Coming Together on the Idea of Being "Foreign": Transcultural Pedagogies for Immigrant and Refugee Youth

• In Event: Claiming Space, Occupying Belonging: Immigrants and Refugees Contesting Otherness in Education

Abstract

To the extent that schools have historically struggled to meet the needs of multicultural populations (Banks, 2003; Delpit, 1998; Gay, 2004; Ladson-Billings, 1994, 1995a, 1995b; Sleeter, 2011), it is unsurprising that some educators feel unprepared to work with newly arrived immigrant and refugee students in culturally appropriate, relevant, and sustaining ways. Immigrant and refugee students drop out of school at rates twice as high as their U.S.-born counterparts due to poverty, prejudicial treatment from peers, and the negative consequences of educators who do not recognize or value their cultural backgrounds (Moinolnolki & Han, 2017). Some guidance for meeting the needs of immigrant and refugee students is arguably located in community-based out of school time (OST) spaces where educators reflect the racial, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds of the youth they serve.

Studies that focus on the positive impact of community-based education programs for immigrant and emergent multilingual students in the United States suggest the following: (a) heritage language schools have the potential to empower students to develop agency and confidence, increase their bilingual language and literacy skills, and enhance their identity development, academic performance, and success in traditional classrooms (Leeman, Rabin, & Roman–Mendoza, 2011; Pu, 2012); (b) community-based organizations can bridge the gaps between home and school with a “hybrid culture/space” that is particularly beneficial for low-income and working-class immigrant families (Orellana, 2016; Wong, 2010); (c) educators working in community-based after-school programs likely possess invaluable resources for schools looking to create inclusive and culturally relevant educational environments (Lee & Hawkins, 2008).

Building on existing literature, this paper draws on a qualitative ethnographic study conducted in 2016 at a community-based youth program in the Midwestern region of the United States. The study centers the pedagogies and epistemologies of immigrant, refugee, and “(New) American” educators to provide insight into how they meet the educational and socioemotional needs of immigrant and refugee youth with culturally relevant pedagogies. Participant observation, reflexive journaling, interviews, and focus group discussions—with data analysis grounded in the framework of “small stories” (Georgakopolou, 2006)—enabled the author to make the following key arguments: (a) the stories of immigrant and refugee educators in the United States contribute to a more comprehensive view of this population in both academic discourse and proverbial narratives; and (b) at the center of successful approaches for teaching immigrant and refugee youth are educators who value their students’ transcultural ways of being and knowing.

There are theoretical and practical implications from the research for preparing educators to effectively work in schools and communities with youth and families from multicultural backgrounds; and this research contributes to what we know about meeting the needs of the ethnically, linguistically, and culturally diverse groups of students that characterize public schools in the U.S. today.

Author

• Brooke Harris Garad, Indiana University - Bloomington