- Barron (2013)
This figured world is one where culture, identity, and language come to play in British Pakistani children in kindergarten. These children grow up in two worlds: the one at home, and the one outside their home. In their home they are Pakistani, they perhaps speak a different language, the music is different, the food is different, and maybe even the types of clothing are all different from mainstream Britain. Barron (2013) notes a discourse between the researcher and Mitchell where the child (Mitchell) makes a distinction between Eid and Christmas celebrations based on the darkness of his skin. The discourse I enjoyed the most was between Hamad and the researcher. The game which they played (cricket) is a popular game in both Pakistan and Britain. I found it interesting that even though Hamad was growing up in England, in his figured world, his identity was Pakistani and not British. I am certain that in his observation, home culture and English culture are different and cannot be combined in any way. Even in his figured world, he resists the English identity that the researcher tries to impose on him during the game.
Barron’s (2013) citation of (Moll, 2010) stayed with me,
“when students witness the validation of their culture and language, hence of themselves, within the educational process, when they see themselves in their schooling, they combine their home or community identities with an academic identity”.
In this way I would suggest perhaps that Hamad does not see himself yet in his schooling, hence the resistance of the English identity.
- Gelfuso and Dennis (2017)
The figured world of literacy teaching and learning was an interesting read for me. It evoked thoughts patterns and process I went through as a Graduate Instructor during my Masters when I planned my class lessons. There were ways I had to structure my lessons and teach because of the syllabus and calendar given to me even though at the time I felt it was not as helpful.
In this article, Gelfuso and Dennis (2017) describe a figured world “created through the language used between an in-service teacher (Sherry) and a preservice teacher (Megan)”. In this figure world, Sherry is a mentor who has taught for four years and Megan is a novice and preservice teacher who often agrees to Sherry’s propositions. Megan accepts that Sherry knows what is doing because she has been doing it for a while. There is little resistance from Megan. Even when she pushes back and suggests that “summarizing” should be defined in the lesson beforehand, Sherry’s line of questioning to me seemed defensive. Rather than acknowledging the suggestion from Megan, she quickly proposes another idea phrasing it as “I am almost wondering if we should have a retelling prepared”. The use of “I” exerts authority as an in-service teacher and mentor and the use of “we” frames the suggestion as if that is what they both want.
The lesson plans, the charts, and language use especially are tools that pivot the discourse between the two in this figured world.
- Blackburn (2002)
This piece was really something! It had everything! Power, language, identity, reauthoring and refiguring figured worlds. This article examines “the literary performances and identity work of a young woman who challenges homophobia and heterosexism and their consequences for literacy learning and academic agency.”
Justine’s role as an agent of her figured world was amazing to read. In class, we did go back and forth with whether we do have agency in figured worlds. The question replayed itself here. Of course, outside of Justine’s writing, she was a victim of verbal abuse and emotional abuse in one figured world. However, the experiences and the abuses she felt, were re-authored in the other figured world (her poetry, her words, and in her writings). In this world, she had the power to re-write her story. She now has power over her abusers. In her figured world, she is openly gay and does not care what anyone thinks. The power Justine felt as she read her writings during Story time, sharing her inner thoughts and feelings empowered her to be more open about her identity and sexuality.
It is interesting how identities play into her life. She takes labels that people use to identify her, and re-work them such that those labels are tools that empower her. As a result, even though she is called a “dyke”, her meaning of the word does not diminish her or make her feel inferior.
All these figured worlds I read about this week are somewhat similar to figured worlds I have observed or participated in. The one that comes to mind is when I was in secondary school. I attended an all-boys boarding school. The students all came from different places in the country, different cultural upbringings, different home languages, etc. A common language we all shared was English because of formal education but often in our dorms, we spoke to each other in our native languages. It is not surprising for a Ghanaian to speak more than one native language because many language communities live together. One language that was common to most of us from the South was ‘Twi’, a language of the Akan people. Although I could speak Twi, my peers often laughed at me when I spoke Twi saying, “you speak Twi with a Ga accent”. I tried and tried to speak like an Akan, but till date, I cannot. Those comments and experiences impacted my learning of Twi and I became very conscious of speaking Twi in the midst of my Twi speaking peers. Later in my secondary school years, I would often pretend I did not understand or speak in Twi just to avoid being teased. I guess in my own way, that was how I resisted in this figured world of Twi-speakers.
Edwin-
ReplyDeleteI found your last paragraph to be really interesting as you discussed grappling with your identities within the figured world of "the dorm." I actually wanted to tie what you shared in that paragraph to the large quote you shared above, discussing the importance of students having their own culture validated in schools. For the experience of speaking Twi, you brought with you an identity shaped by growing up speaking a different native language. Though you attempted to participate in the figured world by speaking the dominant language of the others in the world, your talk, influenced by your identity from a different world (shaped by the artifact of language) was mocked. This, in turn, led to your resistance to participating in discussions with Twi-speakers. I'm wondering how this ties into schools and the schooling of children. How are students "policed" in the way they communicate in schools and in what ways are they reprimanded or discouraged from having their home language or home ways of being and knowing in schools regulated or discouraged. How might these experiences, in turn, lead to resistance in schools?
The idea of "policing" could make students resist or conform. When I was in primary school, the idea of even speaking to other students in your home language, and not in English was frowned upon. Fellow students would even out each other to teachers when a friend spoke in their home language. Some students would resist and still continue speaking in their home language but in the absence of school authorities, but sadly, the fear of school authorities made other students conform to speaking only English and often this would come at the cost of valuing English over their home language.
DeleteEdwin, thank you for such a thoughtful post. It helped me to better see Justine's agency in her figured world. I think you point out so well how figured worlds is very much sociocultural. How we are positioned within a figured world works to play into our acceptance of or resistance to the roles that world imposes on our identities. Your story of the dorms reminded me of a story my father recently told us about language. I asked him why he did not teach us Tagalog as children. He recently responded, "Because y'all laughed at me." When he first told me this, I thought "That's ridiculous. He was the parent. He certainly could have made us learn it." Now, I wonder how his roles in multiple figured worlds at the time (in his marriage, as an ethnic outsider, trying to gain citizenship), I wonder how all of these worlds overlapped to make a space where his four children laughing might cause him react in a similar fashion as you did to peers. It certainly speaks to the seriousness we in education should give to intentionally creating figured worlds within our classrooms where all languages and language learning is privileged.
ReplyDeleteEdwin, thank you for sharing the quote taken from Barron (2013). I believe that I, too, found the conversation between the researcher and Hamad to be very insightful. Largely due to our conversation about agency; I found it so interesting that a boy so young elicited so much agency in his conversation around cultural practice and identity. To borrow from Blackburn (2002-2003), Hamad's figured world is composed of multiple performances, two of which is the British school and classroom and British culture - cricket, and the other is the world of home and Pakistani culture. Hamad's pivots are language and playing the game of cricket - though he moves back and forth throughout these performances, he is ever aware of this socio-cultural ties to and membership in his Pakistani world. To be Pakistani in his figured world is special and non-transferable, demonstrated through his language in conversation with the researcher when he states, "No, I Pakistan. You be England. I live in England but my country is Pakistan. I Pakistan guy." His identity then is largely shaped by his affiliation with his community. It is not that he doesn't identify with or recognize the British community and British culture; evidenced through his love of cricket. Cricket is decidedly British. Rather, it's just that he identifies greater with Pakistan and Pakistani culture.
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