Tatar Teaching and Learning Resources in Finland

Abstract

Tatar-language education has been organised by the Tatar communities in Finland for more than a century. This traditional minority, today comprising less than a thousand members, was already literate and valued education on arriving in Finland in the second half of the nineteenth century. With very little official support, they have continued to transmit their language, culture, and religion through original and adapted teaching and learning resources (TLRs) for more than six generations. The TLRs target mainly children and young people of kindergarten and school age, but many publications and activities are aimed at all age groups. This overview approaches the production of Tatar TLRs in Finland from cultural, multilingual, and social points of view, discussing less-common aspects in minority research such as the role of women, the significance of traditions, religion and community organisation, attitudes to adaptation and education, as well as the impact of the political and economic situation, multilingualism, and multiculturalism on a minority with a high number of polyglots and transnational connections. The qualitative case study is interdisciplinary, based on a literature review and several decades of participatory observation, interviews, and informal discussions; it uses source pluralism and memory studies to discuss the developments and the cultural and social aspects of TLR production and application of TLRs in language and culture preservation.