Teanga sa Chistin: Co-operative Family Learning and Irish Language Reclamation in Belfast Kitchens

• In Event: Interdisciplinary Provocations: Knowledge Production and Counter-Discourses

Abstract

Irish-medium education (IME) is an important resource for the reclamation of Irish language, particularly in the North of Ireland (Ó Baoill, 2007), where Irish medium schools play central roles in grassroots decolonising efforts. Taking a language reclamation (Leonard, 2019) approach to Irish bilingualism, our study investigates (dis)connections between school and home for families with children enrolled in IME. Wearing point-of-view cameras, six families with varying bilingual abilities filmed themselves baking together and participated in interviews. We relied on Goodwin’s (2018) theory of Co-operative Action and thematic analysis to show how dominant practices and ideologies associated with school are transformed in bilingual family learning. This study highlights the decolonial potential of integrating school and home pedagogies for language reclamation.

Authors

• Mel M. Engman, Queen's University - Belfast

• Órla McGurk, Glór na Móna

• Alison MacKenzie, Queen's University - Belfast