Carol McKinney holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX. Together with her husband she worked with the Bajju team on the Jju translation of the N.T. in Nigeria, West Africa. She has written two books on the Bajju: Bajju Christian Conversion and Baranzan’s People. She also wrote Globe Trotting in Sandals, a Field Guide to Cultural Research and co-authored together with her husband Introduction to Field Phonetics. She published a number of articles on the Bajju. She taught at TXSIL and was an Associate Professor at GIAL.
Participatory Methods for Community Involvement in a Language Project
Abstract
Use of participatory methods for working with a community are necessary for community buy-in for a language project. These include 1) participation by working with and living in a specific language community, 2) action and experience in interaction with the community, 3) research about the beliefs and practices of that community, 4) public relations within the community, and 5) decisions about the language project made by the local community. These methods enable one to understand the community and have knowledge of what is significant for that community. As translators we do have specific goals for our work. A main goal is for the translated scriptures to be used by the community. Otherwise we may feel like we have wasted our time working on the Biblical translation. Participatory methods involve our coming to the task with the goal of learning and understanding the beliefs and practices of that community. These principles are illustrated by work with the Bajju community in Nigeria, West Africa.