Theory to Liberation: Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy and Decentering White and Hegemonic Gazes in Educational Practice

• In Event: Shifting the Gaze in Multilingualism: Meeting at the Intersections of Language, Race, and Immigration

Abstract

The authors examine the challenges of culturally sustaining pedagogy in educational practice, specifically considering the role of the adult ally within a student-led after-school space. The space we examine, the One World program, was built by students to give themselves the opportunity to develop critical literacies as they bridged the social, material and physical distances institutionalized and practiced by their high school between English Language Learners (ELLs) and Non-ELLs. Collecting qualitative data as a culturally sustaining pedagogue, Author 1 reflects on and highlights instances of teaching and learning, in which she aimed to support students in decentering the White gaze. Together, the authors discuss implications for supporting teachers and educators in operationalizing CSP as a means to educate for liberation.

Authors

• Tanja Burkhard, Washington State University

• Casey Philip Wong, University of California - Los Angeles