Living Literacies – The Orang Asli Literacy Project

This paper highlights the challenges and experiences of the researchers in an academic institution where the research project which initially beganas part of an academic research initiative expanded to helping a marginalized community in need. As social science researchers in a technological university which emphasizes natural science research, opportunities and motivation to carry out social research is a challenge. Furthermore, as minorities among academicians from the Engineering and Technology disciplines, obtaining funding and carrying out community based research is also difficult. In this paper, we share the conception of Living Literacies, a literacy programme for the Orang Asli, an indigenous community in Malaysia, and share the challenges we faced in executing this project.