Sustaining “Qazaqness” in a Community-Based Cultural Center in Southern California

• In Event: Discovering (to Construct) the Educational Possibilities of Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy: Video-Based Linguistic Anthropological Approaches

Abstract

Community language schools, as providers of language and cultural education, play a crucial role in promoting culturally sustaining pedagogy and in persistently advocating for cultural-linguistic rights and social justice initiatives (Fishman, 2014; Paris & Alim, 2014). This paper utilizes conversation analysis and membership category analysis (Tarım & Kyratzis, 2012; Schegloff, 2007) to investigate language and interactional practices among adults and minors at a community-based Kazakh cultural center in Southern California, where participants belong to the ethnic Kazakh community from different countries. Analyzing natural interactions captured in public videos of children's dance and poem recitation performances, the study seeks to address how teachers’ interactional processes contribute to the reproduction of Kazakh identity among Kazakh children.

The findings reveal that younger children are more likely to conform to expected language codes and behavioral norms that value monolingual Kazakh language communication, whereas teenagers index less engagement and alignment with these norms. To encourage all minor community members to celebrate their Kazakh identity, teachers employ various strategies. These include providing positive assessments and directives to support child emerging heritage language speakers, as well as re-formulating assessment criteria to encourage younger children's performance. For teenage participants, teachers engage them through translanguaging from Kazakh to English, utilizing intonation changes and Hip hop elements. Additionally, teachers incorporate ethnic-gender terms and pronouns in evaluations, fostering Kazakh membership solidarity among community members.

This article sheds light on how culturally sustaining pedagogy is manifested within a community characterized by multiple cultural-linguistic memberships dispersed among teachers and children, while simultaneously constructing diasporic ethnic membership solidarity.

Author

• Munira Kairat, University of California - Santa Barbara