Translated literacies: Rosaura’s story

1. Translated literacies:Rosaura’s story Natasha Perez Michigan State University

2. Immigrant children • The largest growing population in American schools (Portes & Zhou, 2005) • Biculturalism is now the norm, not the exception • The “New Immigration” often transnational (Suarez-Orozco, 2001) • How can we envision success for these students in school?

3. Research questions • How do the experiences of Cuban immigrant students vary by socio-historical-cultural context, generational status, time of immigration? • What are the experiences of Rosaura, a Cuban immigrant student in the mid-west in regards to language and literacy? • What is the relationship between her cultural imagination and her literacy practices?

4. Theoretical framework • Language and literacy as a social practice mediated by culture and context (Bruner, 1996; Cole, 1996; Smagorinsky, 2000) • Funds of Knowledge (Moll, Amanti, Neff and Gonzalez, 1992) • Cuban Spanish • Cuban culture • Lived relationship with Cuba • Identity: a complex web of family, history, culture, artifacts, language and self (Holland, Skinner, Lachiotte Jr. and Cain’s (1998) • ‘Figured worlds’: the worlds we imagine and inhabit

5. Methodology • Phenomenological (VanManen, 1990) • Seeks to understand a person’s ‘lifeworld’ and her experiences • Being open to the meaning of another’s story involves “situating the other meaning in relation to the whole of our own meanings or ourselves in relation to it” (Gadamer, 1960/1975/2003). • Narrative writing: (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000) • To explore the “taken-for-grantedness” of people’s lives in listenting to and writing their stories

6. Method • Many visits over a six-month period • 3 semi-structured interviews • Informal conversations • Gathered field notes through observations of her with family, and neighbors • I made sense of the data through an iterative narrative process (VanManen, 1990) which involved cycles of reflection, writing memos, reading transcripts, writing pieces that would later be incorporated into drafts, and reading outside sources to help me make sense of the data.

7. Cubans in america Socio-cultural & political context matters First Narrative: • Flight of middle/upper class • First waves (1959-70's): exiles • Mariel wave (1979-82): exile/rescue • "Balsero" wave (90's): risk lives at sea Alternate Narrative • Recent waves: Economic Refugees, mixed motives, often return (Farber, 2011; Portes & Stepick, 1993)

8. Waves of Cuban Immigration

9. Figured Worlds of Cuba

10. Kennedy Admin Bay of Pigs Assassination Attempts Cold War International community Liberal Americans Recent Cubans

11. rosaura • Cuban-American teen-ager (15) • More recent Cuban immigrant family • Has returned twice to Cuba • Public school outside of her district • Loves to read, write poetry, and taking her time with assignments • Proud of her heritage • Loves Cuban food • Enjoys reading her bilingual Bible • Loves children • Thoughtful & reflective

12. Cubanidad: Cuban Identity at Home and in the Neighborhood • The mini-enclave • The low income apartment complex • Cuban food at home and at the neighbor’s houses • Many mothers work in the same factory • Carpool • Neighborhood resources • Children & neighbors speaking Spanish • Stories about Cuba • Cuban music streams out of the windows • Spanish literacy: garage sale books

13. Translating, Translanguaging & Transfer • Translating "in her head" • Reading and thinking in two languages • Reading the Bible in English/Spanish R: If I don't understand something very clearly I go to the English side, but I try, I start reading it out in Spanish Garcia (2011) “Bilinguals translanguage to make sense of their bilingual worlds”

14. Translanguaging • A “social accomplishment” that involves “shuttling between languages brought by the other to co-construct meaning” as the speaker “draws from all the languages in his/her repertoire to communicate” (Canagarajah, 2011, p. 4) • “Bilinguals translanguage to include and facilitate communication with others, but also to construct deeper understandings and make sense of their bilingual worlds” (O. Garcia, 2009, p. 45)

15. Restricted Translingualism On Being Bilingual: R: Whether you are in school, or just at home, your language is just as useful. It’s not like in the time you are in school that language is cut off, it’s not important anymore only English in the classes. And I feel, like in English class, I always try to keep my thoughts in Spanish, because both my languages are useful, whether I’m in school, or at home She worries about losing her Spanish (anxiety)

16. Literacy Transfer • “Transfer is one of the most venerable and important concepts in education” (Goldenberg, 2010) • When Literacy skills, Discourses & Knowledge of Genre in one language transfer to a new language • Cummins (1979, 1982, 1991) • Theory of Common Underlying Proficiency • Developmental interdependence • Holistic view of bilingualism • Cognitive, affective, social factors • Not uni-directional • Literacy Transfer related to the concept of drawing out knowledge, versus pouring (Dewey, 1932)

17. Her lived relationship with Cuba and Cuban culture sustain her Cuban identity, contributing to a sense of biculturalism What she writes about in her school journal: R: Most kids write about fantasy and science fiction, and things out of this world, that they imagine and aren’t real. But I always tend to stay with what I know, and what I know is Cuba, that’s my life. I was looking back through it [my journal], and every single story has to do with my sister, Cuba, coming from there, learning from it, something having to do with that. (Fieldnotes 6/11/13, p. 9-10, 41:12)

18. Cuba as paradise: reimagining the narrative R: …even though it’s really poor and all, it’s amazing when you go there, it’s like a paradise. Me: Tell me about Cuba being a paradise. R: [excited] Oh my gosh, when I went to Cuba, you know in Olguin…I was born in Freyde, it’s a providence in Olguin, and then more on comes the country part. My mom was born in the country, and my dad was born in ‘el pueblo’, the town. As you go in the country there is this part called Cangrejera, and then Porterillo, and it’s just full with mountains. Like some mountains were so high you see a little circle of clouds going over them, and they’re just beautiful. There are these hills, and a lot of rivers… just beautiful rivers. And you can always see palm trees and herds of cows and horses and just, everything around you.

19. Imagining figured worlds • Carroll, Motha and Price (2008) write that “constructing new identities involves acts of imagination. Through imagination, new meanings are appropriated. In this way, imagination is an essential component in the process of becoming and belonging” (p. 189). • The figured worlds that constitute her reality are always with her as a part of her history and her identity. • She reads text as a historically situated Cuban-American girl, with all of the histories and experiences that this identity implies for her.

20. Cuban culture is central to the way that she understands and enjoys canonical text The Odyssey: • R: I remember I was trying to explain to my English teacher, we were reading the Odyssey, and I was comparing one of the Odyssey’s stories with one of my life stories. And I was like, “if I could speak to you in Spanish right now you would understand and it would be so much simpler” because in Spanish there were words that I didn’t know how to say in English, so I was a little frustrated and I wanted to talk to her in Spanish because I could get all my thoughts out, but in English I was struggling a little to explain to her what I was trying to say 39:25 • Me: What would you have told her? Do you remember? • R: Odysseus went away and he stayed for a long time, and how I went away to America and stuff like that and it’s been a journey for me

21. identity • Self-described Cuban-American: R: I consider myself Cuban American, cause even though I love my country, I’ve learned to love this country. And even though there’s many problems between these two countries...they are similar, in many ways, and I’ve grown to love them both. • Spanish is very Important • Practices speaking in English with an accent so "people can know" R: Cuba gave me my identity Future aspirations: to open a dental school in Cuba and to be a therapist for children in crisis in the U.S.

22. Essentialized identity R: In school in tests um we always have to write on your paper, your nationality and all these things…But um, you know, sometimes I have to say that I’m Cuban and American. But I think mostly on my tests I mostly put that I’m Hispanic. I’ve grown to that habit. I’m just Hispanic.

23. Rosaura as a Translingual Student • She experiences language as a translingual • She embodies translingualism • Speaking in Spanish, Englishor both • Translating in her head to help herself understand concepts and text • Savoring what she reads in both of her languages • Even when she cannot translanguage verbally, she does it in her head (in school)

24. Reading the word & the world • Literacy as social practice grounded in culture • Cognitive & cultural are intertwined, as are thought and language • “Language becomes the primary medium for learning, meaning construction and cultural transmission and transformation” (Lee & Smagorinsky, 2000, p. 2). • In what language do bilingual students think? • Rosaura learns “with” and “through” her culture, language & background knowledge • What are the implications for literacy if some of our background knowledge is in another language and culture?

25. Jimenez (2003) urged researchers to explore “those literacies that are necessary for students to negotiate their lives”. I would argue that biliteracy and bilingualism is essential for Rosaura to navigate her life. • Explore micro spaces and opportunities unique to transnational students, and older • Rosaura’s bilingualism and biliteracy, and her ability to use them to make sense of text are an asset to her learning

26. What we can learn from rosaura • Recognizing difference without “othering” • How do students live and learn bilingually? As transnationals? • Conflation of ELL/Bilingual/Transnational • “the notion of the native speaker, especially as applied to bilingual individuals, is neither simple, obvious, nor straightforward” (Valdes, 2005, p. 415) • "Proficient" ELLs may mask their "difference” • Canonical texts vs. Multicultural Literature: there is no one size fits all! • Cummins autobiography work as a way of learning about the figured worlds of the students, by teacher and other students (community of learners) • Garcia (2009) Biliteracy Workshop • Canagarajah (2012/2013): translingual workshops

27. Urgency • It is predicted that language minorities will comprise approximately 30% of the public school population by 2015 (Li & Want, in press) • Hispanics-largest population of ELLs • Hispanics continue to be one of the fastest growing segments of the American public school population ( 21% ) (Pew Hispanic Research Center, 2012)

28. Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge the following institutions for their funding and support: • The Cuban Heritage Collection (CHC) at the University of Miami • The Tinker Foundation • The College of Education Summer Research Fellowship (Michigan State University)

29. references Bruner, J. (1996). The Culture of Education. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. Canagarajah, S. (2011a). Codemeshing in Academic Writing: Identifying Teachable Strategies of Translanguaging. The Modern Language Journal, 95(3), 401-417. Canagarajah, S. (2011b). Translanguaging in the classroom: emerging issues for research and pedagogy. Applied Linguistics(2), 1-28. Canagarajah, S. (2013). Translingual Practice: Global Englishes and Cosmopolitan Relations. London: Routledge. Clandinin, D. J., & Connelly, F. M. (2000). Narrative Inquiry: Experience and story in qualitative research. San Francisco: Josey-Bass. Cole, M. (1996). Cultural psychology: A once and future discipline. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Cummins, J. (1982). Interdependence and bicultural ambivalence: regarding the pedagogical rationale for bilingual education. Arlington, Va: National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education. Farber, S. (2011). Cuba Since the Revolution of 1959: A critical assessment. Chicago, Illinois: Haymarket Books. Gadamer, H. G. (1960/1975/2003). Truth and Method. New York: The Continuum International Publishing Group. Holland, D., Skinner, D., Lachicotte Jr., W., & Cain, C. (1998). Identity and Agency in Cultural Worlds. Cambridge, Masachusetts: Harvard University Press. Jimenez, R. T. (2003). Literacy and latino students in the United States: Some considerations, questions and new directions. Reading Research Quarterly, 38(1), 122-128. Lee, C. D., & Smagorinsky, P. (2000). Introduction. Perspectives on Literacy Research: Constructing Meaning through Collaborative Inquiry (pp. 1-15). UK: Cambridge University Press. Portes, A., & Stepick, A. (1993). City on the Edge: the Transformation of Miami. Berkeley: University of California Press. Portes, A., & Zhou, M. (2005). The new second generation: segmented assimmilation and its variants. New York: Routledge. Smagorinsky, C. D. L. a. P. (Ed.). (2000). Vygotskian Perspectives on Literacy Research. UK: Cambridge University Press. Suarez-Orozco, C., & Suarez-Orozco, M. M. (2001). Children of Immigration. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Valdes, G. (2005). Bilingualism, Heritage Language Leraners, and SLA Research: Opportunities Lost or Seized? The Modern Language Journal, 89(iii), 410-426. VanManen, M. (1990). Researching lived experience. New York: State University of New York Press.a