Enhancing Intercultural Understandings Through Collaboration Between U.S. Teachers and Somali Refugee Communities

• In Event: Preparing Teachers Through International Collaborations: Reconnecting the Local With Global Worldviews for Educational Change

Abstract

Objectives
Developing on our previous research on social-justice-focused study abroad programs for preservice
teachers (PST), the purpose of this study was to understand how PSTs conceptualize
representation through their lived experiences and engagement with community members,
course readings and classes during study abroad.
Theoretical Framework
We focused on PSTs’ understandings of representation; one of three interconnected components
of social justice as theorized by Cazden (2012). Representation, the political dimension
concerning power dynamics within social relations, has been the least prevalent in PSTs’
conceptualizations of social justice in our previous studies.
Methods
As narrative is how daily life is shared and stories are how we make sense of our experiences
(Merriam & Tisdell, 2016), we used narrative inquiry as our research methodology. Clandinin
and Rosiek (2007) argued that narrative inquiry not only valorizes an individual’s experience but
also explores the social, cultural, and institutional narratives of that experience. Additionally, to
expand on the analytical lens which only looks at grand narratives or “fully-fledged stories”
(Georgakopoulou, 2006, p. 123), we used small stories research in our effort to understand PSTs’
experiences abroad.
Data Sources
Data were collected from five PST participants; two participants from the Honduras Study
Abroad Program, two participants from the Tanzania Study Abroad Program, and one participant
who participated in both programs. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were the primary
sources of data. We used ‘small stories’ (Georgakopoulou, 2006) as a way of making meaning of
PSTs’ daily experiences with the students, families, teachers, and community members of the
host country.
Results
Participant narratives offered specific examples of their understanding of representation through
their experiences with the communities. There was a shift from understandings of gender and
cultural equality toward the recognition that knowledge is entangled within language, context,
history, and power thus demonstrating that decision-making is fundamental for PSTs’
development (Moll, Amanti, Neff, & Gonzalez, 1992). PSTs in both programs connected issues
of social justice to English language requirements within Honduran and Tanzanian schools and the implications of those policies on students’ academic achievement. Furthermore, PSTs
recognized gender disparities amongst students in their host communities. PSTs began to make
connections between their experiences abroad and in the United States, though these connections
were still developing.
Scholarly Significance
To better understand how teacher educators can continue to improve upon PSTs’ conceptions of
social justice, we investigated PSTs’ stories of how they conceptualized representation.
Reflection experiences in both study abroad programs provided opportunities for PSTs
to critically examine and connect their understandings of social justice in their host countries to
issues in the United States. Social-justice-oriented study abroad programs demonstrate potential
to expand upon PSTs’ conceptions of social justice by providing the opportunity for participants
to connect their experiences to the larger world around them.

Author

• Wangari Gichiru, Central Connecticut State University