Indigenous-owned tech business KIWA Digital partners with the Ngalia Western Desert Aboriginal People of Australia to revitalize severely endangered Ngalia language.
A new, Indigenous-led app that brings to life the ancient stories of the Ngalia Western Desert Aboriginal People of Australia has been launched. Created by New Zealand media tech company KIWA Digital in collaboration with the Australian Dilji Corporation, the Mamutjitji Story app takes the dreamtime narrative of the same name, which has been told around campfires for centuries, and brings it into the digital era.
KIWA Digital managing director, Steven Renata, says Mamutjitji Story is an example of the power and resilience of Indigenous knowledge.
“We congratulate everyone involved on this launch and look forward to supporting further digital resources that will illuminate western science with Indigenous knowledge.
“The KIWA team is lucky enough not only to work with the Ngalia Western Desert people, but many Indigenous cultures from around the globe. What we know now is that what’s good for Indigenous people is good for the world.”
Designed to be used by school students as well as the wider community, the app introduces us to a community of Aboriginal children and learn how they took down the monsters that threatened their way of life.
Through bilingual narration, animation, games, workbooks, video and song, we then learn how these monsters became the Mamutjitji (known in English as the antlion, the larval form of the lacewing fly).
There’s even a rap song that speaks directly to young people struggling with their mental health, encouraging them to beat down their own personal monsters.
Teachers can use the app in a variety of ways in the classroom, including in history, physical education, and biological science lessons.
Mamutjitji Story is also the first-ever app in the severely endangered Ngalia language, which originates from the remote desert of Western Australia.
Director of Dilji Corporation, Kado Muir, says their whole community is very proud of the app launch.
“This is the first time, an Indigenous-led technology project and app has been launched in a remote location such as Leonora in Western Australia.
“We hope our initiative inspires other remote communities, especially our young people, to aim high and embrace innovation and technology. Technology here has been used as a tool to preserve our cultural knowledge and language as well as to foster greater understanding about caring for the environment in a cultural way.”
Media: Short video of App
English: https://vimeo.com/911286204
Ngalia language https://vimeo.com/946790192/9fac29e71e
