Expanding the circle [electronic resource] : by Lesley Alison Gear. Collaborative research to create culturally responsive family literacy programming /

Thesis (MA)--University of British Columbia, 2014.

This thesis documents the creation of a family literacy program developed with, and for, a Haida community on the Northwest Coast of British Columbia. The field of family literacy is juxtaposed with the historical and contemporary school experiences of the community and presented as a means of addressing the imbalance between Indigenous and Western knowledge systems currently offered through the public education system. Both Indigenous and Western research methods are utilized through a process designed to involve the community in the reconstruction of an already-existing community family literacy program, PALS (Parents as Literacy Supporters). The metaphor of a circle, representing the six Haida values of interconnectedness, seeking wise counsel, reciprocity, balance, respect, and responsibility, is used to guide the research in addition to serving as the foundation for a new, culturally responsive, version of PALS.