Transnational Funds of Knowledge Unveiled: Unraveling the Border Crossing of a Multilingual Teenage Refugee

• In Event: Language, Mobility, and Transnationalism

Proposal

Introduction
Multilingual migrant students are expected to adhere to English-only practices (Gándara & Escamilla, 2017) and acquire monolithic content that fails to reflect their cultural background (Gay, 2018). Dominant discourses frame migrant students in deficit ways (Flores & Rosa, 2015) overlooking the value of their rich linguistic repertoire (Garcia, 2009). Recognizing and leveraging the transnational funds of knowledge these students bring can transform them into cultural experts (Kwon, 2022). The present study examines the funds of knowledge of a transnational multilingual across borderlands. This single case (Stake, 2005) is part of a larger research project that investigated how a leadership program, in partnership between a non-profit organization and a local university in the U.S. Midwest, supported immigrant-origin, multilingual youth’s literacy. I participated as a mentor of Maji, a refugee young adult from Burundi living in the U.S. who shared his lived experiences crossing linguistic, geographical/ geopolitical, and cultural borders, expanding his transnational funds of knowledge. This paper focuses on the following research questions: What funds of knowledge can a Mentoring Program mobilize on a multilingual refugee adolescent? And how does it so?

Conceptual Framework
This study is guided by two conceptual frameworks: Border crossing (Anzaldúa, 1987) and funds of knowledge (Moll et al., 1992). The study draws on border crossing theory to help understand transnational experiences and multilingual identities mediated by colonial forces and emerging resistance to oppression in the crossing of multiple borderlands (Anzaldúa, 1987). When students and their families cross geographical borders, so do their funds of knowledge. Moll et al. (1992) coined the term funds of knowledge to refer to “historically accumulated and culturally developed bodies of knowledge and skills ” (p. 133). Under this approach, all students are believed to bring valuable cultural resources educators should build on to promote learning in equitable and socially just ways. Other scholars have advanced the conversation by recognizing the transnational funds of knowledge of migrant students (Cuero, 2010). In line with the conference’s theme, this study is conceived as an effort to walk “a pathway from protest to resistance to transformation” that seeks to challenge educational practices that have traditionally marginalized—-and still do— multilingual students, and imagine an alternative equitable education.

Findings
From mid-November 2020 through mid-May 2021, I collected one-hour-long 18 audio recordings of the weekly meetings with Maji. The analysis of the recordings along with artifacts, song recordings, and links yielded the results reported below.

Showcasing linguistic funds of knowledge
Fluent in Swahili, Kirundi, French, and English, Maji displayed varied and ample linguistic funds of knowledge. Maji used linguistic categories to describe Kirundi and French as his second languages, demonstrating awareness of his rich linguistic resources. Maji also explained dialectal differences between Swahili from Burundi and Swahili from Tanzania. In addition, Maji demonstrated familiarity with Spanish after he noticed my Spanish accent in our first mentoring meeting and showed interest in learning the language only after gaining proficiency in English. Having recently moved to a large Spanish-speaking state in the Southwest, he could understand some Spanish words. When unable to find the appropriate English words when talking with me, Maji confidently resorted to translanguaging. Drawing from his linguistic knowledge of French as a Romance language, he used French words to communicate with me, a Spanish speaker.

Geographical and geopolitical funds of knowledge expanded across borders
Maji was cognizant of the nuances of border crossing and the geopolitical forces. Maji showed his expertise about Africa after looking at a map that mobilized memories and narratives. Maji described Lake Tanganyika as “the biggest lake in Africa” where people swim at the risk of drowning and being attacked by wild animals. Furthermore, Maji displayed geopolitical understandings across borders. When forced to flee from Burundi to Congo due to the dangerous political climate at the time, Maji described how the symbiotic and reciprocal relationship between these countries blurred borders allowing the fluid circulation of people in challenging times . Traveling to the U.S., however, required preparation and the documentation of his fingerprints to demonstrate his identity. Once in the U.S., Maji moved from the Midwest to the Southwest, and from the Southwest to Mexico, identifying cultural and linguistic similarities and drawing parallels with Africa.

Displaying cultural knowledge through multimodal cultural artifacts
Maji displayed abundant knowledge of his cultural background. For example, Maji sent me a photo of a 50 cent coin, his only artifact from Burundi. Maji read a few words in Swahili, French, and Kirundi, the most important languages in Burundi, and in English on one side of the coin. On the other, there were Burundingan or Burundian dancers, whose traditional dance Maji searched online to show me. Moreover, Maji demonstrated his cultural funds of knowledge discussing the meaning of the stars on the flag of Burundi, representing three major ethnicities, and the ethnic tensions and politics. Finally, Maji shared cultural insights of Burundian food, including the significance of fufu and the fishing of ndagala, a small fish from Burundi, and the traditional commercialization of this local fish.

Implications
The findings of this study showed that the mentoring program not only served to recognize and celebrate students’ cultural and linguistic resources, but it mobilized Maji’s rich lived experiences and transnational funds of knowledge. These sessions created a “safe” space for a multilingual adolescent refugee to deploy his rich bodies of knowledge constructed transnationally. This study calls stakeholders to imagine how this mentoring experience can be replicated in schools where refugees are frequently seen as a problem, and instead, how the school context can frame multilingual refugees’ funds of knowledge as a strength. How can we create liberatory educational experiences that value immigrant youth’s transnational funds of knowledge while building on their strengths to access new linguistic and cultural understandings?

Author

• Marisol Masso, Michigan State University