Unforgetting Newcomer Experiences, Knowledges, and Identities: Humanizing and Future-making Pedagogies across Canada and the U.S

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

This session features multilingual and multicultural presenters from Canadian and U.S. universities who examine the literacies learning and teaching practices, experiences, and potentialities of students and teachers from immigrant and refugee backgrounds across diverse contexts including students’ homes, schools, and communities. Drawing on rich empirical data (e.g., interviews, digital stories, identity texts) from ethnographic and case studies, the presentations bring together research into humanizing, asset-oriented, and culturally sustaining approaches with multilingual and multimodal literacies education. Valuing and unforgetting the histories and lived experiences of immigrant- and refugee-background students and their teachers, we call for literacies education that enables students to tell their stories, carry their memories, and imagine who they are becoming—across shifting places, modes, identities, and times.

Sub Unit

• Division G - Social Context of Education / Division G - Section 3: Languages, Literacies, and Representations

Chair

• Xiaoxiao Du, University of Manitoba

Papers

• Immigrant-background Children Composing Multilingual Multimodal Identity Texts as a Culturally Sustaining Humanizing Practice in Canada - Harini Rajagopal, University of British Columbia; Xiaoxiao Du, University of Manitoba

• School and Home Literacy Practices of a Refugee-background Seventh Grader in the U.S. - Aijuan Cun, University of New Mexico

• Digital Storytelling with Teachers of Youth from Refugee Backgrounds: Honoring Assets, Life Journeys, and Relationships - Amir Michalovich, University of Manitoba; Shawn Porteous, River East Transcona School Division

• Canadian Schools Benefiting from the Refugee-background Teachers’ Curricula and Pedagogies - Sofia Noori, University of British Columbia

• Futuring Teacher Education: Community Partnerships with Refugee Families for Critical, Caring, and Joyful Learning - Nermin Vehabovic, Elon University

Session Organizer

• Xiaoxiao Du, University of Manitoba

Discussant

• Amir Michalovich, University of Manitoba