Silva, Wilson2016-12-082016-12-082016-12Silva, Wilson. 2016. Animating Traditional Amazonian Storytelling: New Methods and Lessons from the Field. Language Documentation & Conservation 10. 480-496.1934-5275http://hdl.handle.net/10125/24703In this paper I describe the development of digital animation of Desano traditional stories as a way to foster the inclusion of the Desano language in mainstream digital technology media, while promoting language maintenance and dissemination of cultural knowledge among youths and young adults. The project considers the shifting contexts in which many Desano people live in the contemporary period. Digital animated Desano stories provide important public, community, and scholarly validation for the language as living, dynamic, and vital. Qualitatively different from other written materials produced for the Desano communities, animated digital materials importantly make use of oral language (i.e., animation is accompanied by the original audio in Desano and Desano subtitles), thus exposing younger generations to the sounds and orthography of the language. Oral language-based resources via animation and narration of traditional stories can aid in the group’s language maintenance efforts as they reinforce the spoken language, familiarize the community with the orthography, and celebrate traditional knowledge.17 pagesen-USCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 InternationalDesana languageDesano Languagetraditional storytellingdigital animationAnimating Traditional Amazonian Storytelling: New Methods and Lessons from the FieldArticle