Curricular Refuge: Transnational Curriculum, Socio-Geopolitical Tensions, and Atlanta's Refugee Communities

• In Event: Curriculum as Control: Who Decides?

Abstract

This qualitative multi-site case study investigated the curriculum of refuge underlying the success of four community-based educational non-governmental organizations (NGOs) supporting refugee youths during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic. The investigators collaborated with organizational leaders to theorize about the pedagogical, curricular, and technological practices employed that contributed to positive school outcomes for the youth served. This study made visible the “tangled web of practices” in place (and in place) to help a community thrive. Expanding on Bajaj and Bartlett's (2017) transnational curriculum, the NGOs leveraged geographic proximity and critical consciousness to foster collaboration and organizational agility. The scholarship presented in this paper contributes a theoretically rich interrogation of four newcomer serving programs in a major Southern city.

Authors

• Erica A. Warren, Boys and Girls Clubs of America
  Presenting Author

• Robert J. Helfenbein, Mercer University
  Presenting Author