ABSTRACT
Ghanaian language policy does not recognize the Safaliba language, and thus there are few materials for literacy instruction. Instead, the government distributes Gonja language materials to the Safaliba people. Most children who come to school speaking Safaliba do not understand Gonja, and many drop out of school, never learning to read and write. This chapter focuses on grassroots experimental Safaliba literacy instruction by a lead Safaliba subsistence-farmer-teacher-activist in his classroom. Data include artifacts, field notes, photos, and videos of instructional writing practices, and written products from students (aged 6) in this primary 1 classroom. The data are a subset of data collected during a 12-month classroom ethnography during which the author was a participant-observer in this classroom and hosted in the town by the leadership clan. Preliminary findings support a complex, dynamic explanation for individual learner trajectories as students develop Safaliba writing conventions. Future language revitalization efforts might focus on Safaliba curriculum development, including drumming, mud construction, wall design, weaving, and wood carving to further decolonize the state curriculum. Efforts might also include Safaliba writing across the curriculum and an increased use of talk-to-text activities, Safaliba activist moves that decolonize the rote learning that has been characteristic of Ghanaian government schooling.
