Abstract
This chapter focuses on a community literacy project called the “Kahani” project, an approach to teaching diasporic Asian Indian American (AIA) children to write about and preserve their Indigenous (i.e., ethnic) Knowledge (Battiste & Youngblood, 2000). Language Arts curriculum in the US is predominantly Ameri-centric and limiting to children from minoritized communities, who come from complex and rich cultural backgrounds. The inclusive education questions the curriculum in schools for people from the non-mainstream communities. Educators who teach ‘other people's children' (Delpit, 1990) have to be accountable to disrupt the established non-inclusive official pedagogical practices, especially in Language Arts. The Kahani Literacy project model hypothesizes that communal/collective writing is beneficial. Educators must create supportive learning opportunities for diasporic writers to engage in writing about their lived experiences and world view in a shared and social setting through dialogic conferencing.
TopContext
With few exceptions, literacy educators are mandated to follow a standardized curriculum based on the canon. Commonly with an over-representation of Euro-centric or Ameri-centric perspectives and experiences, texts from marginalized communities are excluded or neglected. Even when attempts are made to “multiculturize” the reading list or activities, the result is often a “single story” (Adichie, 2009) about an ethnic group or pedagogies that distance the students’ of color from schooling. Research demonstrates that the experiences and epistemologies of minoritized groups are customarily excluded through more traditional approaches to Language Arts instruction (i.e., listening, speaking, reading, writing) (e.g., Alexander & Weekes-Bernard, 2017; Hays, 2011; Nishina, et al, 2019). The challenge to educators is the design of rigorous pedagogies that are culturally and linguistically inclusive for all learners (Kramsch, 1993; Valenzuela, 1999; Vaish, 2015).
The discussions in this chapter focus on any activity that contributes to Language Arts instruction for students who have a rich variety of cultural practices (e.g., oral traditions, religion) and linguistic proficiencies (e.g., languages, multilingualism). Because this chapter is informed by sociocultural theory, I explore literacy as it develops inside and outside of formal schooling. With the same understanding, I include those modalities that foreground systematized forms of communication beyond the linguistic modes (e.g., kinesic/dance [Bharatanatyam], visual/arts [Picture books], and tonal/music semiotic [Carnatic] systems) in order to facilitate culturally contextualized story writing.
It was advanced that diasporic, Asian Indian American children, through culturally mediated literacy activities, would develop deeper appreciation for their cultural heritage (Moll, 1992; Moll, et al., 1992; Moll 2019). Thematic analysis of their Kahanis (i.e., culturally situated narratives) revealed the incorporation of topics and experiences that highlighted and validated various aspects of Indic-centric traditions. Working within a cultural framework that privileges and ameliorates (versus disparages) the adolescents’ writing manifested disinterred, deeply felt lived experiences that were absent in school curriculum. I also posit that these children, through engaging in collective, culturally mediated literacy activities, would:
Thematic analysis (applying MacIntyre's Narrative Analysis) of their Kahanis (i.e., culturally situated narratives) revealed the incorporation of topics and experiences that highlighted and validated various aspects of Indic culture. The Kahani Project, culturally framed approach based on the NCTE Writing Workshop model (Atwell, 1987; Graves, 1991; Ray, 2006), provided children with an opportunity to delve into topics they had deep first-hand knowledge about and the stories that the children wanted to share collectively in a safe space, where they were not exoticized or subjected to ridicule.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Trishanku World (TW): A metaphorical space, where diasporic individuals integrate the components (e.g., culture, language, religion) into a coalesced identity. The process is self-motivated, but depends on environment and tension caused due to cultural dissonance. TW is the individual’s psychological space, but a fight against the mainstream society and its perspective principles.
Cultural Socialization: Refers to the process of communal activities that enable children to venerate their culture and hence be socialized to preserve their culture.
“Culturalized” Writing: Literacy activities that provide children from minoritized groups an opportunity to write about their lived experiences, culture, worldviews, and epistemologies.
Appreciation of Heritage: The act of engaging in cultural growth for psychological well- being of children from diverse backgrounds.
Indigenous Knowledge: A body of knowledge that refers to culture-specific elements.
Text-to-Culture Connection: An addition to the NCTE Readwritethink textual connections that include cultural connections in various texts.
Kahani: A word in Hindi, an Indo-European language from India, that means story.