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Wukchumni Tribe

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Everyone has an origin to their life story—one that is part of their innate identity. To Marie Wilcox, it is her Native American heritage: a foundation extending from generations of people, tradition, as well as unique styles of communication that form a cultural identity. “Marie’s Dictionary,” a short documentary directed by Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee, explores the theme of perseverance through the story of one woman’s passionate purpose to preserve her tribe’s language from becoming extinct by creating the first ever Wukchumni dictionary. With the goal to revive appreciation for the art of Native American languages, the documentary focuses on Marie Wilcox, the last fluent speaker of the Wukchumni language, and her passion to save it from extinction. The film’s director, Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee, first met Ms. Wilcox through the Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival. In a short article by the New York Times, Vaughn-Lee provides some background to the Wukchumni tribe. According to the director, the tribe resides in San Joaquin Valley, California, and is part of the Yokuts tribal group, but is not recognized by the federal government. …show more content…
Being the only living fluent speaker of the Wukchumni left, Marie Wilcox originally began putting together a dictionary for her personal use, but later realized that she was creating something far too important to keep to herself. She shares this realization in the film, and the sadness is evident on Marie's face and in her voice when she says that no one else seems to want to learn the language, and that she is the only fluent speaker left. So as a result, Marie has been working on creating the first Wukchumni dictionary for the past seven to eight years. Marie's daughter, Jennifer, has made it her goal to archive all of her mother's work with the hope that future generations can access it

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