Exploring Family Storytelling With Young Children in Refugee Communities

• In Event: 35.065 - Understanding the Lived Experiences of Young Children With Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Backgrounds

Abstract

The US is a major recipient of refugees (The Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, 2012). Schools often struggle to meet diverse cultural and linguistic needs of refugee families. To address this challenge, we focused on refugee family storytelling with young children as means to understand their funds of knowledge (Joyner, 2012; Moll, Amanti, Neff, & Gonzalez, 1992). Specifically, we asked two questions: (1) what kinds of stories are shared; and (2) what are the contexts and practices of family storytelling?

Storytelling is “a mode of thought and as vehicle of meaning making” (Brunner, 1996, p. 39) and is central to learning as well as to identity development (Cole, 1996; Rogoff, 2003). Research shows that personal storytelling is functionally different in different cultures (Eder, 2007; McCabe, 1997, Ochs & Capps, 2001). In addition, refugee experiences that are often associated with traumatic psychological consequences (Szente & Wang, 2009) may lead to differences in stories and storytelling practices.

Nine refugee families with children ages 5-8 from Nepal, Somalia, and South Sudan resettled in Buffalo, NY, participated in this study. Assisted by interpreters, we visited each family three times to observe storytelling sessions and conduct interviews about family storytelling practices. The storytelling sessions (18) and interview sessions (27) were video-recorded and translated/transcribed. We used emergent coding and constant comparative analysis to identify themes of stories, contexts of storytelling, and adults/children’s role in storytelling practices.

Our findings revealed, first, a broad range of stories shared by refugee families, including fairy tales, animal stories, stories of national heroes, etc. For each story, parents and children engaged in discussion about its moral lessons (e.g., hard work gets rewards, don’t trust strangers, respect hosts and elderly). Some stories were full of naïve “scientific” wisdoms (e.g., how different body parts work together to function well). The variety of story themes provides rich cultural resources for teachers to connect school learning to home. Conspicuously, family’s refugee experiences (e.g., displacement, refugee camps) were largely missing from their storytelling. While many studies on refugees’ storytelling focus on their traumatic experiences (e.g., Hopkins, 2009), our study showed these families intentionally chose positive stories with clear moral lessons. Second, storytelling contexts in the U.S. often differed from those in their native countries. For example, parents with time-consuming jobs in the US had challenges allocating time for family storytelling. This put constrains on families’ efforts to preserve their tradition. As a result, parents were pessimistic about their children’s ability to tell these stories to their grandchildren. Also, during interviews, parents tended to make references to stories from their native country while children connected to stories they heard in schools.

The findings of this exploratory study highlight a wealth of cultural resources and learning opportunities available in refugee families and communities. Based on the findings, we suggest the following ways for schools to meet refugee students’ unique emotional and learning needs: (1) integrate family stories into classroom learning; and (2) collaborate with parents and refugee communities to help develop their appreciation of their native language and culture.

Authors

• X. Christine Wang, University at Buffalo - SUNY

• Ekaterina Strekalova-Hughes, University of Missouri - Kansas City