Sustaining Students’ Cultures and Identities. A Qualitative Study Based on the Funds of Knowledge and Identity Approaches

Moises Esteban-Guitart, José Luis Lalueza, Cristina Zhang-Yu and Mariona Llopart
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Moises Esteban-Guitart: Department of Psychology, Institute of Educational Research, University of Girona, Pl. Sant Domènec, 9, 17004 Girona, Spain
José Luis Lalueza: Department of Basics, Developmental and Educational Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), Spain
Cristina Zhang-Yu: Department of Psychology, Institute of Educational Research, University of Girona, Pl. Sant Domènec, 9, 17004 Girona, Spain
Mariona Llopart: Department of Psychology, Institute of Educational Research, University of Girona, Pl. Sant Domènec, 9, 17004 Girona, Spain

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 12, 1-12

Abstract: Recently, the notion of culturally sustaining pedagogy has been suggested to refer to different educational practices that share the will to recognize, maintain and develop cultural diversity in the classroom. The study presented here describes two empirical examples that illustrate teaching and learning processes in which the curriculum is channeled through the references of meaning, life events and experiences of students and their families. In the first example, curriculum—natural science and language—was linked with the experience of some families with the use of peanuts. In the second example, a discussion was generated around students’ cultural identities. These examples are based on funds of knowledge and funds of identity participatory research-action projects, and are the result of broader projects carried out in two specific educational contexts in Catalonia (Spain, Europe), a region characterized by a considerable increase in diversity and geographical heterogeneity in recent decades. These empirical cases are discussed within the framework of the development of inclusive pedagogies which, in addition to recognizing the living cultures and practices of students, allow these cultural references to be maintained and sustained, and encourage the construction of hybrid and transcultural identities in which ways of being and understanding life shared by the family culture and/or culture of origin are intertwined with the hegemonic culture and society.

Keywords: Culturally sustaining pedagogy; funds of knowledge; funds of identity; social justice; qualitative approach; cultural diversity; inclusive education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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