Suggested citation: Balanoff, H., Chambers, C., Kudlak, E., & Kaodloak, A. (In progress). The Ulukhaktok literacies research project. Norhtwest Territories Literacy Council, & University of Lethbridge. “Brian Street (2003) characterizes the dominant view of literacy as “narrow, decontextualized, culturally insensitive and ethnocentric” (p. xiii), yet it continues to dominate education policy and practice in many places, including the NWT. This model views literacy as the ability to decode (read) and create (write) print and numbers. Using this model, literacy levels in the NWT in both English and the nine official Aboriginal languages continue to be low (Lutra, 2000). Success in this kind of literacy is important for Aboriginal communities, but so is success in other forms of literacy. For them it is equally important to recognize a more complex form of literacy. This alternative model is sometimes called multiple literacies, or local or situated literacies. It documents the complete and varied meanings of literacy in people’s everyday lives (Collins & Blot, 2003). It takes into account the complex symbol system that people understand and use, including how they communicate. It goes beyond language and print to include other forms of communication, such as visual, oral and gestural forms. The Ulukhaktok Literacies Research Project hypothesizes that the multiple literacies model—a broader, and more culturally sensitive approach to literacy, within a specific context—more truly reflects Inuit people’s literacy, than that defined by the dominant model. We selected Holman, the only Inuinnaqtun-speaking community in the NWT, for this study. It has the highest percentage of speakers of an Inuktitut language in the NWT, but also the sharpest decline in number of speakers between 1989 and 1999. It has a tradition of Inuinnaqtun literacy, although this is also in decline. This research project will conduct a study of literacies in Holman over a three-year period. In January 2004 the community approved the project, selected two Inuinnaqtun-speaking researchers and provided direction for what traditional Inuit literacies might be. The initial list of topics include: seasons, time, weather, snowdrifts, snow conditions, land forms, constellations/planets, plants, animals, inukshuks, place names, names and naming of people, tattoos, clothing, string and other games, drum dances and songs, tools, amulets, stories, dreams, facial expressions, spirits/shamanism, mythical creatures, prints/ tapestries, writing (English & Inuinnaqtun). This list suggests two possible key theoretical questions: what constitutes literacy? What constitutes a literacy text? And how are these literacy texts used and understood, both now and in the past in Holman. The standard approach to ethnographic research uses insider accounts, participant observation and text/document analysis. This study supplements those with research tools from traditional knowledge (TK) research. This includes elders’ accounts and the workshop method; the archaeological method of using primary source literature and archival research; and the Holman researchers’ life stories. The aim of the study is to develop a model of the multiple literacies in Holman; to preserve and pass on traditional knowledge believed to be in danger of disappearing; and to inform literacy policy and practice in the north as well as social science theory and research practice more generally.” (Authors) Selected references: Collins, J., & Blot, R. (2003). Literacy and literacies: Texts, power and identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lutra Associates Ltd. (2000). Making a case for literacy: The state of adult literacy and adult basic education in the NWT. Yellowknife, NT: NWT Literacy Council. Street, B. (2003). Forward. To J. Collins & R. Blot, Literacy and literacies: Texts, power and identity, (pp. xi-xv). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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