Conceptualizing Indian American Male Identity Formation Through Negotiating Between Home Culture and School Culture

• In Event: Roundtable Session 22
  In Roundtable Session: How Do Perceptions, Attitudes, and Identities Affect the Learning Opportunities of Underrepresented Students?

Abstract

While Indians and Indian Americans are increasingly present in schools and larger society, they continue to be largely unexplored in critical scholarly research. Utilizing narrative testimonio, this study seeks to answer the following questions: How does home culture position Indian Americans, prescribe certain identities, and influence interpretations of the school space? How does school culture re-position Indian Americans and processes of self-conceptualization and identity formation? Are Indian Americans reactive or in moving between these? Using a theoretical framework situated in Holland and colleague’s (1998) notion of figured worlds, this study seeks to conceptualize Indian American male identity formation through ‘spaces of authoring’ and dialogism, as evidenced within the constant negotiation between home and school cultures.

Author

• Venkat Ramaprasad, The University of Texas - Austin