How many times have you met someone who has written a dictionary? With a widely spoken language such as English, we might take for granted not only the availability and accessibility of its dictionary, but the fact that it is constantly kept up-to-date and under the care of trained custodians. For Sabah’s indigenous languages, particularly Kadazan and Dusun, Rita Lasimbang, a Sabahan of Kadazan descent, stepped up to the plate. Over the course of 22 years, Rita formed part of a team that created the Kadazan-Dusun Malay-English Dictionary through conducting copious interviews and sound recordings of the hitherto aurally transmitted Kadazan and Dusun languages, developing a standardised alphabetical transcription method, and designing and formatting the dictionary for usage in print. Joined by Jeannet Stephen who is Deputy Director of the Borneo Research Institute of Indigenous Studies (BorIIS) at the Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) and artist Yee I-Lann, both of whom are also of Kadazan heritage, this sharing will provide insight on what it means to save a fading language, culture and worldview. The sharing will touch on Sabah’s geographic, linguistic and ethnic contexts, the orthographic work of creating a dictionary, a brief history of dictionaries of Sabah’s indigenous languages as well as the importance of language maintenance. The sharing will conclude with a Q&A and a listening session to Kadazan songs.

This is a ticketed workshop ($8 per pax) and light refreshments will be provided during the tea break. Refreshments will be Halal-certified and vegetarian options will be included.

Workshop Facilitators
Rita Lasimbang serves as the CEO of the Kadazandusun Language Foundation (KLF), established in 1995 with the mission of researching, revitalising and promoting the Kadazan/Dusun language. Under her direction, KLF has produced a range of resources for indigenous language instruction, collaborating with organisations such as PACOS Trust, UNICEF Malaysia, and SIL Malaysia. In partnership with educational institutions and the Sabah State Education Department, KLF actively promotes indigenous language education in Sabah, particularly in Bahasa Kadazandusun (BKD), which is the standard language taught in government schools. Lasimbang, a linguistics specialist with training from the University of Texas, Arlington, USA, also brings her experience as a former curator at the Sabah Museum to her role at KLF. Beyond her work in Malaysia, Lasimbang also serves as one of three representatives for Indigenous Peoples' Organisations and Institutions for the Asia region in the UNESCO Global Task Force for Making a Decade of Action for Indigenous Languages for the 2022-2032 International Decade of Indigenous Languages (IDIL).

Associate Professor Dr. Jeannet Stephen is the Deputy Director and Head of the Language & Linguistics Cluster at the Borneo Institute for Indigenous Studies (BorIIS), Universiti Malaysia Sabah. She was inspired by the success of the Māori community in preserving their mother tongue and Indigenous identity during her PhD studies at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Her research focuses on language policy and planning, language revitalisation, and the socio-cultural dynamics of Indigenous communities in Borneo. Starting in 2025, she will serve as the Representative of Indigenous Peoples' Organisations and Institutions for Asia (2025–2027), and in 2026, as a Steering Committee Member of UNESCO's Global Task Force for Making a Decade of Action for Indigenous Languages. She strongly believes that academics and policymakers must collaborate with Indigenous communities to sustain Indigenous languages and cultures in alignment with the principles of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

Yee I-Lann (b. 1971, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia; lives and works in Kota Kinabalu) is a leading contemporary artist recognized for her predominantly photomedia-based practice. With acuity and wit, her digital photo collages delve into the evolving intersection of power, colonialism, and neo-colonialism in Southeast Asia, shedding light on the influence of historical memory in social experiences. Often centring on counter-narratives or ‘histories from below,’ she has recently begun collaborative work with sea-based and land-based communities, as well as indigenous mediums in Sabah, Malaysia.

Yee has exhibited widely in museums in Asia, Europe, Australia, and the United States, with notable retrospectives including Fluid World, a 2011 survey of her major works at Adelaide’s Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia; and Yee I-Lann: 2005-2016 in 2016 at the Ayala Museum in Manila, the Philippines. Selected recent solo exhibitions include: ZIGAZIG ah!, Silverlens, Manila, Philippines (2019); Yee I-Lann & Collaborators: Borneo Heart, Sabah International Convention Centre, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia (2021) and Yee I-Lann: Until We Hug Again, CHAT (Centre for Heritage, Arts & Textile), Hong Kong (2021), and At the Roof of the Mouth, Silverlens New York (2022). In 2023, she worked with RogueArt and six spaces in the city to mount the project Borneo Heart in Kuala Lumpur, with support from Silverlens.

Among her selected group exhibitions are the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia (1999, 2021); Jakarta Biennale, Jakarta, Indonesia (2015); Yinchuan Biennale, Yinchuan, China (2016); SUNSHOWER: Contemporary Art from Southeast Asia 1980s to Now, The National Art Center and Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan (2017); Asian Art Biennial, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung City, Taiwan (2019); STILL ALIVE: Aichi Triennale, Aichi, Japan (2022); the 17th Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Turkey (2022); Soft and Weak Like Water: The 14th Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, South Korea (2023); NGV Triennial, Victoria, Australia (2023); and The Spirits of Maritime Crossing, Venice, Italy (2024).

ABOUT YEE I-LANN: MANSAU-ANSAU
Mansau-Ansau in Dusun – the language of the Dusun and Kadazan of Sabah – means to walk without a predetermined destination. It evokes a wandering path that welcomes chance and possibilities. Translated into a weave, it manifests as a pattern without pattern, a pattern that follows its own rhythm. The exhibition Mansau-Ansau attends to Yee I-Lann’s journey of discovery and creation over two decades, navigating domains of knowledge old and new, and reimagining the forms and dynamics of power. Travel across a range of media, from photocollage, silk and batik, to bamboo pus and pandanus, to encounter a horizon that teases, where the kerbau stand their ground and mats ‘eat’ tables, to experience karaoke beyond language and meet the turtles as they return home.