Indigenous languages are important agents of the Indigenous Decolonization Process with the potential to heal the deep wounds of colonization. Yet, few connections have been made on how Indigenous lexicography and Indigenous language dictionaries can assist these processes. By examining the literature on language, Indigenous linguistics and lexicography, and decolonization I demonstrate how the connections among these concepts can be applied to a viable process for decolonizing an Indigenous language dictionary. As a white male who has spent the past 16 years living, working with, and learning how language can heal from citizens of the Shipibo-Konibo Nation of the central Peruvian Amazon, I present my auto-ethnographical account of a nascent collaborative project working to decolonize the Shipibo-Konibo dictionary. This project is actively applying Indigenous linguistic wisdom to support events and processes of decolonization. The powers inherent in language are integral to maintaining well-being and can promote and support Indigenous decolonization efforts. A key approach to using Indigenous languages to assist decolonization can be found by recognizing colonial residues within the archaeo-linguistic record by examining pre- and post-colonized elements of languages. Careful, community-based decolonization of linguistic resources can strengthen revitalization objectives and support the regeneration of Indigenous language and culture. Such thinking underlies the proposed project to decolonize the Shipibo-Konibo Dictionary through its revision and regeneration, a process which has opened local discourses on Decolonization─a concept that was notably absent in the region─and has spurred the creation of a Shipibo-Konibo radio program and other activities focused on linguistic and cultural regeneration.

Japanese women have often described themselves as passive "victims" of the Pacific War, and in their wartime memoirs (senso taikenki) they have related their suffering in the hope of preventing future wars. However, when we closely examine Japanese women' s activities and beliefs during the war, we find that women were not necessarily completely detached from wartime efforts. Many women actively and even enthusiastically cooperated with the state. Even if they did not actively fight on the battlefield and kill people on foreign soil, many women were part of the total war structure, helping to stir up the patriotism that drove Japanese to fight in the war. This thesis looks at how Japanese women, through patriotic women' s organizations, were involved in the Pacific War, and what they actually believed during the war, in contrast with their recollections of the war in their senso taikenki.