Racialized Narratives of Multilingualism, Identity, and Culture Negotiation by Immigrant High School Students

• In Event: Clarifying the Role of Race in the Literacies and Englishes of Black Immigrant Youth

Abstract

African immigrant children and parents’ voices are rare in educational and research discourses despite a steady growth of this population in the United States over the past four decades. Eurocentric models in U.S. schools alienate African-born minority students in U.S. classrooms and only minimally reference Africa or African cultures as part of their education (Harushimana & Awokoya, 2011; Ghong et al. 2007). African immigrant children remain invisible in U.S. classrooms, and their multilingual abilities go unnoticed or are ignored at school. Notably, invisibility of languages is racialized. Language and race are inextricably connected; that it, is difficult to separate speaking a language from its racial positioning in the society (Bell, 2018; Flores and Rosa, 2014). In this way, linguistic racism gets normalized in the classroom. Moreover, little is known about African immigrant children histories, cultures, expectations, and achievements.

This study examines African high school students’ self-images, experiences, and perceptions around their literate lives in multiple languages and literacy practices in and out of school by asking the following questions: a) “What are the participants’ self-images, experiences, and perceptions around their emerging (English) multilingual competencies and literacy practices?”; b) “How do participants’ language use patterns and practices at school and at home vary and compare?”; c) “How do participants negotiate and navigate the relationship of home languages the wider regional community, and the prevailing expectation and use of English in school?” The objectives of this study include first, providing educators, policymakers, curriculum designers, and future teachers both locally and more broadly, with insights and information useful for meeting the needs of this increasing group of U.S. immigrants. This involves not only keeping abreast of changing demographics within the student body and the concomitantly changing linguistic, cultural, and teacher preparedness needs for professional development, but also, as Rong and Brown (2002) have pointed out, a needed disambiguation in research between African and African American students in order to specifically account for and address issues affecting this group. Second, the study gives voice to immigrant children and families to bear witness to the linguistic, cultural, and educational strengths and challenges they face as foreign-born arrivals to the United States. Using interview as conversation, we present narratives of racialization, multilingualism, identity and culture and perceived language hierarchies in students’ daily lives.

This study highlights the need for educators to challenge deficit narratives created from indexing and ascribed identities based on geographical locations of learners, ethnicities, home languages and cultures. We point out the need for educators to challenge the societally set precedent for ‘being intelligent’ and to unpack stereotypical generalizations. We present implications for challenging reproduction of linguistic and racial inequality in schools and society.

Author

• Lydiah Kananu Kiramba, University of Nebraska - Lincoln