Vincent Medina

Vincent "Vince" Medina (born 6 October 1986)[1] is a Chochenyo Ohlone indigenous rights, language, and food activist. He is a member of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe[2] and serves on the tribal council,[3] and co-founded Cafe Ohlone, an Ohlone restaurant in Berkeley, California which serves indigenous cuisine made with native ingredients sourced from the San Francisco and Monterey Bay Areas.[4][5] He is a member of the Board of Directors of Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival.[6] Medina is Catholic, and speaks English, Spanish, and Chochenyo.[7]

Vincent Medina speaking during the Ohlone Spoken Word at the San Francisco Public Library in 2014

Career

Medina was the assistant curator[8][9] and a docent for seven years at Mission Dolores in San Francisco.[10]

Starting in 2011 he wrote a blog about his experience as an Ohlone person in the 21st century and learning and sharing the Chochenyo language.[8][11] He started a column in News from Native California called In Our Languages dedicated to writing in indigenous California languages.[8] News from Native California is published by the non-profit Heyday,[12] where Medina has been the Berkeley Roundhouse Outreach Coordinator[8] since 2013.[13] Heyday's Berkeley Roundhouse was formerly called the California Indian Publishing Program, and is dedicated to celebrating indigenous California culture and supporting the local Indian community.[14]

Medina has been on the Board of Directors of Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival[6][8][15][9] since 2012.[13] He is also one of a few rotating hosts of Bay Native Circle, a weekly indigenous radio program and podcast which airs on KPFA.[16]

Chochenyo language

There has been debate among linguists as to whether Chochenyo is a language or a dialect.[17] It falls under the ISO 639-3 code for "Northern Ohlone," which also includes Ramaytush, Tamyen, Awaswas, and Chalon, but Medina and the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe consider it to be a distinct language.[18]

Medina was introduced to Chochenyo as a child, but began learning the language deeply around 2010 by studying the field notes produced by J. P. Harrington,[8] who worked with native Chochenyo speakers in the early 20th century to document their language.[19][20][21] By 2012 Medina could speak Chochenyo with others,[7] and as he became more proficient, he began teaching his younger brother their ancestor's language as well.[8] In 1934, the only native speaker of Chochenyo died,[7] but in the 2000s the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe and linguists at UC Berkeley began to learn and revitalize the language,[19][20] and in 2009 Northern Ohlone was reclassified from Extinct to Living by SIL International (and therefore Ethnologue and ISO).[22]

Medina started the In Our Languages column of News from Native California[8] and wrote the first piece in Chochenyo in 2014.[8][23][24] He has spoken at a number of libraries, museums, and conferences about the Chochenyo language and indigenous issues.[21][25][26][3] In 2015 he was chosen to read verses in Chochenyo during the Mass at the canonization ceremony for Father Serra, and he took advantage of the opportunity which would mean hundreds of millions of people hearing the language.[7]

Ohlone cuisine

In 2018,[27] Medina co-founded Cafe Ohlone (Chochenyo: mak-'amham, "our food")[4] with his partner[28][27][29][15] Louis Trevino, who is Rumsen Ohlone.[2] It is a pop-up restaurant located at the University Press Books bookstore in Berkeley. The menu changes seasonally, and ingredients are gathered by Native people around Ohlone territory. Dishes include acorn soup and acorn bread, watercress and sorrel salad with berries and seeds, quail eggs, venison, chia pudding, and a variety of teas.[30][31][27][10][29] Meals are accompanied by information about Ohlone history and culture,[31][27][10][5] and sometimes songs.[32]

gollark: 192.168.0.28 is a local IP.
gollark: Wait, can you use introspection modules to move/drop curse-of-binding items?
gollark: Hmm, that is a clever and extremely evil idea.
gollark: Surely they'll eventually realize that you can't simultaneously give people access to information and make them unable to store it. Unless they come up with some crazy draconian solution.
gollark: I don't remember it *last* month.

References
  1. Vincent Medina (2011-10-06). "Today is my birthday". Tumblr. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  2. "mak-nuunu—our story". mak-'amham. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  3. Medina, Vincent (April 8, 2019). Opening Othering and Belonging 2019 (Speech). Othering and Belonging Conference 2019. Oakland, California. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  4. "hinṭo?–what is mak-'amham?". mak-'amham. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  5. Soleil Ho (March 28, 2019). "The Bay Area's most intriguing new pop-up highlights precolonial California cuisine". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  6. "Vincent Medina (Chochenyo Ohlone)". Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  7. Nolte, Carl (Sep 22, 2015). "Ohlone descendant to recite native language at Serra ceremony". San Francisco Chronicle. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  8. Mariko Conner (September 16, 2014). "Q&A with Vincent Medina". Heyday. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  9. "Vincent Medina". Oakland Symphony. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  10. Emily Wilson (Feb 26, 2019). "How California's Indigenous Cafes Repair Colonial Damage". Eater, Vox Media. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  11. Vincent Medina. "Being Ohlone in the 21st Century". Tumblr. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  12. "Mission". News From Native California.
  13. Vincent Medina. "Vincent Medina". LinkedIn. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  14. "The Berkeley Roundhouse". Heyday. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  15. "Vincent Medina". Slow Food USA. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  16. "Bay Native Circle". KPFA & Pacifica. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  17. Milliken, Randall; Shoup, Laurence H.; Ortiz, Beverly R.; Archaeological and Historical Consultants Oakland, California (June 2009). Ohlone/Costanoan Indians of the San Francisco Peninsula and their Neighbors, Yesterday and Today (PDF) (Report). National Park Service Golden Gate National Recreation Area, San Francisco, California. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  18. "Language Revitalization". Muwekma Ohlone Tribe. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  19. Maclay, Kathleen (4 June 2004). "Conferences focus on saving native languages". Berkeley News. UC Berkeley. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  20. Tremain, Kerry (September 2004). "A faith in words". California Monthly. Cal Alumni Association. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  21. Medina, Vince (2014). Ohlone Spoken Word (Speech). Ohlone Spoken Word. San Francisco Public Library. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  22. "Northern Ohlone [cst]". SIL International. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  23. Vincent Medina (2014). ""In Our Languages" translation. Hossi Melle/Hossi Šaaw". Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  24. AICLS (18 February 2014). "Chochenyo Ohlone by Vince Medina". SoundCloud. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  25. Medina, Vincent (December 6, 2015). Sounds of California (Speech). Sounds of California concert. Oakland Museum of California. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  26. Medina, Vince (13 December 2015). Blood Monster (Speech). Treasure Language Storytelling. Oakland, California. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  27. Anna Mindess (February 22, 2019). "Indigenous Food at Café Ohlone". Edible East Bay. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  28. Vincent Medina (2016-06-30). "Bringing Story Back Home". Tumblr. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  29. Rao, Tejal (Aug 12, 2019). "California Cuisine, Long Before Chez Panisse". The New York Times. The New York Times. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  30. "menyutka—menu". mak-'amham. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  31. Emily Wilson (February 21, 2019). "Indigenous California Chefs are Reviving and Preserving Native Cuisines". Civil Eats. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  32. "Cafe Ohlone". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
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