Funds of Knowledge, Community Cultural Wealth, and Critical Race Theory in the Prison-to-College Pipeline

• In Event: 42.046 - Funds of Knowledge in Higher Education

Abstract

In this presentation, participants will explore how Critical Race Theory, Funds of Knowledge and Community Cultural Wealth help in understanding the reintegration of students of color from incarceration and gangs into college. This paper uses Critical Race Theory, Funds of Knowledge, and Community Cultural Wealth to expand the conceptualization of the educational reintegration of formerly incarcerated gang members into higher education. The paper builds on the theoretical insights that bridge funds of knowledge and the notion of capital (Rios-Aguilar, Kiyama, Gravitt, and Moll, 2011) to examine the educational and occupational trajectories of previously incarcerated students and former gang members. The presentation will focus on exploring the concrete “funds” that these students bring to the community college campuses they attend and the cultural wealth, race, and racial microagressions that form part of their educational opportunities and experiences. This new conceptualization of funds of knowledge and its intersections with Critical Race Theory and Community Cultural Wealth inverts the trends in research that examine the “school-to-prison” pipeline by focusing on the “funds” of college students that were once prisoners and have re-entered the education system. In so doing, it disrupts the deficit lens of research and provides a starting point from which to examine the educational opportunities and experiences of this population.

Author

• Luis Giraldo, Claremont Graduate University