On this page, you can find interviews, video clips, and press releases about some of David's projects. Also check out the "Appearances" page for more videos and announcements of public talks.
Recently, a news story and video were made about David's course on meditation at UCLA. You can see the video HERE, and read the article HERE.
Indian Country Today Media Network published a nice overview of David's Wiki for Indigenous Languages. From the article: “Language is everything—Native culture and vitality are linked to language,” he told ICTMN, noting how important language revitalization is. “Youth are engaging digital technologies and elders have language knowledge.” You can read the article HERE.
Exclusive Museum Anthropology Blog Interview with David Delgado Shorter, Professor in the Department of World Arts and Culture, University of California - Los Angeles.
This interview is the fifth installment in the series, Museum Anthropology Leaders, where blog intern Lillia McEnaney will be interviewing various anthropological museum professionals. This interview is very different than the rest, for Dr. Shorter is the first interviewee who is not a classical museum anthropologist. To read the interview, just click HERE for Part One of the Interview or HERE for Part Two.
Dr. David Shorter awarded UCLA's Distinguished Teaching Award for 2013-2014
The goal of the UCLA Academic Senate Teaching Award is to increase awareness of UCLA's leadership in teaching and public service by honoring individuals who bring respect and admiration to the scholarship of teaching. By recognizing teachers for their achievements, the award gives parents, donors and others what makes UCLA "a beacon of excellence in higher education." These awards are an effective way to boost morale on campus and provide role models for faculty and students. Each award recipient is interviewed about their teaching methods. These interviews are then edited and shown at the Night To Honor Teaching at the Chancellor's residence where the recipients are presented with their awards. Check out Dr. Shorter's edited interview answer below!
Dr. Shorter Offers New Class this Fall on "Why We Hallucinate"
From the Daily Bruin article:
"David Shorter realized more research needed to be done on hallucinogenic plants when he befriended the Yoeme tribe in Mexico in the early 1990s. The Yoeme people were previously known for their use of the plants, but after meeting members of the tribe first hand Shorter realized that this description was incorrect – they didn’t use the plants at all. Shorter said this misconception inspired him to continue his studies on the topic to ensure the Western world was better informed about use of hallucinogenic plants."
Read more on the Daily Bruin.
"David Shorter realized more research needed to be done on hallucinogenic plants when he befriended the Yoeme tribe in Mexico in the early 1990s. The Yoeme people were previously known for their use of the plants, but after meeting members of the tribe first hand Shorter realized that this description was incorrect – they didn’t use the plants at all. Shorter said this misconception inspired him to continue his studies on the topic to ensure the Western world was better informed about use of hallucinogenic plants."
Read more on the Daily Bruin.
UCLA Professor Receives Grant for Linguistic Website
Dr. David Shorter, professor of World Arts and Cultures, received support for his collaboration team’s work on revitalizing an endangered Indigenous language. Announced on February 2, 2013, the Transdisciplinary Seed Grant will enable Dr. Shorter to continue working on his Wiki for Indigenous Languages, or WIL (http://wil.cdh.ucla.edu/).
Working with the Yoeme (or Yaqui) people of Sonora, Mexico since 1992, Dr. Shorter has created both an ethnographic website and published an award-winning book about his research. But this latest project has implications for indigenous people everywhere who struggle with language revitalization. In 2009, Dr. Shorter began working with Craig Dietrich at the University of Southern California on bridging the language learning needs of indigenous people with the technological promise of a wiki, or user driven website. Dietrich, an assistant professor of practice at USC’s Institute for Multimedia Literacy, created a means to digitize the most respected Yoeme-English dictionary into a searchable WikiMedia platform.
From there, Dr. Shorter was able to work with programmers at UCLA’s Center for Digital Humanities to create a site that could translate words to and from Yoeme, hold video clips, audio clips, photographs, quizzes, games, and language learning workbooks. Dr. Shorter expects for the site’s members to be able to create profiles, chat with each other, help each other with the language, and most importantly, change the contents and even the site’s structure. Users can access the Wiki for Indigenous Languages from laptops now, and from smart phones (a primary means of social networking in the Yoeme communities in Mexico) within the next year.
“I wanted technology to emphasize something very organic about language learning and acquisition in tribal contexts, which is that it must be social, practiced, and from the ground up. The wiki approach made sense to Craig and me because it enables the language learners to add to the dictionary and shape the dictionary’s structure.” Shorter continues, “This site will not be me, or a linguist, or even a tribal politician telling the Yoeme language learners which spellings are official or even where the language must be learned. The wiki approach is not from the top-down like that. So the various language wikis we hope to support will either be used or not based on the people themselves wanting to engage the site’s features and other members.” Fitting that Shorter has subtitled his Wiki for Indigenous Languages, “Where there is a WIL, there is a way.” The WIL site will begin by featuring Yoem Noki, the language of the Yaqui Indians, as a preliminary test model. According to Dr. Shorter, several tribes have already contacted him hoping to have their languages processed next into their own WIL site.
Established in 2011 by the UCLA Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and the Academic Senate Council on Research, the Transdisciplinary Seed Grants provide upwards of $25,000.00 to faculty who are working in research areas that cross the fields of two or more disciplines. Dr. Shorter, a social scientist of the arts is working with Dr. Teresa McCarty in Education, Jun Wan and Michael Lynch in the Center for Digital Humanities, as well as Felipe Molina (Yoeme) and Dr. David Shaul, both Yoeme language specialists working at other institutions. The project was selected for funding under the TSG-Original track and under a new track introduced for this fourth cycle, Collaborative Informatics-TSG.
Dr. Shorter emphasized the cross-disciplinary aspect of his work: “You cannot simply hope to work with Indigenous communities and to represent one academic discipline. Most indigenous communities do not divide their lives up into discreet structures of knowledge. Thankfully, these generous grants demonstrate how UCLA recognizes that innovation must come from collaborating across campus and indeed, sometimes off of campus, with the communities of experts who must be involved in our work.”
For more information, please feel free to contact Michelle Popowitz, the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research at UCLA (mpopowitz@conet.ucla.edu) or Dr. David Shorter (shorter@ucla.edu). To follow the progress of the WIL project, feel free to find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Wiki4IL.
Profesor de UCLA recibe financiamiento para website
El Dr. David Shorter, profesor del Departamento de Artes y Culturas del Mundo (WAC/UCLA) ha sido notificado sobre el apoyo a la investigación que le será otorgado a su equipo y proyecto colaborativo, por su contribución para revitalizar las lenguas en riesgo de desaparecer. Los resultados del Transdisciplinary Seed Grant fueron anunciados el 2 de febrero de 2013. Este apoyo permitirá al Dr. Shorter continuar trabajando en el Wiki para las Lenguas Indígenas o WIL (http://wil.cdh.ucla.edu/).
La investigación y trabajo que el Dr. Shorter realiza desde 1992 con los yaquis (o yoemem) de Sonora y Arizona están reflejados en un sitio etnográfico en internet y el galardonado libro publicado por el investigador. Sin embargo su último proyecto repercutirá en los pueblos indígenas de todas latitudes, luchando por la revitalización de sus lenguas. En 2009, el Dr. Shorter inició una colaboración con Craig Dietrich de la Universidad de Southern California para reunir las necesidades para el aprendizaje de las lenguas indígenas mediante la promesa tecnológica de un “wiki” o sitio en internet desarrollado por sus usuarios. Dietrich, profesor capacitador del Institute for Multimedia Literacy (USC), ideó el mecanismo para digitalizar el diccionario yaqui-inglés más respetado y trasladarlo a una plataforma WikiMedia con funciones de búsqueda.
Basándose en esta primera plataforma, el Dr. Shorter ha trabajado con los programadores del Center for Digital Humanities (UCLA) para crear un sitio que traduzca palabras desde y en yaqui, aloje videoclips, clips de audio, fotografías, ejercicios, juegos interactivos y libros de trabajo para la enseñanza de lenguas. El Dr. Shorter espera que los miembros del sitio creen sus perfiles, chateen con otros miembros, se apoyen mutuamente en el aprendizaje de las lenguas y, lo más importante, modifiquen los contenidos y hasta la estructura del sitio. Actualmente los usuarios pueden ingresar al Wiki para las Lenguas Indígenas desde computadoras personales, y a partir del próximo año podrán hacerlo desde teléfonos móviles (un medio muy utilizado en las comunidades yaqui en México para conectarse a las redes sociales).
“Me interesaba que, en contextos indígenas, la tecnología respondiera a un componente muy orgánico que existe en el aprendizaje y adquisición de las lenguas; lo que lo caracteriza es que es social, práctico, de y para los pueblos. Craig y yo consideramos que la opción del wiki era la más lógica, pues permite que quienes empiezan a aprender una lengua, alimenten el diccionario y lo estructuren.” Shorter continúa “En este sitio no seré yo, ni un lingüista, ni siquiera un representante oficial del grupo indígena quienes digamos a aquellos que están aprendiendo la lengua cuál es la ortografía correcta ni el lugar donde la lengua debe aprenderse. La modalidad wiki no funciona verticalmente. Por lo tanto los wikis para las distintas lenguas que esperamos incluir, serán utilizados —o no— en función de la motivación de las propias personas para involucrarse en la conformación del sitio y con los demás usuarios.” Todo esto concuerda con el subtítulo que Shorter ha dado al sitio
“Where there is a WIL, there is a way” (“Donde hay una motivación —el WIL— hay un camino”). El contenido inicial del WIL incluirá el Yoem Noki, la lengua de los indios yaqui, como modelo preliminar a prueba. De acuerdo con el Dr. Shorter, varios grupos indígenas lo han contactado, esperando que sus lenguas sean las siguientes que se incluyan en el WIL.
En 2011 la Oficina del Vicerrector para la Investigación y el Consejo Académico en Investigación de la UCLA establecieron la beca Transdisciplinary Seed Grants, que ofrece hasta $25,000.00 USD a miembros de su claustro de profesores, realizando investigaciones que atraviesan el campo de dos o más disciplinas. El Dr. Shorter, un científico social de las artes colabora con la Dra. Teresa McCarty en el ámbito de la educación, Jun Wan y Michael Lynch del Center for Digital Humanities, así como Felipe Molina (yaqui) y el Dr. David Shaul, ambos especialistas en la lengua yaqui adscritos a otras instituciones.
El Dr. Shorter hizo hincapié en el aspecto transdisciplinario de su trabajo: “Uno no puede trabajar con comunidades indígenas y representar una sola disciplina académica. La gran mayoría de las comunidades indígenas no estructuran sus vidas bajo sutiles divisiones de campos de conocimiento. Afortunadamente, estos generosos apoyos demuestran que la UCLA reconoce que la innovación se deriva de la colaboración entre los distintos centros y departamentos del campus y, de hecho, muchas veces también de fuera del campus, con comunidades de expertos que debemos hacer partícipes de nuestro trabajo.
Para mayor información, favor de contactar a Michelle Popowitz, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research at UCLA (mpopowitz@conet.ucla.edu) o al Dr. David Shorter (shorter@ucla.edu).
Working with the Yoeme (or Yaqui) people of Sonora, Mexico since 1992, Dr. Shorter has created both an ethnographic website and published an award-winning book about his research. But this latest project has implications for indigenous people everywhere who struggle with language revitalization. In 2009, Dr. Shorter began working with Craig Dietrich at the University of Southern California on bridging the language learning needs of indigenous people with the technological promise of a wiki, or user driven website. Dietrich, an assistant professor of practice at USC’s Institute for Multimedia Literacy, created a means to digitize the most respected Yoeme-English dictionary into a searchable WikiMedia platform.
From there, Dr. Shorter was able to work with programmers at UCLA’s Center for Digital Humanities to create a site that could translate words to and from Yoeme, hold video clips, audio clips, photographs, quizzes, games, and language learning workbooks. Dr. Shorter expects for the site’s members to be able to create profiles, chat with each other, help each other with the language, and most importantly, change the contents and even the site’s structure. Users can access the Wiki for Indigenous Languages from laptops now, and from smart phones (a primary means of social networking in the Yoeme communities in Mexico) within the next year.
“I wanted technology to emphasize something very organic about language learning and acquisition in tribal contexts, which is that it must be social, practiced, and from the ground up. The wiki approach made sense to Craig and me because it enables the language learners to add to the dictionary and shape the dictionary’s structure.” Shorter continues, “This site will not be me, or a linguist, or even a tribal politician telling the Yoeme language learners which spellings are official or even where the language must be learned. The wiki approach is not from the top-down like that. So the various language wikis we hope to support will either be used or not based on the people themselves wanting to engage the site’s features and other members.” Fitting that Shorter has subtitled his Wiki for Indigenous Languages, “Where there is a WIL, there is a way.” The WIL site will begin by featuring Yoem Noki, the language of the Yaqui Indians, as a preliminary test model. According to Dr. Shorter, several tribes have already contacted him hoping to have their languages processed next into their own WIL site.
Established in 2011 by the UCLA Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and the Academic Senate Council on Research, the Transdisciplinary Seed Grants provide upwards of $25,000.00 to faculty who are working in research areas that cross the fields of two or more disciplines. Dr. Shorter, a social scientist of the arts is working with Dr. Teresa McCarty in Education, Jun Wan and Michael Lynch in the Center for Digital Humanities, as well as Felipe Molina (Yoeme) and Dr. David Shaul, both Yoeme language specialists working at other institutions. The project was selected for funding under the TSG-Original track and under a new track introduced for this fourth cycle, Collaborative Informatics-TSG.
Dr. Shorter emphasized the cross-disciplinary aspect of his work: “You cannot simply hope to work with Indigenous communities and to represent one academic discipline. Most indigenous communities do not divide their lives up into discreet structures of knowledge. Thankfully, these generous grants demonstrate how UCLA recognizes that innovation must come from collaborating across campus and indeed, sometimes off of campus, with the communities of experts who must be involved in our work.”
For more information, please feel free to contact Michelle Popowitz, the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research at UCLA (mpopowitz@conet.ucla.edu) or Dr. David Shorter (shorter@ucla.edu). To follow the progress of the WIL project, feel free to find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Wiki4IL.
Profesor de UCLA recibe financiamiento para website
El Dr. David Shorter, profesor del Departamento de Artes y Culturas del Mundo (WAC/UCLA) ha sido notificado sobre el apoyo a la investigación que le será otorgado a su equipo y proyecto colaborativo, por su contribución para revitalizar las lenguas en riesgo de desaparecer. Los resultados del Transdisciplinary Seed Grant fueron anunciados el 2 de febrero de 2013. Este apoyo permitirá al Dr. Shorter continuar trabajando en el Wiki para las Lenguas Indígenas o WIL (http://wil.cdh.ucla.edu/).
La investigación y trabajo que el Dr. Shorter realiza desde 1992 con los yaquis (o yoemem) de Sonora y Arizona están reflejados en un sitio etnográfico en internet y el galardonado libro publicado por el investigador. Sin embargo su último proyecto repercutirá en los pueblos indígenas de todas latitudes, luchando por la revitalización de sus lenguas. En 2009, el Dr. Shorter inició una colaboración con Craig Dietrich de la Universidad de Southern California para reunir las necesidades para el aprendizaje de las lenguas indígenas mediante la promesa tecnológica de un “wiki” o sitio en internet desarrollado por sus usuarios. Dietrich, profesor capacitador del Institute for Multimedia Literacy (USC), ideó el mecanismo para digitalizar el diccionario yaqui-inglés más respetado y trasladarlo a una plataforma WikiMedia con funciones de búsqueda.
Basándose en esta primera plataforma, el Dr. Shorter ha trabajado con los programadores del Center for Digital Humanities (UCLA) para crear un sitio que traduzca palabras desde y en yaqui, aloje videoclips, clips de audio, fotografías, ejercicios, juegos interactivos y libros de trabajo para la enseñanza de lenguas. El Dr. Shorter espera que los miembros del sitio creen sus perfiles, chateen con otros miembros, se apoyen mutuamente en el aprendizaje de las lenguas y, lo más importante, modifiquen los contenidos y hasta la estructura del sitio. Actualmente los usuarios pueden ingresar al Wiki para las Lenguas Indígenas desde computadoras personales, y a partir del próximo año podrán hacerlo desde teléfonos móviles (un medio muy utilizado en las comunidades yaqui en México para conectarse a las redes sociales).
“Me interesaba que, en contextos indígenas, la tecnología respondiera a un componente muy orgánico que existe en el aprendizaje y adquisición de las lenguas; lo que lo caracteriza es que es social, práctico, de y para los pueblos. Craig y yo consideramos que la opción del wiki era la más lógica, pues permite que quienes empiezan a aprender una lengua, alimenten el diccionario y lo estructuren.” Shorter continúa “En este sitio no seré yo, ni un lingüista, ni siquiera un representante oficial del grupo indígena quienes digamos a aquellos que están aprendiendo la lengua cuál es la ortografía correcta ni el lugar donde la lengua debe aprenderse. La modalidad wiki no funciona verticalmente. Por lo tanto los wikis para las distintas lenguas que esperamos incluir, serán utilizados —o no— en función de la motivación de las propias personas para involucrarse en la conformación del sitio y con los demás usuarios.” Todo esto concuerda con el subtítulo que Shorter ha dado al sitio
“Where there is a WIL, there is a way” (“Donde hay una motivación —el WIL— hay un camino”). El contenido inicial del WIL incluirá el Yoem Noki, la lengua de los indios yaqui, como modelo preliminar a prueba. De acuerdo con el Dr. Shorter, varios grupos indígenas lo han contactado, esperando que sus lenguas sean las siguientes que se incluyan en el WIL.
En 2011 la Oficina del Vicerrector para la Investigación y el Consejo Académico en Investigación de la UCLA establecieron la beca Transdisciplinary Seed Grants, que ofrece hasta $25,000.00 USD a miembros de su claustro de profesores, realizando investigaciones que atraviesan el campo de dos o más disciplinas. El Dr. Shorter, un científico social de las artes colabora con la Dra. Teresa McCarty en el ámbito de la educación, Jun Wan y Michael Lynch del Center for Digital Humanities, así como Felipe Molina (yaqui) y el Dr. David Shaul, ambos especialistas en la lengua yaqui adscritos a otras instituciones.
El Dr. Shorter hizo hincapié en el aspecto transdisciplinario de su trabajo: “Uno no puede trabajar con comunidades indígenas y representar una sola disciplina académica. La gran mayoría de las comunidades indígenas no estructuran sus vidas bajo sutiles divisiones de campos de conocimiento. Afortunadamente, estos generosos apoyos demuestran que la UCLA reconoce que la innovación se deriva de la colaboración entre los distintos centros y departamentos del campus y, de hecho, muchas veces también de fuera del campus, con comunidades de expertos que debemos hacer partícipes de nuestro trabajo.
Para mayor información, favor de contactar a Michelle Popowitz, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research at UCLA (mpopowitz@conet.ucla.edu) o al Dr. David Shorter (shorter@ucla.edu).
Professor Shorter Awarded Grant to Complete Ethnographic Film
Photo of deer dancer, Salome Valenzuela Salazar.
Dr. David Shorter, Associate Professor in UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures, has just received a grant from the University of California Office of the Vice Chancellor of Research and the Academic Senate Council on Research. Announced in January 2013, this grant enables Shorter to reach the next milestone in his work Seven years in the making, Cutting the Cord focuses on the “lutu pahko” ceremony of the Yoeme Indians living in Sonora, Mexico. Shorter and filmmaker Eliot Fisher traveled to Potam Pueblo to record the four day ritual with his collaborators' permission since the ceremony was for Shorter’s deceased, long-time fieldwork collaborator. The film marks the first time this ritual had ever been recorded, a primary reason that the National Science Foundation funded the original filming.
Applying a “crowdsourcing” approach to the film’s narration, Shorter is combining more traditional ethnographic narration with the voices of Yoeme community members who comment on the film in real time, as they are watching the film. Such an approach, Shorter notes, “brings the collaborative uses of technology to bear on who gets to interpret culture; insider voices compete with and then slowly become primary by the end of the film.” The film, then, works as both an ethnography and a commentary on ethnographic representation. “By the end, we realize that we may be moving from grieving the loss of old-school anthropology to celebrating our survival without it.” You can visit Dr. Shorter’s website here: http://www.wacd.ucla.edu/david-delgado-shorter.
The UCIRA supports embedded arts research through critical exchange. Through community education, a range of grant opportunities, and research initiatives, the UCIRA is committed to supporting risk-taking research and cutting-edge arts practices between University of California artists and off-campus communities, organizations, and agencies. Learn more about UCIRA here: http://www.ucira.ucsb.edu.
Applying a “crowdsourcing” approach to the film’s narration, Shorter is combining more traditional ethnographic narration with the voices of Yoeme community members who comment on the film in real time, as they are watching the film. Such an approach, Shorter notes, “brings the collaborative uses of technology to bear on who gets to interpret culture; insider voices compete with and then slowly become primary by the end of the film.” The film, then, works as both an ethnography and a commentary on ethnographic representation. “By the end, we realize that we may be moving from grieving the loss of old-school anthropology to celebrating our survival without it.” You can visit Dr. Shorter’s website here: http://www.wacd.ucla.edu/david-delgado-shorter.
The UCIRA supports embedded arts research through critical exchange. Through community education, a range of grant opportunities, and research initiatives, the UCIRA is committed to supporting risk-taking research and cutting-edge arts practices between University of California artists and off-campus communities, organizations, and agencies. Learn more about UCIRA here: http://www.ucira.ucsb.edu.