Gabe & Jasmine Akipa

Air Date: February 8, 2026

Summary

Episode 6 - Gabe & Jasmine language presentation at the 2025 Language Conference.

SERIES


Iápi Wakán: Sacred Languages - Season 2

HOST & PRODUCER
Lindell Haywahe

 
Jasmine and Gabe Akipa

Episode Guests

Jasmine Akipa is from the Fort Peck Assiniboine Reservation and has been living on the Lake Traverse Reservation for seven years. She has been learning the Dakota Language for six years. She started learning from her husband, Gabe, who was in the VOA Program. In 2021, she was hired as an intern at the Sisseton Wahpeton College in the VOA Program. In 2023 she graduated and was promoted to an apprentice position. As an apprentice, she meets regularly with fluent elders to learn directly from their teachings, stories and ways of speaking. Whatever she learns, she passes on to others, teaching interns and students through formal classes and informal sessions. Beyond the college, Jasmin offers consulting to other agencies needing translation work and for individuals wanting to learn Dakota language outside of the institution. 

Gabe Akipa is from the Sisseton Wahpetion Oyate. His mother, Jasmin Zetina is from the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate and his father, Shawn Guy, is from the Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe. Gabe comes from the Akipa/Crawford, Guyy and Eagleman Tiospayes. He is an Alumni of the Voices of Our Ancestors (VOA) program at the Sisseton Wahpeton College, and he is currently a Dakota Language Immersion Teacher at the Tiospa Zina Tribal School. Gabe’s career centers on creating full language environments for students, helping them to grow up with Dakota as a living, everyday language through culturally responsive methods. 

 

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