes and jargon, Treuer opens the book by situating language as integral to all aspects of culture and well-being. The first chapter answers many of the implicit and prejudiced questions that continue to be asked about the value of Indigenous languages in the modern world. In the following chapters, Treuer goes on to identify the many challenges to successful language revitalization and outlines his own journey into this work. Finally, in a colossal ninety-page chapter, Treuer widens the frame to discuss effective strategies for community-based language reclamation in North America and beyond. The structure of the book is part of its message, a convincing narrative arc from why we should care to what we can do about it and how we can do it.

After decades of work and thousands of miles driving back and forth between elders and cultural gatherings, Treuer is proud to describe himself as a fluent speaker of Ojibwe. This is no small achievement, all the more noteworthy because the author did not grow up with the language: he and his mother's family were severed from it through the compounded violence of colonization and dispossession (cf. Pine and Turin 2017). "Language revitalization is nothing short of a pathway to liberation. When we shake off the yoke of colonization, we no longer have to be defined by that history. We don't become decolonized. We become liberated–unconquered" (p. 168), writes Treuer, in a particularly powerful section in this memorable book. Now an accomplished professor at Bemidji State University in Minnesota and the author of nineteen books, Treuer has spent much of his career reclaiming Ojibwe–his linguistic birthright.

Treuer's story, while not unique, is both motivational and grounded. He takes the time to recognize others, naming and uplifting all of his teachers, past and present. While noting the important "upswell" (p. 4) in language work elsewhere, Treuer also does not shy away from hard facts. There are no quick fixes, and no silver bullets to bringing a language back: language revitalization requires focus, commitment, dedication, consultation, and years of hard work. "We cannot wish our languages back to health. We cannot teach them if we don't first learn them. We cannot lead in their revitalization from the sidelines," he writes (p. 12). In this, Treuer is very much in the Darryl Kipp school of language revitalization that encourages "activists to show rather than tell the importance of language" (p. 167). The late and greatly missed Darryl Kipp–whom Treuer acknowledges and references–was a Blackfoot language teacher and served as founding director of the Piegan Institute. His unvarnished descriptions of the dual complexity and urgency of language revitalization continue to have great currency in the field.

Treuer is a deep well of good counsel and pedagogically informed positions for those looking to develop successful language programs. On financing, a perpetual struggle for many Indigenous language programs, Treuer soberly reminds us that "people fund strength, not need" (p. 152). Retransmission is key to success: "take everything you learn and teach it to at least four other people" (p. 116). While monolingual and immersive language learning opportunities can create new speakers, Treuer is dismissive of bilingual programming, noting that everyone "knows English too well. It's like pouring dye into a pitcher of water. You just can't get it...