The Language Warrior’s Manifesto
How to Keep Our Languages Alive No Matter the Odds
by Anton Treuer
The Language Warrior’s Manifesto by Anton Treuer is a practical and inspiring guide to Indigenous language revitalization, written for communities, educators, activists, and families working to keep endangered languages alive.
Drawing from decades of experience with Ojibwe language revitalization and community-based language programs, Treuer outlines what actually works when the odds are stacked against a language. Rather than focusing on loss, the book offers proven strategies for language survival grounded in community action, education, immersion, and cultural continuity.
Combining personal narrative, historical context, and actionable insight, The Language Warrior’s Manifesto reframes language revitalization as a movement rooted in responsibility, resilience, and everyday practice. The book is widely used in Indigenous studies, linguistics, education, and community language programs, and speaks to anyone seeking hopeful, real-world models for sustaining living languages.
A clarion call to action, incorporating powerful stories of struggles and successes, that points the way for all who seek to preserve Indigenous languages.
Finalist, Minnesota Book Award (2021)
Selected Quotes from The Language Warrior’s Manifesto
“I was subversive, contrarian, driven, and ready to do something big and bold. I wanted to turn the whole educational system of torture on its head. I just needed to find the way.”
“Uncle Sam is never going to come walking out of the bush or over the Plains and hand you your language on a silver platter, saying, ‘Sorry about the last five hundred years.’ The world is not a fair place. Fairness is not given, it is made. So we have to engineer it ourselves.”
“In Ojibwe, the word for elder, gichi-aya’aa, literally means ‘great being.’ The word for elder woman, mindimooye, means ‘one who holds us together.’ You don’t have to say things like ‘Respect your elders’ when you’re operating in Ojibwe. Every word used to talk about elders is loaded with respect.”
“In Ojibwe, our word for truth is debwe—literally meaning ‘to speak from the heart’ or ‘heart sound.’”
“My secret to successfully learning my tribal language as a second language is the same as my secret for raising my nine children—I fell in love. Falling in love with your language is every bit as powerful a motivator. Fall in love. You’ll figure the rest out.”
“Reforming broken systems of oppression will not work. We have to build new systems of liberation.”
“There is no savior for this kind of work. There is just the work. Give it everything you have.”
“Language learning is a powerful, decolonizing, and healing act.”
Community-based Indigenous language revitalization in practice—Anton Treuer doing TPR (Total Physical Response) storytelling at Waadookodaading Ojibwe Language Institute
Who This Book Is For
Indigenous communities reclaiming and strengthening their languages
Educators and students studying language preservation and revitalization
Linguists and activists working with endangered languages
Anyone interested in Indigenous language activism, decolonization, and healing
Buy the Book
The Language Warrior’s Manifesto: How to Keep Our Languages Alive No Matter the Odds
Available in paperback, ebook, and Audible.
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