Protecting embers to light the qulliit of Inuit learning in Nunavut communities

On July 1, 2009 at a special ceremony in Iqaluit, 21 Inuit women graduated from Nunavut’s first graduate degree program, a Master of Education in Leadership and Learning offered by the University of Prince Edward Island in partnership with Nunavut Department of Education, St. Francis Xavier University, and Nunavut Arctic College. The authors of this article, Northwest Territories/Nunavut educators between 1982 and 1999, and university-based professors and researchers who have since been involved in the planning and delivery of the Nunavut M.Ed., trace the roots of the program to decolonising research in educational practices in the Baffin region between 1980 and 1999. They then outline the design and implementation of the program with particular emphasis on its challenges and the approaches necessary for its success.Le 1 juillet 2009, lors d’une cérémonie spéciale à Iqaluit, 21 femmes inuit ont reçu une maîtrise en éducation du leadership en apprentissage. Il s’agissait du premier programme de deuxième cycle offert au Nunavut par University of Prince Edward Island en partenariat avec le Ministère de l’Éducation du Nunavut, St. Francis Xavier University et le Nunavut Arctic College. Les auteurs de cet article ont enseigné aux Territoires du Nord-Ouest/Nunavut entre 1982 et 1999 puis ont participés à l’élaboration de ce programme de maîtrise en éducation comme professeurs et chercheurs.Ils tracent ici ses origines aux recherches sur la décolonisation des pratiques éducationnelles inuit dans la région de Baffin entre 1980 et 1999. Ils expliquent ensuite les buts et le déroulement du programme, en examinant de près les défis et approches pédagogiques mis en place pour y arriver

Revitalising and preserving endangered indigenous languages in South Africa through writing and publishing

Libraries and librarians play a central role in organising and communicating knowledge. They are an important part of theknowledge production and use chain. The development and sustenance of a knowledge-based economy hinges on theirability to facilitate the accessibility, retrievability and usability of the knowledge and information that permeates theinformation society. Writers and publishers as part and parcel of the knowledge chain are central to the production anddistribution of ideas. Language is fundamental to their ability to communicate and get their literal messages, expressionsand ideas through. Their preferred language of writing and publishing may mean a difference between the growth anddemise of a language of a society and its culture and civilisation. Many indigenous languages around the globe arestruggling to survive because of various reasons including neglect by writers and publishers. Publishers and writers as majorrole players in the knowledge production and reproduction chain may assist in promoting and preserving indigenouslanguages in general and in South Africa in particular. This may ensure that South Africa’s knowledge economy developswithout sidelining or discriminating against any culture or language. There are challenges and opportunities that writersand publishers are likely to face in attempting to revitalise and empower indigenous languages in South Africa, but theyare not insurmountable. Using a theoretical approach, the purpose of this article is to highlight the role that writers andpublishers may play in revitalising and preserving endangered indigenous languages in South Africa. Recommendations aremade on how the role players may deal with the challenges that have culminated in the neglect of the endangeredindigenous languages

ᐧᐄᒑᐦᑐᐧᐃᓐᐦ, ᐊᔨᒥᐧᐃᓐ, ᑭᔮ ᐊᔅᒌ: ᐋᐧᐄ ᔮᔨᒋᑳᐱᐧᐃᐦᑖᑭᓂᐧᐃᒡ ᐊᔨᒥᐧᐃᓐ ᐊᓂᑖ ᐧᐄᒥᓂᒌᐦᒡ Relationships, Language, and the Land: Language Revitalisation in the Cree Community of Wemindji, Eeyou Istchee

Indigenous languages, lands, and cultures are inextricably linked, and language is critical for cultural retention and transmission, individual and community well-being, and identity. While Indigenous languages worldwide risk being lost, language activists are emerging from communities to protect their ancestral languages, heritages, and connections to land. In Canada, approximately 70 Indigenous languages are spoken today; however, the Cree dialect continuum is one of only three expected to endure. The legacy of Canadian residential schools and other colonial practices have had lasting impacts on the relationships to language and land of many Eeyouch (Eastern Cree people). In response, the Eeyou (Eastern Cree) community of Wemindji launched the Cree Literacy for Wemindji Adults program (CLWA) in 2017. In this manuscript-based master’s thesis, undertaken at the invitation of the community and Community Council, I explore the intimate relationships between iiyiyuuayimuwin (Eastern Cree language) and ischii, and the implications of language reclamation for miyupimaatisiiun (Eeyou community and individual well-being), as shared with me by community members. In the first of two manuscripts, I demonstrate how dispossession caused by colonial encroachment and neocolonial extractivism has caused these relationships to weaken, and explore community responses to these impacts over several generations. In my second manuscript, co-author and Wemindji Language coordinator and Cree language teacher, Theresa Kakabat-Georgekish and I explore the impacts of the process of language reclamation on CLWA participants’ and community well-being and sense of cultural identity

Understanding how language revitalisation works: a realist synthesis

Indigenous communities, linguists, teachers, and language activists have been developing methods to revitalise endangered languages over several decades. Not only are these methods diverse, they are usually implemented in various ways according to local needs and aspirations. Language revitalisation methods focus on proficiency, but there is also interest in strengthening identity, resilience, and wellbeing. Aside from a handful of successes, programs may not be achieving desired outcomes. One could try to evaluate specific programs. However, we believe that a necessary first step is to examine published literature of revitalisation efforts to develop initial understandings of how they work. In particular, we seek to understand how revitalisation efforts tap into the speech community, how local participation affects outcomes, and how this involvement is supported and sustained by external programs, with a focus on language revitalisation efforts in Australia. We conduct a realist synthesis, and through analysis of 125 pieces of literature, we identify 13 initial theories. In analysing these theories, we identify two major gaps in our understanding of language revitalisation: how revitalisation programs work to strengthen communities and promote commitment. We propose these as significant, under-theorised elements of successful revitalisation which can guide exploration at the level of individual programs

Pasifika success as Pasifika

This research report presents the details and findings of a research project commissioned by Adult and Community Education (ACE) Aotearoa, entitled Pasifika Success as Pasifika in Aotearoa New Zealand (PSAPiA). Intended to be the first of a series providing Pasifika participants in Aotearoa New Zealand with the opportunity to collectively and coherently describe success as Pasifika according to their own insights and aspirations, the focus of this current project was on seeking and articulating a collective conceptualisation of ‘literacy’ and ‘success’ and the link between the two from the perspective of Pasifika peoples in Aotearoa New Zealand. The project’s three-part design incorporated a review of selected relevant literature, Pasifika consultation groups, and wider consultations with Pasifika via an online survey