New northern journal a 'campfire' for sharing knowledge

A new open-access journal from the N.W.T. is celebrating its launch with the release of the inaugural issue, themed around education in the North.

The Xàgots'eèhk'ǫ̀ Journal is a joint endeavour between Aurora College, the Dechinta Centre for Research and Learning, and Hotii ts'eeda, a research unit for the Tłı̨chǫ government. Though the idea has been in the works for a few years, it truly began to take shape after receiving the funds to make it happen from the federal government in spring 2021.

Pertice Moffitt, a retired research associate with Aurora College, has been involved with Xàgots'eèhk'ǫ̀ (pronounced ha-goat-seh-ko) since its inception. 

She told CBC the journal takes its name from the Tłı̨chǫ word for "having a campfire," which aptly describes what it aims to do: provide a space for scholars, elders, and students across the N.W.T. to exchange ideas about issues that are important to them. 

"We've always wanted a good journal for Northerners, by Northerners," Moffitt said. "We want to hear all Northerners' voices, and we want to respect and particularly honour Indigenous scholars and people who can contribute stories."

Xàgots'eèhk'ǫ̀ joins Yukon University's Northern Review as one of the only educational journals coming out of the North, Moffitt said. It publishes everything from research papers and literature reviews to poetry and artwork in any of the N.W.T. 's 11 official languages, with two issues a year.

This wide range of accepted contributions and languages represents a different, more "decolonizing approach" to academia, Moffitt said. 

"Most academic journals … you go in and you're peer-reviewed in a very formal way and it's a blind review," she said. In Xàgots'eèhk'ǫ̀, "people can publish in this journal through conversation. So, we pull out the themes and the perspectives and honour what they've said in that way, and assist in any way we can to strengthen the article.

"We're hoping that people can see … that this is a tool of reconciliation, the way that we share knowledge with each other, and that we truly collaborate in the journal."

Education, learning explored in first issue

This week, Aurora College, Dechinta, and Hotii ts'eeda are commemorating the publication of the journal's inaugural edition with events in Fort Smith, Yellowknife, and Inuvik. Spanning 160 pages, the issue is centred around education in the North — a topic that's particularly pertinent as Aurora College transforms into a polytechnic university, according to research chair Sara Komarnisky. 

Komarnisky served as a co-editor of this first issue alongside Métis scholar Lois Edge; the plan is to welcome new editors for each issue. At a gathering in Yellowknife on Wednesday, she said the experience was "a lot of fun," and that she felt "a lot of gratitude" for those who helped make it possible. 

"It feels really good to be at this point," she said. "I think the fact that people are here to celebrate with us shows that something like this is really wanted and needed and appreciated."

Komarnisky explained that the new issue is organized into several key overlapping themes within the topic of education, such as land, culture and language, and family and community. Contributors include Dene elder Paul Andrew, artist Antoine Mountain, and staff members at Dechinta, among others.

The next issue's theme has not been decided yet, but the Xàgots'eèhk'ǫ̀ team is open to suggestions, Komarnisky said. Anyone interested in contributing can reach out through the journal's website, where they can also find an electronic version of the first edition.

Asked what the long-term goals are for Xàgots'eèhk'ǫ̀, Moffitt said she hopes it will help to inform and influence policy either within the territory, or beyond.

"The action of writing and mobilizing knowledge does that," Moffitt said. "It gives voice to people, and I think it honours people as well, and demonstrates that we respect all the diversity of knowledge that we have in all these distinct groups across the N.W.T."