Conceived as a hub for anyone to learn about indigenous history, our online Oration archive, educational programming, learning resources and curriculum will be made available through this portal, and will be carefully developed with Native educators and researchers. Proper protocols will be followed to honor cultural sensitivity, copyright, cultural authorship and intellectual property rights. 

To experience these Orations online, we will utilize the complex magic of modern immersive 3D and VR technology to achieve the simplest, oldest thing: creating the experience of sitting across from someone as they tell you a story. When the First Literature Project films its Orations, two 2D cameras will be synchronized to create a paired on-axis left/right stereoscopic image. This foundational layer will then be rendered to create a 3-Dimensional figure. These Orators will be available to people all over the world to sit with wherever a VR headset is available.

Experience An Oration In Person

To allow the public to experience our Orations firsthand, The First Literature Project will design First Literature Rooms installed within tribal establishments and cultural centers nationwide. In these spaces, chairs will be set across from one another, one occupied by the storyteller in virtual space, the others by students or visitors. Orators will then appear via VR, holographic or 3D projection technology. This effect is subtle but profound: when the Orator raises her hand to you, it feels closer in space than her face, as if she is in the room. This effect is tangible but not “unnatural,” replicating the sensation of sitting across from a living, breathing person. In this space, we hope to foster a renewed respect for an ancient way of listening, promoting a deep sense of continuity from one generation to the next.

Through these immersive experiences, the First Literature Project creates more than just academic archives. We are committed to the art of storytelling; the taking of stories deep into our own lives and then passing them down into the lives after us, generation to generation. N Scott Momaday says “we are what we imagine. Our very existence consists in our imagination of ourselves. Our best destiny is to imagine, at least, completely, who and what, and that, we are. The greatest tragedy that can befall us is to go unimagined.” There is a dire need for the inclusion of the Indigenous perspective, one which has historically been left out the world over. This is the work which the First Literature Project facilitates.

Ayím Kutoowonk

The Ayím Kutoowonk (She Speaks)  group of four Shinnecock Women on the East End of Long Island, New York, are working toward the reclamation and revitalization of the Shinnecock language. In collaboration with Guild Hall’s Community Artist in Residence and First Literature Project, as well as the non-profit organization Padaquohan Medicine Lodge, the group supports language reclamation efforts through the preservation of Shinnecock stories, culture and language. The group’s work will include a compilation of materials used to help with Shinnecock language research and education to create a centralized online database, as well as a community generated video archive for the Padaquohan Medicine Lodge including interviews and stories shared by Shinnecock Tribal members. Guild Hall has received funding from the Library of Congress to support the formation of the Ayím Kutoowonk group, whose video presentations will be available on the Library of Congress website beginning April 2024.