Language, Culture, and Resiliency in National Participatory Studies with Young Indigenous Children and Families

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

This paper symposium will explore the intersection of language, culture, and resiliency. It will include three papers that draw upon two national studies, including the American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) and the Migrant and Seasonal Head Start (MSHS) Study. The first paper will provide background on the foundational role of language and culture in Native children’s development including as a source of resilience. Findings from AI/AN FACES about children’s Native language and culture experiences and development will be presented. The second paper offers a strengths-based approach for understanding linguistic and cultural processes for migrant and seasonal farmworker children and families across the country, including shifts in indigenous language use. The third paper illustrates the active collaboration across the two studies to develop observational measures that are culturally- and linguistically- grounded in community practices. As a whole, the symposium will help participants consider the ways in which language and culture serve as sources of strength, along with methodological advancements using community-based participatory research in national studies. The session will be moderated by a prominent expert in risk and resilience, who will help elucidate themes such as highlighting language and culture as protective factors to support indigenous families experiencing historical trauma and ongoing systemic racism; how researchers can better measure unique child, family and classroom aspects of language and culture to incorporate a strengths-based approach; and, commonalities and differences in how indigenous families experience language and culture as protective factors.

Sub Unit

• Solicited Content: Indigenous Children and Families

Chair

• Erin Bumgarner, Abt Associates - Massachusetts

Discussant

• Ann S. Masten, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

Individual Presentations

• Native Language and Culture in Development: AI/AN Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey Findings - Presenting Author: Michelle Sarche, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus; Non-Presenting Author: Jessica V Barnes-Najor, Michigan State University; Non-Presenting Author: Ann Cameron, Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan, Inc.; Non-Presenting Author: Lana Garcia, Pueblo of Jemez Walatowa Head Start; Non-Presenting Author: Sara Bernstein, Mathematica Policy Research - District of Columbia; Non-Presenting Author: Lizabeth Malone, Mathematica Policy Research - District of Columbia; Non-Presenting Author: Laura Hoard, United States Office of Planning, Research & Evaluation (OPRE); Non-Presenting Author: Meryl Yoches Barofsky, United States Office of Child Care

• Linguistic, Cultural, and Resiliency Processes Among Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker Children and Families - Presenting Author: Sandra Barrueco, Catholic University of America; Non-Presenting Author: Michael L. Lopez, NORC at the University of Chicago; Non-Presenting Author: Erin Bumgarner, Abt Associates - Massachusetts; Non-Presenting Author: Haregnesh Haile, Catholic University of America

• Developing Observational Measures of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse and Indigenous Classrooms - Presenting Author: Michael L. Lopez, NORC at the University of Chicago; Non-Presenting Author: Sandra Barrueco, Catholic University of America; Non-Presenting Author: Erin Bumgarner, Abt Associates - Massachusetts; Non-Presenting Author: Jessica V Barnes-Najor, Michigan State University; Non-Presenting Author: Michelle Sarche, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus