Empowering Communities to Preserve their Heritage

The proposed research project aims to address the issue of language endangerment and mother tongue education through a “citizen science” methodology in the remote Zangskar valley (Ladakh, India). In particular, the project seeks to test whether a citizen science approach can be an effective and sustainable way of documenting and revitalizing the endangered Zangskari language. To do so, I will first train local community members to self-document their language. This process will be evaluated to determine its advantages and challenges and compare it with traditional practices in language documentation. Second and in collaboration with the community and the host institution, I will assess the usefulness of the documented materials for co-creating literacy materials in Zangskari. The project will serve as a case study in language documentation and revitalization, potentially leading to the refinement of an innovative and sustainable community-based approach that could be employed in other parts of India as well as in Canada.

Faculty Supervisor:

Jorge Emilio Rosés Labrada

Student:

Partner:

Indian Institute of Technology Jammu

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Information and Communications Technology; Education; Tourism

University:

University of Alberta

Program: