Asian Indian American Children's Creative Writing: An Approach for Cultural Preservation
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| Title: | Asian Indian American Children's Creative Writing: An Approach for Cultural Preservation |
|---|---|
| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Iyengar, Kalpana Mukunda, Smith, Howard L. |
| Source: | Educational Studies: Journal of the American Educational Studies Association. 2016 52(2):95-118. |
| Availability: | Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 24 |
| Publication Date: | 2016 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Reports - Research |
| Descriptors: | Indians, Student Diversity, Cultural Maintenance, Creative Writing, Academic Achievement, Writing Workshops, Student Attitudes, Culturally Relevant Education, Language Maintenance, Religion, Music, Dance, Religious Education, Interviews, Children, Preadolescents, Cultural Awareness, Social Attitudes, Content Analysis |
| DOI: | 10.1080/00131946.2016.1142993 |
| ISSN: | 0013-1946 |
| Abstract: | Many children from diverse cultures experience disconnectedness between their home and school. As they attempt to reconcile the conflicts among their multiple worlds, they must negotiate their situatedness in a variety of contexts, i.e., home community versus school, and construct a multifaceted identity. Absent support from school, Asian Indian American adolescents engage in acts of cultural preservation (CP), which, in turn, support their scholastic achievement. This article explores the thematic content of a group of Asian Indian American children's creative writing generated for the "Kahani" Project--a culturally contextualized version of Writers' Workshop. In their texts, the six adolescents discuss the importance of their cultural traditions as tools to contest the various micro-aggressions they experience in school. Data from this study argue for cultural inclusion, not only for those at risk, but also for those students who successfully navigate a mainstream curriculum. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Number of References: | 94 |
| Entry Date: | 2016 |
| Accession Number: | EJ1095658 |
| Database: | ERIC |
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| FullText | Links: – Type: pdflink Url: https://content.ebscohost.com/cds/retrieve?content=AQICAHj0k_4E0hTGH8RJwT4gCJyBsGNe_WN95AvKlDbXJGqwxwG__1FrgYdZsDOrnxfxNLckAAAA4zCB4AYJKoZIhvcNAQcGoIHSMIHPAgEAMIHJBgkqhkiG9w0BBwEwHgYJYIZIAWUDBAEuMBEEDB-E3cQk4pxRbB-ARwIBEICBmyIlIJtmDTzf6UY2tZIk_0wQZpk7zK08_DhZpFVU4Rzch5L4ssynaKkLTwjah9BjPvq6JAk4N3XJtPSCK_v8z0lItFH0qTj7aLIZkrMEKTlJJ8OxrJSmKpwrh7_uT34H6WpEay7PQkI9WU4AKkRtWJjlYf8rzj1KpLrd2BWRiLqIPnH8ahD6SbymptG3H3JxzdShapTYK5dDDmo8 Text: Availability: 1 Value: <anid>AN0114192725;27m01mar.16;2019Feb13.15:50;v2.2.500</anid> <title id="AN0114192725-1">Asian Indian American Children's Creative Writing: An Approach for Cultural Preservation. </title> <p>Many children from diverse cultures experience disconnectedness between their home and school. As they attempt to reconcile the conflicts among their multiple worlds, they must negotiate their situatedness in a variety of contexts, i.e., home community versus school, and construct a multifaceted identity. Absent support from school, Asian Indian American adolescents engage in acts of cultural preservation (CP), which, in turn, support their scholastic achievement. This article explores the thematic content of a group of Asian Indian American children's creative writing generated for the Kahani Project—a culturally contextualized version of Writers' Workshop. In their texts, the six adolescents discuss the importance of their cultural traditions as tools to contest the various micro-aggressions they experience in school. Data from this study argue for cultural inclusion, not only for those at risk, but also for those students who successfully navigate a mainstream curriculum.</p> <p>As increasing numbers of ethnic groups immigrate to the United States every year (US Census, 2010), teachers are challenged to find innovative strategies to accommodate students from diverse backgrounds. In the absence of culturally responsive instruction (Baskerville, [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref1">4</reflink>]; Richards, Brown, &amp; Forde, [<reflink idref="bib71" id="ref2">71</reflink>]), such diverse students may face cultural alienation and, ultimately, disengagement from schooling due to a curriculum that privileges cultural practices and values other than their own (Candela 2005; Ennis, 2000). Even dedicated teachers may have difficulties in creating culturally engaging activities, especially in those content areas that are highly prescripted—like writing or the language arts (Guthrie, [<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref3">35</reflink>]).</p> <p>Arguably, literacy forms the cornerstone of all education in school. In addition to the requisite English lesson, students apply their acquired literacy skills and their understanding of a variety of sign systems to make sense of mathematics, science, and social studies, as well as literature. Although it is critical for the academic success for students to acquire, create, and share knowledge using their literacy skills for school activities, the same skills must be applied to life-long learning outside of the school.</p> <p>Far from optional or superfluous, research shows that increased cultural connections in instruction produces greater engagement among students, especially those from diverse cultures (e.g., Guthrie, [<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref4">35</reflink>]; Ladson-Billings, [<reflink idref="bib44" id="ref5">44</reflink>], [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref6">45</reflink>]; Lee &amp; Smagorinsky, [<reflink idref="bib47" id="ref7">47</reflink>]; Lewis, Encisco, &amp; Moje, [<reflink idref="bib50" id="ref8">50</reflink>]; Moje et al., 2004; Moll, Saez, &amp; Dworin, 2001). When there is a cultural disconnect between the student and the curricular practices, the likelihood of alienation increases. Eventually, learners who are schooled through a culturally dissonant curriculum experience cultural atrophy.</p> <p>One way of leveraging culture is through narrative writing, because it provides diverse students with an opportunity to express culturally relevant topics, which may increase their academic engagement and agency. For many, narrative is basic to human understanding of the world (De Fina &amp; Georgakopoulou, [<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref9">17</reflink>]). According to Koenig Kellas (2013, p. 76), "Stories and storytelling are one of the primary ways that families and family members make sense of both everyday and difficult events, create a sense of individual and group identity, remember, connect generations, and establish guidelines for family behavior." These connections can be achieved through writing narratives about one's heritage, roots, and culture. The purpose of this study is to explore and deconstruct the narratives created by Asian Indian American students to express and explore their cultural capital.</p> <hd id="AN0114192725-2">CONTEXT</hd> <p>All children benefit when they have opportunities to explore their culture and heritage in meaningful ways, especially writing. When there is cultural disconnect between the student and the curricular practices, the likelihood of alienation increases. Eventually, learners who are schooled through culturally dissonant curriculum experience cultural atrophy. Ferguson, Heath, and Huang (1981) claim, "US is a monolithic English speaking nation in which other languages are vestigial or transitory" (p. 73).</p> <p>The need for culturally responsive pedagogy is no small matter. Those teachers who incorporate students' funds of knowledge and their cultural capital scaffold the students' learning and support their psychological well-being. According to Raver ([<reflink idref="bib70" id="ref10">70</reflink>]), "Children who are emotionally well adjusted have a significantly greater chance of early school success, while children who experience serious emotional difficulty face grave risks of early school difficulty" (p. 1). Although not all students experience such extremes, all students benefit when their assignments are culturally situated. Even when students craft an acceptable text, assignments that are not culturally grounded fail to reach the critical level of authentic engagement (Schlechty, 2010). To counterbalance the effects of prolonged absence of culturally relevant materials, students from diverse cultures must engage in activities that support linguistic and cultural preservation (CP).</p> <p>One group of students who receive little attention in educational research, especially in the area of literacy, is Asian Indian American students. The United States Census Bureau (2010) documents 2 million Asian Indian Americans, 45% of whom are school-aged (ProQuest [Firm], &amp; United States. Government Accountability Office, 2014). Though often found in urban areas, they do live throughout the United States. Despite their growing number, the lack of research on this population may be attributed to the fact that they (a) are English-speaking immigrants, (b) tend to have higher socio-economic status, and (c) are often associated with success in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.</p> <p>Despite such positive attributes, Asian Indian American students typically have a cultural perspective different from the US main stream and are at risk of losing their cultural heritage. They encounter curricular practices that ignore their community cultural wealth and, on occasion, belittle their heritage practices. For that reason, it is critical to find ways to scaffold and shield their emotional and psychological well-being. One strategy to support these children is the use of culturally mediated tools (e.g., literacies, arts), which are especially appropriate for their academic advancement and cultural grounding.</p> <hd id="AN0114192725-3">THE KAHANI PROJECT</hd> <p>Named after the Hindi word for <emph>story</emph>, the <emph>Kahani</emph> Project is based on Writers' Workshop within an Asian Indian cultural framework. Participants from across the world are recruited to perform retellings of their original works, as well as from the Asian Indian oral traditions. For this study, adolescent writers from a major metropolitan city of the Southwest were recruited to create original stories from their personal experience, without dictated topic or prescribed themes. The data for this study was collected through the project in the summer of 2014. Most of the narratives are testimonial texts in which the adolescent writers explored their life experiences using a bicultural lens.</p> <p>The experiences afforded Asian Indian American students through the <emph>Kahani</emph> Project were a change from the Western, Americentric curriculum utilized by their schools. In the <emph>Kahani</emph> Project, culturally framed creative writing privileged the culture of the diverse learners. Asian Indian culture was no longer positioned as peripheral to learning. Heritage practices ceased to be exoticized or problematized (Urrieta, [<reflink idref="bib87" id="ref11">87</reflink>], [<reflink idref="bib88" id="ref12">88</reflink>]), but were taken as a critical element for literacy development, cultural affirmation, and identity construction.</p> <hd id="AN0114192725-4">LITERATURE REVIEW: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK</hd> <p>Current research demonstrates the cultural nature of learning. All groups have modes and ways to share knowledge or collective wisdom (Esteban-Guitart &amp; Moll, 2014). In some cultures, written literacy is privileged as the primary mediator; in others, the oral traditions are the customary vehicles for cultural transmission (Padilla &amp; Perez, 2003). Moreover, research shows that cultures have a broad array of sign systems that convey meaning, i.e., semiotics (Dicker, 2003). Among the variety are music (Monelle, [<reflink idref="bib58" id="ref13">58</reflink>]), dance (Blanariu, 2015), food (Parasecoli, [<reflink idref="bib65" id="ref14">65</reflink>]), and religious observances.</p> <p>This study is informed by epistemologies of cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT). This theoretical construct emphasizes the cultural nature of intellectual development and learning (Wolf-Michael &amp; Yew-Jin, 2007). Using CHAT as a framework, we propose that: (a) knowledge and its applications (e.g., storytelling and music engagement) are culturally based; (b) cultures have unique ways of dissemination (e.g., teaching) as well as modes of diffusion (e.g., writing) through active social transmission; and (c) active engagement in socially, culturally, historically grounded experiences leads to increased intellectual development and psychological well-being (Cole &amp; Engestrom, 2013; Lecusay, Rossen, &amp; Cole, 2008; Lillie, 2012; Lum, 2011; Moll, 2013; Sannino, Daniels, &amp; Guiterrez, 2009; Wertsch, [<reflink idref="bib91" id="ref15">91</reflink>]).</p> <p>In US contexts, the research on Asian Indian people has been more anthropological, primarily focusing on their cultural practices. According to the US Census, Asian Indians came to America in 1964, when the United States granted naturalization rights to foreigners. Since then, this demographic of people has grown exponentially from 0.6% of the US population in 2000 to 1% in 2013 (US Census, 2010). There are about 3.1 million Asian Indians living in the United States today and 71% of this population has Bachelors or higher degrees. In 2013, Nina Davuluri became Miss America; in 2014 Nikki Haley was elected as the governor of South Carolina for the second term; in 2014, Rakesh Kurana was appointed as the dean of Harvard College; in 2014, Vivek Murthy became the first surgeon general of the United States, and in 2015, Sundar Pichai was appointed as the CEO of Google. Asian Indians are a successful group of immigrants in the United States. Small and large corporations employ and retain them for their willingness to contribute to the company's growth along with maintaining a decent living style in the United States (e.g., USAA, IBM, Intel, Microsoft). US Census also documents the exponential increase of this ethnicity in the US (see Table 1).</p> <p>Table 1 Statistics</p> <p> <ephtml> &lt;table&gt;&lt;thead&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;1910&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;2000&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;2010&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Education&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/thead&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;2,545&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;0.6% of the US population&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;0.9% of the US population&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Bachelors and above: 71%&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt; </ephtml> </p> <p>Bacon's (1999) ethnography examined identity construction in Asian Indians within American communities. His work revealed the formation of both personal and communal identities. Similarly, Gupta (1999) reviewed editorials written by Asian Indian people with an eye to identity construction. Although revealing the participants' ideas regarding regional and state differences in cultural artifacts (e.g., buildings, clothing), the study did not clarify their processes of identity construction or negotiation. Bhalla (2008) collected letters to the editor written by Asian Indian women and found Pan-American identity. In Bhalla's research, the participants' narratives indicated their negotiation of two cultures: the –United States and Asian Indian. However, the study did not explore instances of cultural dissonance. Farver, Bhadha, and Narang (2002) discuss Asian Indian familial influence on children's psychological functioning. This research demonstrates the power of literacy as a mediator of ethnic identity construction (Stetsenko &amp; Arievitch, 2004).</p> <p>In keeping with the notion of literacy as a mediator, Graves (1990) invites teachers to read and write with their students to understand life's perplexities and to give voice to express thoughts and to give hope. Atwell (2015) recommends that teachers encourage their students to use their prior knowledge or unforgettable experiences outside of school as sources of inspiration before beginning the writing process so the "creative juices can begin to flow" (p. 129). She also encourages teachers to help students appreciate their written texts as tools that support reflection and critical thinking on matters important to them and their world.</p> <hd id="AN0114192725-5">CULTURAL GROUNDEDNESS</hd> <p>Bahtia and Ram (2001) presents the idea of cultural groundedness to indicate an appreciation or awareness of one's culture. Those with this cognitive skill not only possess knowledge of their heritage, but they are able to construct an identity and sense of self-worth that are embedded in, and validated by, their culture. Cultural groundedness yields cognitive advantages such as multilingualism, as well as meta-cognitive skills like biculturalism. Cultural groundedness can function as a shield against symbolic violence (Bourdieu &amp; Thompson, [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref16">8</reflink>]) and micro-aggressions (Hardy, [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref17">36</reflink>]) experienced by members of marginalized groups who must interact with the broader (i.e., main stream) society. Children who are culturally grounded are more likely to perform well in schools (Urrieta, [<reflink idref="bib87" id="ref18">87</reflink>]).</p> <p>Similarly, Valenzuela ([<reflink idref="bib89" id="ref19">89</reflink>], p. 163) speaks of a "dual frame of reference" that bicultural students develop as they negotiate their identities and the meanings of their bicultural lives. As a tool of psychological mediation, the dual frame of reference allows individuals to consider multiple perspectives (social, cultural, linguistic), as well as their own situatedness within a given context. Concepts such as values, customs appropriateness, and relationships are filtered through this dual frame of reference. When afforded an opportunity, students utilize this tool of mediation in their conversations and their writing (Smith &amp; Riojas-Cortez, [<reflink idref="bib77" id="ref20">77</reflink>]). They found that parents and other family members reinforce these notions through <emph>dichos</emph>, <emph>corridos</emph>, <emph>leyendas</emph>, and other oral literacies.</p> <p>Research shows the art of the oral traditions is equally important in some cultures, including Asian Indian American culture (Geneshi &amp; Dyson, 2009). In addition to its aesthetic aspects, storytelling is an interdisciplinary activity found in science, education, psychology, and performing arts (SunWolf, 1999). Divinyi's (1995) research showed the effect of storytelling as a therapeutic tool, as did Swittherell's (1991) study on narrative. G. S. Howard ([<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref21">39</reflink>]) found that cultural stories not only help with healing personal trauma, but also played a crucial role in the process of identity construction. As they construct their identities, bicultural children reflectively select the elements from their funds of identities (available cultural worlds) to integrate into their unique identities. For example, Asian Indian American children have utilized their community cultural wealth and performing arts to construct their bicultural identities through the formation of a psychological third space called "The <emph>Trishanku</emph> World" (Iyengar, [<reflink idref="bib40" id="ref22">40</reflink>], p. 169). In their work, Esteban-Guitart and Moll ([<reflink idref="bib23" id="ref23">23</reflink>]), discuss the role of the school in scaffolding learners as they construct their identities:</p> <p>We use the term "funds of identity" to refer to the historically accumulated, culturally developed, and socially distributed resources that are essential for a person's self-definition, self-expression, and self-understanding. Funds of knowledge—bodies of knowledge and skills that are essential for the well-being of an entire household—become funds of identity when people actively use them to define themselves. (p. 31)</p> <p>In sum, research recognizes the important role of cultural engagement leading to cultural groundedness, identity construction, psychological well-being, and academic achievement. Although the research has focused on Latino/a, African American communities, we argue that it is no less important for other ethnic groups such as Asian Indian American (Iyengar, [<reflink idref="bib40" id="ref24">40</reflink>]). In this article, we attempt to uncover aspects of cultural groundedness and CP as revealed in the creative writing of Asian Indian Americans.</p> <hd id="AN0114192725-6">CP: LINGUISTIC AND CULTURAL</hd> <p>For our work, we define CP as the effort put forth by parents, educators, and students from diverse cultures to protect their heritage practices from disappearing because of lack of use, curricular exclusion, and devaluation by the broader society. People engage in CP when they cherish their cultural capital, their funds of identity, or when they perceive a threat of extinction to the same. People engage in acts of preservation when they fear the disappearance of flora and fauna, historic sites, and relics, as well as heritage culture. No less endangered are the beliefs, traditional practices, artistic expressions, and religions of marginalized groups within the broader society. Language, both in oral and written expression, is embedded in all of these. In an ideal world, the traditions and values of diverse cultures would be equally studied and appreciated. In reality, the responsibility of protecting diverse cultural practices is shouldered of those who belong to those groups. Although they may engage in traditional cultural practices with their children, parents may be unaware of the important contributions such acts of CP make toward the school performance and the psychological well-being and the cultural groundedness of their children.</p> <hd id="AN0114192725-7">PRIMARY TOOLS OF CP</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0114192725-8">Religious Experience and Artistic Expression: Traditional/Classical Music and Dance</hd> <p>As a cultural tool, music is a powerful mnemonic device, which enhances memory, strengthens group membership, fosters intergeneration relationships, and revitalizes the human spirit. Throughout their narratives, the writers mentioned the role that music played in CP and in the construction of their unique Asia Indian American identity. Similar to studies of ethnomusicology, studies of traditional dances of Asian Indian cultures reveal the codification of history, religious beliefs, and cultural morays through schematized physical movement.</p> <hd id="AN0114192725-9">Bharatnatyam</hd> <p>Bharatanatyam is a South Indian classical dance art form that originated in the state of Tamil Nadu. <emph>Bharatnatyam</emph> is orchestrated body movements that are synchronized to Carnatik music. <emph>Bharatnatyam</emph> dances are performed to describe the stories sung using vocal and instrumental music. The Asian Indian dance called <emph>Bharatanatyam</emph> is more than coordinated and stylized movements. It is a semiotic medium, which incorporates schematized body movement, music, and semiotics features to tell stories from the Hindu epics (e.g., <emph>Ramayana</emph> and <emph>Mahabharata</emph>). This highly codified style of dance originated in the state of Tamil Nadu in South India in the 4th century (Banerjee 2013). The term <emph>Bharatanatyam</emph> is a compound word from the Sanskrit language, meaning: <emph>bha</emph> /expression+ <emph>ra</emph>/music+ <emph>tha</emph>/rhythm+ and <emph>natya</emph>/dance. It was sage Bharata <emph>muni</emph> that created this transmediated practice of storytelling. Later, in the 20th century, Rukmini Devi Arundal introduced <emph>Bharatnatyam</emph> to the west (Kalpana, 2015).</p> <hd id="AN0114192725-10">Arangetram</hd> <p>Arangetram is an important milestone in the life of a dancer who has attained a sufficient level of proficiency in the art form. Because Indian cultural practices are neglected or marginalized in US schools, Asian Indian parents seek out-of-school practices such as Bharatanatyam to help teach their children about their cultural roots. Learning Bharatnatyam not only helps Asian Indian children dance, but also exposes them to the Hindu epics, storytelling, coordination, teamwork, and community relations, and connects them with other dancers from the community through participation in performances organized by the regional organizations. The Hindu epics <emph>Ramayana</emph> and <emph>Mahabharata</emph> are best learned through attending dance and music programs where the artists dance and sing the sequences from the epics. Linguistic medium with texts that are not part of the children's school curriculum may not be beneficial to children from diverse backgrounds. Alternate modalities such as dance and music are engaging to children who grow up in societies that differ from their heritage culture.</p> <hd id="AN0114192725-11">Literacy</hd> <p>Socio-cultural historical research proposes that literacy, in all of its modalities, is one of the quintessential tools of human existence. The process of annotating one's thoughts with any of the multiple sign systems supports memory, preserves relationships, extends communicative competence, and scaffolds other cognitive processes. Culturally efficacious literacy projects foreground the heritage practices and indigenous epistemologies of diverse students. Literacy events such as the <emph>Cuentos, Kahani, Eyagi,</emph> and the <emph>Historias</emph> are examples of research-based writing projects that scaffold writing development through culturally framed experiences in the language arts of reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Such literacy events privilege the home culture and mine the child's prior knowledge, along with providing a space for children to take pride of their background (Nicholas, 2005). The power of literacy is not limited to cultural products like texts, but also extends to the oral traditions, or the spoken word (Taylor, 1983). These include epics such as the Asian Indian <emph>Ramayana</emph> and <emph>Mahabharatha</emph>, or the lyrics of songs exemplified through the Carnatic music. Although customarily viewed as a form of entertainment, the dance, music, and song within the Asian Indian cultures provide a mechanism of cultural inheritance and intergeneration connectivity.</p> <p>Typically, religious activities include music, liturgies, and public events as part of their worship rituals. In the case of Hinduism, art forms and cultural performances is an integral part of the religious experience moving beyond <emph>surface culture</emph> to <emph>deep culture</emph> (Iyengar, [<reflink idref="bib40" id="ref25">40</reflink>]; Tan, 2012). Research shows that educators and others responsible for ethnic minority students like Asian Indian Americans are typically cultural outsiders and may be unaware of the significance of these activities (Mittapalli, [<reflink idref="bib55" id="ref26">55</reflink>]). Focused solely on the elements of surface culture (McKenna &amp; Millen, [<reflink idref="bib54" id="ref27">54</reflink>]), they remain unaware of the deeper, socio-cultural, and psychological significance of these funds of knowledge embodied in clothing, music and movement (Lillie, 2012, Wertch, 1991). Consequently, they dismiss them as lively diversion; students within the culture experience them as foundational elements of social, cultural, historical. and spiritual engagement. These outward cultural expressions are simultaneously indexers of deeper, more significant elements of the individual's spiritual beliefs and practices (West-Olatunji, Cirecie, &amp; Varney, 2015).</p> <p>Teachers may find that their investment of time to explore the cultural wealth available through the funds of knowledge (e.g., authentic ceremony, music, dance, literature, clothing) will yield not only deeper understandings of their students, but also produce powerful connections to the curriculum that will better engage the students in their learning. One example from the data is the <emph>punul,</emph> the sacred cross thread placed upon the <emph>vatu</emph> (young man) during the <emph>upanayanam.</emph> This religious ceremony of investiture is reminiscent of the Jewish Bar Mitzvah or the Eagle Scout promotion ceremony. The purification initiating young men into Brahminhood is considered a <emph>smaskara</emph> or a purificatory ceremony (Lubin, [<reflink idref="bib51" id="ref28">51</reflink>]). What is visually indispensable historical and cultural perceive as colorful or lively performance, to the cultural insider, an indispensable tool for the preservation, prostylitization, and instruction.</p> <hd id="AN0114192725-12">Threats to Culture</hd> <p>As stated earlier, CP exists when there are perceived threats to the ways and beliefs of a culture. In the case of Asian Indian American children, they are being schooled in Americentric (Iyengar, [<reflink idref="bib40" id="ref29">40</reflink>]) society, which privileges White Judeo-Christian believes and a capitalistic ideology. Many of the traditions within this framework are counter to the beliefs and customs of Asian Indians. According to Fisher ([<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref30">28</reflink>], p. 393), "Cultural preservation calls for 'consciousness heightening and reformation'"—or, as Freire ([<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref31">30</reflink>]) says, "Reading the word and reading the world" (p. 10). Often in schools, heritage is supplanted by homogeneity, and culture is sacrificed to core curriculum. Sometimes unconsciously and sometimes by design, diverse students have "unequal, denied, racialized, and disconnected membership in the US society" (Urrieta, 2007, p. 439) and the curriculum. This disconnect between the home culture and schooling practices necessitates for activities that strengthen cultural groundedness.</p> <p>Reformation may include activities that contest hegemonic or oppressive metanarratives (e.g., Columbus discovered America). The process of CP is critical when people perceive that their culture or traditions are threatened by extinction. If the threat is left unchallenged, that may result in its disappearance or cultural atrophy. This loss is not a trivial matter, because Crystal (2004/2013) claims, "Half of the world's languages are likely to die in the next century. Unless we do something to reverse this trend, we will lose the cultural and linguistic diversity which is so essential to human development" (p. 56). It is through language that individuals are able to identify and preserve the multiple facets of their heritage culture.</p> <p>In his work, Fishman ([<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref32">29</reflink>]) notes many threats to linguistic (and therefore, cultural) preservation. He asserts that a declining language is hard to fortify because of withdrawal from an established ethnic community, dearth of practice by children, lack of parental encouragement for heritage language use, and the privileging of the English language at school. Consequently, Fishman ([<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref33">29</reflink>], p. 134) pleads for "revernacularization"—a call for outside school practices to save a language. In this way, literacy serves to fortify the writer's understanding and appreciation of the various expressions of their ethnic culture.</p> <p>Research in curricular studies indicates much emphasis on White, middle-class, Westernized practices and knowledge (Howard, [<reflink idref="bib38" id="ref34">38</reflink>]). Although meeting the exigencies of assessment and accountability, predetermined and culturally constrained topics during free writing limit the written expression from students of diverse backgrounds (Perez, 2014). Despite the continued arrival of immigrant children, the US curriculum is not designed to accommodate diverse students. Traditional school curricula, even those that incorporate opportunities for writing, tend to be equally prescriptive and restrictive. Americentric topics disadvantage students from diverse backgrounds even when allotted opportunities to "free write' (Atwell, 2015). Moreover, such constraints afford little opportunity for identity construction or cultural negotiation.</p> <p>Research supports writing as a valuable tool for cultural expression and transmission (Danzak, 2011; Murray, 1978). However, even when provided with free choice of topics, children may still be self-conscious of their diversity and choose to self-restrict, avoiding topics that reflect their cultural practices and beliefs. The lack of opportunities to delve into culturally related topics might be detrimental to the psychological well-being of ethnic minority students, such as Asian Indian Americans.</p> <hd id="AN0114192725-13">Inclusive Curriculum</hd> <p>Teachers could incorporate/integrate texts written by Indian authors, such as Jhumpa Lahari, Bharati Mukherjee, or R. K. Narayan. They could invite parents to school and organize India Day to familiarize students from other cultures about India. The art department could invite dancers from the Indian community to perform at their school or even in their respective classrooms. The history students could organize a visit to the local temple and attend a dance or music performance in town. The school could consider including Indian festivals such as <emph>Deepavali</emph> (the festival of lights) and <emph>Holi</emph> (the festival of colors) and encourage Indian students to bring their favorite dessert and culture specific clothing to school that day and discuss the significance of the celebratory clothes and foods.</p> <hd id="AN0114192725-14">Authentic Creative Writing</hd> <p>Tharp and Gallimore (1989) in their work with Hawaiian communities, found that students made significant gains in their academics when school practices better reflected the cultural practices of the community. When the classroom environment and instruction were transformed to better reflect the heritage cultures, children who had struggled, especially in the area of literacy, became much more engaged and experienced success. In this way, culturally based instructional delivery, as well as culturally affirming literacy activities, became tools for success and CP. McCarty (2005) champions the same idea of CP within the Hopi communities, especially in the area of language and literacy, "Children are positioned as the victims of cultural and familial dissonance and ... [schools] look to the community for guidance and support" (p. 41). For Asian Indian American students, the <emph>Kahani</emph> Project exemplified the practice of melding cultural practices with written expression (San Antonio Writing Project, 2014, 4th para).</p> <p>To be more effective, teachers are encouraged to move from free writing time to creative writing practice (Henkin, [<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref35">37</reflink>]). Creative writing eschews jargon and incorporates authentic expression to capture meaningful and unique perspectives to be shared with other people or for introspection (Boyd, 2009). Creative writing has also been a meaningful option to help facilitate CP. Creative writing is the process of crafting text that is not specialized, editorial, theoretical, or procedural forms of writing; it is the craftsmanship of storytelling. It also employs characters, figures of speech, or even poetic form. Geneshi and Dyson (2009) explain how children's writing is distinctive due to diverse linguistic and social capital, dissimilar circumstantial objective, and mixed communal participation. Further, Stange and Wyant (2006) posit that writing is a creative process and helps children acquire valuable literacy skills. Dworin ([<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref36">21</reflink>]) further supports teacher's use of topics that relate to the students' home and communities because familiar topics encourage children to write in the classroom. To be effective, creative writing must extend beyond 10 min of free writing. In this way, free writing, the curricular task, is differentiated from creative writing, the cultural tool. So, we have to distinguish between free writing and creative writing. In this article, we explore creative writing as a mediator of culture (CP) and cultural expression.</p> <hd id="AN0114192725-15">METHODOLOGY</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0114192725-16">Positionality</hd> <p>As an Asian Indian child educated in anglophile schools of South India, the first author, Dr. Iyengar, experienced a school curriculum that ignored her heritage culture, particularly the extensive literary works. Despite the existence of a rich literary cannon in Kannada (Dravidian language of South India) and English authors native to India, the school privileged British literature as the prototype for all literacy activities in school. In this way, the school and home cultures were dichotomous entities. Despite her success in writing, because of restricted curricular materials, she did not find literacy activities to be authentic outlets for written expression. Even at the doctoral level, she encountered classmates who disparaged her choice of topics as "non-academic," "insignificant," and "uninspiring." These educators exemplify the beliefs that Asian Indian American children encounter in their schooling.</p> <p>The second author is an African American educated in US public schools. Like Dr. Iyengar, he experienced a curriculum that made little mention of his heritage or culture. Although there were token inclusions (e.g., "Negro history month"), the school curriculum privileged a White middle-class euro-centric focus. Through his graduate studies, especially in his doctoral program, he developed the belief of the inherent importance of multiple literacies and the importance of cultural practices within the curriculum that recognize the cultural practices of marginalized groups. As a member of Dr. Iyengar's doctoral dissertation, Dr. Smith immediately recognized that many of the issues that plague the minority groups in the United States also plague and marginalized groups like Asian Indian American.</p> <hd id="AN0114192725-17">Participants</hd> <p>The first author recruited participants from the three different regions of India because of the representative sample of the demographics in the city where the research was conducted. The three regions are Andra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Gujarat. The children came from households with an income range from low to high. The recruited participants attended religious schools—the Hindu Temple called <emph>Balavikas</emph> and the Swami Narayan Mandir (temple) <emph>Swadhya</emph>, in an urban city in the Southwest. Typically, parents enroll the children during the preschool years. At the time of this study, the children ranged in age from 6 to 12 years of age. In the post-interviews (following the data collection period) the participants described their involvement in variety of cultural activities including, festivals, dance, cultural/religious observances, and other performance arts at the regional and national levels. The participants came from middle-class and upper-middle-class families and they attended private and public schools in a major city in the southwest. Their parents were either professionals or worked in local firms. The participants were brought together to meet at a public library to write their narratives for 3 weeks in summer of 2014. The first author recruited the writers from Balavikas, Swadya, and the dance and music schools where the research was conducted.</p> <p>In this study, we present five texts from the nine participants in the larger dataset. Table 2 lists the participants' demographic information.</p> <p>Table 2 Participants Demographic Information</p> <p> <ephtml> &lt;table&gt;&lt;thead&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;Participants&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Gender&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Parents' Educational Background&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Grade Level&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Siblings&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Regional Affiliation&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Basic Socioeconomic Status&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Languages Spoken at Home&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/thead&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;Shakuntala (a)&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;(a) Female&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Masters (M)&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;7 (a)&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;1 each (both a and b)&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Andra Pradesh (both a and b)&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Middle (a)&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Telugu (a) and (b)&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;Tyagaraja (b)&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;(b) Male&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Religious School (a/F)&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;10 (b)&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td /&gt;&lt;td /&gt;&lt;td&gt;High (b)&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td /&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;Menaka&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Female&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Masters (M)&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;10&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Gujarath&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Medium&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Gujarathi and Hindi&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td /&gt;&lt;td /&gt;&lt;td&gt;Professional (F)&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td /&gt;&lt;td /&gt;&lt;td /&gt;&lt;td /&gt;&lt;td /&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;Urvashi&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Female&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Bachelors (M)&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;8&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Tamil Nadu&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Medium&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Tamil and Hindi&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td /&gt;&lt;td /&gt;&lt;td&gt;Doctorate (F)&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td /&gt;&lt;td /&gt;&lt;td /&gt;&lt;td /&gt;&lt;td /&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;Kannagi&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Female&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Professional (both M and F)&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;15&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Gujarath&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;High&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td /&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt; </ephtml> </p> <hd id="AN0114192725-18">Procedure</hd> <p>In the summer of 2013, the first author conducted Writers' Workshop following the share first strategy (Peha, [<reflink idref="bib66" id="ref37">66</reflink>]). The activities included sharing, minilessons, self-checks and reflection (i.e., status of the class), and sustained silent writing time. To begin the writing sessions, the participants brainstormed for 5 to 10 min. The first author provided the topics and offered a minilesson on topic choice for the entire group. The suggested list intentionally avoided topics that were related to the children's culture. Because many of the participants requested assistance ("Aunty, what did you list?"), the first author provided whole and small group mini-lessons for clarifications. Both whole group and small group mini lessons were offered.</p> <p>Like the other students, one of the young writers from Tamil Nadu began his list of topics and circled Socrates as his choice. While the others were engaged in writing, the Tamil student just sat. The first author approached him and offered assistance. "Aunty, I am stuck because I don't know what to write." Sensing a lack of cultural relevance, the first author reviewed the other topics on this student's list and suggested he write about his recent trip to India. "Remember, you are all free to write about things that really interests you."</p> <p>The first session was dedicated to student socialization, introduction to the idea of Writers' Workshop, and an informal sharing of ideas and topics that they would explore in the future. The first author wanted to create a nurturing space for expression that, typically, is absent in schools. For that reason, group socialization was an integral part of this first session. Even though the students and the adult (the lead author) knew each other through community and social events, this first session was an opportunity to reaffirm their commitment to their culture and share their joy at the possibility of exploring all this through culturally affirming creative writing.</p> <p>The following 2 weeks, students brainstormed each time to make a list of different topics of interest. The writers were told to select one topic from the list and write. They had 30 to 45 min for sustained silent writing. The participants wrote three personal narratives during the three writer's workshop sessions. All of them wrote for an hour and then engaged in thinking, writing some more, sharing, and editing. Students were asked to reserve 2 hours for each session because they would be sharing with their peers and then having a discussion of the stories. The participants read, listened to, and discussed the stories. Initially, this experience was structured for time blocks of 2 hours, but the participants were so engaged that they chose to stay for four hours each time.</p> <hd id="AN0114192725-19">Data Analysis</hd> <p>There were nine participants in the full dataset. Their narratives ranged in length from one to two handwritten pages. The majority used a narrative style for their texts. For this study, we chose six narratives from the nine participants. The data samples discussed in this article were selected because they represented the themes of the full dataset and the cultural regions of the participants.</p> <p>Data analysis was a two-phase process. First, holistic content analysis (Lieblich, Tuval-Mashaich, &amp; Zilber, [<reflink idref="bib46" id="ref38">46</reflink>]) was utilized followed by text analysis using the paragraph as the unit of analysis (White &amp; Marsh, 2006). Holistic content analysis (Lieblich et al., [<reflink idref="bib46" id="ref39">46</reflink>]) is the examination of the entire story, looking for themes and ideas as expressed by the writers (Lieblich et al., [<reflink idref="bib46" id="ref40">46</reflink>]). Holistic content analysis was chosen (instead of form or categorical analysis) because it generates the major themes in texts (Lieblich et al., 1998). For conducting holistic content analysis, Lieblich et al. ([<reflink idref="bib46" id="ref41">46</reflink>]) suggest that the researchers (a) read the texts multiple times until a pattern emerges, (b) document the initial overall impression, (c) note down the foci or themes of the text, (d) color code the themes, and (e) record the themes as they occur in the text and a pattern became apparent.</p> <p>After holistic content analysis, thematic coding (Creswell, 2012) of paragraphs as a unit of analysis followed. This unit size allows the researchers to capture the cultural situatedness of the narratives and preserves the "cultural, historical, and institutional" nature of the experiences (Wertsch, [<reflink idref="bib91" id="ref42">91</reflink>], p. 119). Forty initial themes were identified by repeatedly reading the units of data and subsequently distilled into six meta-categories. Figure 1 presents a visual to appreciate thematic analysis.</p> <p>Graph: Figure 1 Cultural Preservation (CP).</p> <hd id="AN0114192725-20">Thematic Discoveries</hd> <p>Within the data set, the salient themes associated with threats to Asian Indian culture included <emph>absence</emph>, <emph>devaluation and trivialization</emph>, and <emph>deprecation.</emph> We offer the following clarifications.</p> <hd id="AN0114192725-21">Absence</hd> <p>Within the literature on multiculturalism, the theme of absence or silence is quite common. The research on multicultural education notes that people of parallel cultures are missing or nonexistent within textbooks, and underrepresented within the curricula of most school districts (Nieto, 2015). This absence connotes a lack of importance and, as such, marginalizes the cultural groups that are treated in this way.</p> <hd id="AN0114192725-22">Devaluation and trivialization</hd> <p>Related to absence is the framing of cultural values as having less worth or inconsequential when compared with the cultural elements of the mainstream. In conscious and unconscious ways, the institution of American schooling frames the traditions and heritage practices of minority cultures as insignificant and less valuable than the practices of the dominant culture (Ladson-Billings, [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref43">45</reflink>]; Sims, 1993).</p> <hd id="AN0114192725-23">Framing as negative or deviant and deprecate</hd> <p>An extreme form of these micro-aggressions is the framing of minority cultural traditions and customs as undesirable actions or deviant from an imagined norm. The ideology that underlies this attitude argues that those who engage in practices that do not mirror the mainstream (e.g., food choices, religious observances, familial responsibilities) deserve to be scorned or ostracized. In the public sphere, this belittlement and mistreatment manifests itself through insulting images, offensive language including mockery and derision, and even physical violence (Banks, 2014; McCarty, 2005).</p> <p>In the following section, we discuss and expatiate on the three predominant cross-categorical themes found in the narratives: absence (aggressive neglect), devaluation and trivialization (micro-aggressions), and framing as negative or deviant and deprecate (expressive culture).</p> <hd id="AN0114192725-24">Absence: Acts of Aggressive Neglect</hd> <p>I never learned about Indian culture, which is my culture. Sometimes I feel so sad.</p> <p>Within their writing, the Asian Indian American children frequently mentioned situations in which aspects of their culture or their Indian identities had been neglected, maligned, or devalued. Even though they reported negativity experiences through the broader society, the children's perspectives on schooling are especially noteworthy. Several mentioned their displeasure at the lack of any mention of their culture within the official curriculum: "I never learned about Indian culture." When children are not provided with role models or representations of their culture, there is an increasing likelihood of <emph>anomie</emph> and other threats to their identity development.</p> <p>One immediate observation is that the student writers made no mention of their teachers—either as supportive or detractive of their cultural heritage. The students did critique the school, i.e., the curriculum for its lack of attention to their heritage: "I only wish our schools knew about us." The absence of student narratives describing patently racist or objectionable teacher behaviors is a positive. However, the fact that none of the writers depicted their teachers as actively or meaningfully engaged in culturally grounded practices of the children is problematic.</p> <p>Typically, the mention of the teacher—either direct or implied—was a surrogate for the curriculum or the larger institution.</p> <p>In school I learned about American festivals. But I wonder why we can't learn about other countries and cultures. I never learned about Indian culture, which is my culture. ... So I am very proud to be a Indian and also thankful to God. I only wish our schools knew about us.</p> <p>This is a common complaint with ethnic minority students who are immersed in a Eurocentric curriculum (Nieto &amp; Bode, 2006; Sleeter, 2011). Through their writings, the Asian Indian American students demonstrated their appreciation for the role and power of the formal schooling. This appeared to make the lack of culturally grounded schooling experience even more exasperating. As noted in the extant literature, Asian Indian American students, in general, do not experience academic difficulty. For that reason, teachers may not feel compelled to diversify their classroom practices to integrate the Funds of Knowledge (Esteban-Guitart &amp; Moll, 2014; Moll et al., [<reflink idref="bib57" id="ref44">57</reflink>]) found within the Asian Indian community.</p> <p>I don't get to know my culture as much as my parents know. I stay at home for a shorter time and I stay in school for a longer time. So I don't know every bit of my culture. ... Some kids don't even know what their culture is.</p> <p>Throughout their writings, the Asian Indian American children frequently mention the consequences of curricular exclusion: "These children find themselves increasingly drawn away from the traditions that their parents have taught them all their lives and turn to the American way of life that includes activities that do not support what they have been taught all their life." This quote, again, signals threat of anomie—a psychological state in which the individual feels estranged from their heritage culture and not fully a part of the new culture.</p> <hd id="AN0114192725-25">Micro-Aggression: Estrangement and Alienation</hd> <p>I don't answer to some of the kids in my school because I know some of their mentalities.</p> <p>Another threat to culture was described as experiences within the school context, where the Asian Indian American children found themselves confronting the biases, misconceptions, and prejudices of their classmates. The writers described how they felt framed as strange or deviant, and their cultural practices disparaged or trivialized when discussed by classmates in school. Most of these issues (e.g., preferences of music, dance, clothing) are embedded with the normal teenage socialization processes (Das, [<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref45">16</reflink>]; Ganapathy-Coleman, 2013). As revealed by their narratives, the Asian Indian American students often experienced exclusion due to negative beliefs of classmates regarding their cultural practices.</p> <hd id="AN0114192725-26">Mealtime: Estrangement and ridicule</hd> <p>More than one child described lunchtime as insufferable because of the negative attention their meals would bring them. Some discussions of "ethnic foods" may be oversimplifications or acts of essentialization of culture. However, our analysis found that some students described the meals they brought from home as prompting derision or estrangement from classmates. Some children wrote how they would forgo eating meals prepared for them at home to avoid ridicule from their classmates. Others would isolate themselves to eat their foods prepared within their cultural traditions and religious observances.</p> <p>So many kids in my school ask me about my food at lunchtime. Sometimes I feel so bad because they make comments about me and the food I'm eating. So I try to stay away from those kinds of kids.</p> <hd id="AN0114192725-27">Difference, and deviance</hd> <p>Other instances of micro-aggressions resulted from religious iconic objects worn on the body, such as the <emph>punul</emph> or the sacred cross thread. However, the Asian Indian American writers found such choices to be cause for rejection from some peers. In the pilot for this study, one Asian Indian American adolescent wrote about his decision to embrace one of the symbolic elements of his Asian Indian identity, despite whatever derision it would provoke from his classmates: "I don't care anymore what they think about my <emph>punul</emph> [ceremonial cross thread] because it reminds me about the importance of my religion and it is always with me." Other writers would express a similar sentiment in their narratives.</p> <hd id="AN0114192725-28">Micro-Aggression: Triggers for Bullying and Symbolic Violence</hd> <p>Back in sixth grade I would be harassed every day because I was different. I think every Indian kid has gone through this at least once.</p> <p>Many of the young authors described experiences in school in which they felt targeted for ridicule, ostracism, and hostility. In their narratives, the Asian Indian American writers described how classmates outside of their culture deprecated their cultural traditions and used differences as an excuse to disparage them. "I can't say I haven't been bullied about my passion for all these types of Indian dance, because that would be lying." Despite such personal struggles, one writer offered encouragement to others in the same situation.</p> <p>It's sad, but I mean, tough luck. I hope that, like me, they have all been able to open their eyes one day and realize it doesn't matter what others say. I like to say that my <emph>Arangetram</emph> has changed me a lot.</p> <hd id="AN0114192725-29">Triggering apparel</hd> <p>The data revealed several instances in which students directly or indirectly indexed hostile treatment by peers at school: "Indian kids are always bullied! Kids bully Indian kids because they have difference in thoughts and ideas." Within their texts, they indicated encounters with bigoted, intolerant students who victimized them because of their traditional practices, their cultural characteristics, and their achievements. Because articles of clothing are usually quite visible, they often prompt aggression. In describing the dilemma, one student wrote: "[Indian students] dress differently because there (sic) culture has rules saying that he or she has to have a special type of clothing." Although uninformed individuals may assume that one's apparel is optional (i.e., by choice), for Asian Indians such items as the cross thread or the <emph>bindi,</emph> are, in fact, integral parts of heritage practices and religious directives.</p> <hd id="AN0114192725-30">Triggering academic achievement</hd> <p>The irony is that many times, the vocabulary and their general command of English, is often superior to their classmates. Therein lies the source of another justification for aggression: the high academic achievement commonly associated with the Asian students and the envy of lower performing classmates. One writer included in his text: "Indians are also bullied because they know more. For instance, they know more math and science than other kids." Comments such as these reveal that Asian Indian American children experience a less-than-welcoming environment in their schools through aggressive neglect and absence, as well as deprecation of their culture. Even as they strive for academic excellence, they must contend with hostility, alienation, and curricular exclusion.</p> <hd id="AN0114192725-31">RESULTS</hd> <p>For the purpose of this study, we chose Hindu children who were willing to participate in a writing workshop in summer. It should not be mistaken that Asian Indian children are all Hindus because immigrants from India represent multiethnic, multilingual, and multicultural groups representing different religious backgrounds such as Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Jains, and Farsi. In addition, the data for this study focused on performing arts (dance and music) and religious and cultural celebrations, and social justice topics. Most of the writers either danced or sang as part of their cocurricular activity and visited India with their families for cultural experience. It is important to note that Asian Indians children are transnational and are prone to acculturation, Americanization, assimilation, discrimination, and racism (Joshi, 1992; Prasad, [<reflink idref="bib67" id="ref46">67</reflink>]).</p> <p>Throughout the data set, the writers index a number of culturally situated experiences. When viewed through a socio-cultural historical lens, these activities can be understood as tools that nurture the students' critical cultural groundedness as they engage in acts of CP. The following section highlights two broad areas describing acts of CP: <emph>literacy</emph> and <emph>expressive culture.</emph></p> <hd id="AN0114192725-32">Literacies</hd> <p>In their texts, the writers mentioned literacy events as another important tool for CP. Some had experiences with oral traditions: "My teachers did sit down with me and explained every story and concept." Others described literacy events with written texts: "I grew up reading <emph>Amar chitra katha</emph>; my whole idea of culture was based on cartoon drawings of Indian gods." In the following quote, Kannagi, describes her engagement with environmental print and the cultural connections she was able to make:</p> <p>Whenever we visited India, I was always curious to read big sign boards written in Tamil. Fortunately, they also write it in English underneath and that helps me to guess the Tamil words. That is how I would regain my memory of the language. In movies, I try to understand the dialogues, though I still bug my parents every 3 seconds asking, "What are they saying?"</p> <p>Note that literacy encompasses a variety of meditational tools or sign systems. History and cultural values can be codified through multiple sources that have been systematized to represent the concepts and ideas within the culture: "If you want to know about Indian culture you can watch Telugu movies or <emph>Ramayana</emph>, <emph>Mahabharata</emph>, or <emph>Krishna</emph>. You can go to festivals such as the Diwali and Dusheera. You also can read books on Indian culture."</p> <hd id="AN0114192725-33">Expressive Culture</hd> <p>Within the data set, the young Asian Indian American writers mentioned a variety of tools for CP. The predominant themes throughout the narratives were varieties of expressive culture including festivals, music, and dance. All of these tools align with a CHAT theoretical framework that privileges socially, culturally, historically, grounded experiences for cognitive development (Cole &amp; Scribner, [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref47">12</reflink>]; Vygotsky &amp; Kozulin, [<reflink idref="bib90" id="ref48">90</reflink>]). In their texts, the students spoke of feelings of cultural connectedness when participating in festivals, in contrast to their school experiences. The students described dance and music as mediating their understanding of historical and religious practices, while engendering a sense of pride in their cultural heritage and their humanness.</p> <p>One event that combines multiple customs is the wedding ceremony. Melding traditional practices with current sensibilities, Asian Indian American children engaged in the multiple forms of expressive culture as they participated in this community experience. It is important to note that an Indian wedding is accompanied by customary or prescribed music that indicates the various phases of the ceremony. Although popular music of many genres will be played at the reception following the wedding, traditional music with references to Indian morals and religious values is the customary practice.</p> <p>Menaka describes her joy at a wedding celebration:</p> <p>This past weekend, I went to an Indian wedding and I absolutely love them. ... First there was the <emph>sangeet</emph>, where we just dance and have a wonderful time! ... First, the ceremony occurred early in the morning, when the soon-to-be bride received red and white color bangles. Then came the wedding ceremony! A lot of prayers were said and the bride and groom walk around the fire seven times. Lastly, there was the reception! I had a great time eating, dancing, and experiencing my culture.</p> <hd id="AN0114192725-34">Religion through music</hd> <p>The Indian culture is intimately connected with religious practices; some are quotidian but others are seasonal. The children commented on how music was a means to deepen their understanding of religion. Carnatic music is comprised of songs composed by saints and poets that were god-realized. This genre of classical music requires children to have certain command of the religious texts that are predominantly written in Sanskrit. Poets from different states of India have written songs in their regional languages such as Tamil (Tamil Nadu), Kannada (Karnataka), Telugu (Andra Pradesh), and Malayalam (Kerela). Children need to learn the meanings of the songs through ceremonial practices, reading or listening to the Hindu scriptures and epics, or dance programs. Children enrolled in "Balavikas" are immersed in these skills necessary to understand Carnatic music. Tyagaraja explains:</p> <p>Without music, I would have a limited connection with Indian culture. Learning Indian classical music helps me understand my culture and also helps me better understand the values and traditions of my extended family in India. Music is a focal point of my discussions with my grandparents, and aids me in talking to them and to understand my culture. ... Music expresses my devotion to God and brings me closer to God.</p> <hd id="AN0114192725-35">Socialization through music</hd> <p>The celebrations mentioned throughout the data denote the interconnectedness of music with dance and connotes the ways in which music mediates social interaction through traditional cultural practices. The young writers appreciated the interconnectedness between dance, music, and religion. Within Asian Indian culture, religion is a transmediated experience. It is understood through all of the expressive cultural tools, including literacy (written and oral traditions), dance, music, and art. The students' writings indicate how each of these semiotic and codification systems contributes to the understanding and preservation of Asian Indian Culture: "Learning about sages like Valmiki and watching the dances based on them is enjoyable for me." Or as another writer said, "There are so many ways to learn about the Indian culture and religion."</p> <hd id="AN0114192725-36">CP as Acts of Courage</hd> <p>As described earlier, CP often requires effort and initiative. Throughout narratives, the children described their engagement in cultural activities necessitating sacrifices and at times courage in the face of potential social stigma. Here, Menaka reflected on her experiences:</p> <p>There were the sacrifices. I had to miss out on movies, parties, and much more. When I told my friends I had to go to dance class, their first question was what kind. Instead of ballet, hip-hop, or jazz, they got classical Indian dance. It was weird for them and for me. ... Connecting to a very small Indian part of me was difficult.</p> <p>Asian Indian American students like Menaka were often caught in a no-win situation. Like normal adolescents, they longed for acceptance by their peer group and, as part of the customary socialization, they wanted to participate in activities enjoyed by their classmates. At the same time, their desire to engage in their cultural or traditional home practices was just as strong and, some could argue, just as necessary (Farver, Xu, Lonigan, &amp; Eppe 2013).</p> <p>If Asian Indian adolescents retain their heritage, they are likely to be alienated from their peers. If they reject their natal culture, they risk being alienated from their own ethnic group without assurance that they will be accepted into the mainstream—thus explaining a pull on adolescents to assimilate rather than integrate. (p. 347)</p> <p>Unconsciously or not, they were gradually experiencing cultural groundedness. Their investment of time, energy, and talent to uncover and discover the multiple aspects of their culture gave them a powerful tool for identity construction and a shield against the symbolic violence (Bourdieu &amp; Thompson, [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref49">8</reflink>]) projected upon Asian Indian American in school the broader society.</p> <hd id="AN0114192725-37">CP and Familial Relationships</hd> <p>One example of CP included relationship building with immediate and extended family. This was noted through incidental instruction from relatives especially regarding historical and cultural values, as well as learning and engagement with the heritage languages. This also suggests that the children were acquiring a sense of <emph>communal membership</emph>, which forms classical philosophy of many Eastern cultures in contrast to the Western individualistic worldview (Demuth, Chaudhary, &amp; Keller, [<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref50">18</reflink>]; Pufall-Jones &amp; Mistry, [<reflink idref="bib69" id="ref51">69</reflink>]).</p> <p>The narratives also revealed how their participation in expressive cultural activities mediated their relationships directly and indirectly with their family members. For some, learning traditional cultural practices was a way to deepen relationships with parents and grandparents, "Music is a focal point of my discussions with my grandparents, and aids me in talking to them and to understand my culture." Although entertaining and joyous, the Asian Indian American children use various forms of expressive culture (e.g., dance, music) as powerful tools to counteract the micro-aggressions they encounter at school. "Without music, I would have a limited connection with Indian culture. Learning Indian classical music helps me understand my culture and also helps me better understand the values and traditions of my extended family in India." Though they spoke of ultimately appreciating what they would learn through acts of CP, students also spoke of resentment and resistance to their parents' insistence on their participation in culturally affirming activities.</p> <hd id="AN0114192725-38">DISCUSSION</hd> <p>In light of the challenges and micro-aggressions to their heritage, many of the activities the Asian Indian American children described can be interpreted as acts of CP. Such forms of critical engagement counter the effects of cultural atrophy, anomie, and scholastic disengagement. The writers in this study recognized the traditional Indian dance, music, and clothing as valuable tools not only for cultural expression, but also for CP. Several writers mentioned the challenge of maintaining their fidelity to their heritage practices in the face disparagement from their classmates. For these Asian Indian American students, even something as innocuous as mealtime would result in ridicule and isolation. Hence, due to the absence of school support, Asian Indian parents capitalize on out-of-school activities for cultural education. The community, dance and music schools, temples, and regional organization cannot facilitate this act of cultural groundedness and CP without the support of the parents.</p> <p>A critical analysis of the data suggests that their involvement in cultural activities afforded them enjoyment and important tools for CP. These tools, in turn, helped them to contest the symbolic violence and other micro-aggressions they encountered. Thus, the writers acknowledge that cultural practices are tools of mediation within their heritage as well as tools for construction of identity. Moreover, in their writings the children reveal how cultural practices enhanced their identity development. When afforded opportunities for creative writing without prescribed topics, the Asian Indian American children constructed culturally connected narratives that explored their lived experiences. Within the same texts, they revealed their understanding of the important tools available to them for CP. Cultural expressions like dance, music, festivals, and food have both an aesthetic utility (e.g., enjoyment) as well as a mnemonic function (e.g., heritage instruction).</p> <p>In their writing, the children also articulated the variety of threats to their culture and themselves as Asian Indian Americans. They lamented the lack of inclusion of their culture in the curriculum and the negative ways their heritage practices were framed by some of their classmates. Also, lacking was any mention of the teachers' positive intervention to support these students or to enlighten their classmates. Because of their customary acceptable academic achievement, Asian Indian American students are not typically categorized as at risk. However, in their writings, children consistently spoke of marginalization, alienation, and intimidation (e.g., bullying) because of their cultural activities and norms. Results from this study provide a cautionary note to teachers and curriculum designers. Despite the fact that most Asian Indian American children in public schools come from middle-class families, typically with educated parents, none of this prevents their deprecation or estrangement in American schools.</p> <p>Educators should not assume complacency because of the students' silence. Masked by their academic achievement, the writers of this study felt frustrated and disillusioned with the Americentric curriculum by which they were forced to study. In their narratives, the writers noted the absence of any meaningful inclusion of their culture in their academic activities. In this way, the students are making a critical commentary on the exclusionary and the cultural homogenizing nature of school.</p> <p>The data revealed that Asian Indian American children are subjected to a variety of academic, psychological, and social obstructions along their road to academic achievement. Their writings show how they instinctively seek out heritage practices to ameliorate the effects of the micro-aggressions they encounter in their school environments. Their success not withstanding, Asian Indian American children should not be left to their own devices in their efforts toward CP. They, and all students, should experience a curriculum that is academically rigorous and culturally efficacious. By writing in meaningful and engaging ways (Fisher, [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref52">28</reflink>]), students learn to read their world (Frère, 1970), which is an act of "consciousness heightening" (Fisher, [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref53">28</reflink>], p. 148).</p> <hd id="AN0114192725-39">IMPLICATIONS</hd> <p>Our analysis indicated how Asian Indian American children utilize cultural tools, such as dance and music, to mediate their identity construction. These children benefit when there are opportunities inside and outside of school to explore the myriad aspects of their culture, including literary traditions and expressive culture. 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| Header | DbId: eric DbLabel: ERIC An: EJ1095658 AccessLevel: 3 PubType: Academic Journal PubTypeId: academicJournal PreciseRelevancyScore: 0 |
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| Items | – Name: Title Label: Title Group: Ti Data: Asian Indian American Children's Creative Writing: An Approach for Cultural Preservation – Name: Language Label: Language Group: Lang Data: English – Name: Author Label: Authors Group: Au Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Iyengar%2C+Kalpana+Mukunda%22">Iyengar, Kalpana Mukunda</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Smith%2C+Howard+L%2E%22">Smith, Howard L.</searchLink> – Name: TitleSource Label: Source Group: Src Data: <searchLink fieldCode="SO" term="%22Educational+Studies%3A+Journal+of+the+American+Educational+Studies+Association%22"><i>Educational Studies: Journal of the American Educational Studies Association</i></searchLink>. 2016 52(2):95-118. – Name: Avail Label: Availability Group: Avail Data: Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals – Name: PeerReviewed Label: Peer Reviewed Group: SrcInfo Data: Y – Name: Pages Label: Page Count Group: Src Data: 24 – Name: DatePubCY Label: Publication Date Group: Date Data: 2016 – Name: TypeDocument Label: Document Type Group: TypDoc Data: Journal Articles<br />Reports - Research – Name: Subject Label: Descriptors Group: Su Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Indians%22">Indians</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Student+Diversity%22">Student Diversity</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Cultural+Maintenance%22">Cultural Maintenance</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Creative+Writing%22">Creative Writing</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Academic+Achievement%22">Academic Achievement</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Writing+Workshops%22">Writing Workshops</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Student+Attitudes%22">Student Attitudes</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Culturally+Relevant+Education%22">Culturally Relevant Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Language+Maintenance%22">Language Maintenance</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Religion%22">Religion</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Music%22">Music</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Dance%22">Dance</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Religious+Education%22">Religious Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Interviews%22">Interviews</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Children%22">Children</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Preadolescents%22">Preadolescents</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Cultural+Awareness%22">Cultural Awareness</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Social+Attitudes%22">Social Attitudes</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Content+Analysis%22">Content Analysis</searchLink> – Name: DOI Label: DOI Group: ID Data: 10.1080/00131946.2016.1142993 – Name: ISSN Label: ISSN Group: ISSN Data: 0013-1946 – Name: Abstract Label: Abstract Group: Ab Data: Many children from diverse cultures experience disconnectedness between their home and school. As they attempt to reconcile the conflicts among their multiple worlds, they must negotiate their situatedness in a variety of contexts, i.e., home community versus school, and construct a multifaceted identity. Absent support from school, Asian Indian American adolescents engage in acts of cultural preservation (CP), which, in turn, support their scholastic achievement. This article explores the thematic content of a group of Asian Indian American children's creative writing generated for the "Kahani" Project--a culturally contextualized version of Writers' Workshop. In their texts, the six adolescents discuss the importance of their cultural traditions as tools to contest the various micro-aggressions they experience in school. Data from this study argue for cultural inclusion, not only for those at risk, but also for those students who successfully navigate a mainstream curriculum. – Name: AbstractInfo Label: Abstractor Group: Ab Data: As Provided – Name: Ref Label: Number of References Group: RefInfo Data: 94 – Name: DateEntry Label: Entry Date Group: Date Data: 2016 – Name: AN Label: Accession Number Group: ID Data: EJ1095658 |
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| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Identifiers: – Type: doi Value: 10.1080/00131946.2016.1142993 Languages: – Text: English PhysicalDescription: Pagination: PageCount: 24 StartPage: 95 Subjects: – SubjectFull: Indians Type: general – SubjectFull: Student Diversity Type: general – SubjectFull: Cultural Maintenance Type: general – SubjectFull: Creative Writing Type: general – SubjectFull: Academic Achievement Type: general – SubjectFull: Writing Workshops Type: general – SubjectFull: Student Attitudes Type: general – SubjectFull: Culturally Relevant Education Type: general – SubjectFull: Language Maintenance Type: general – SubjectFull: Religion Type: general – SubjectFull: Music Type: general – SubjectFull: Dance Type: general – SubjectFull: Religious Education Type: general – SubjectFull: Interviews Type: general – SubjectFull: Children Type: general – SubjectFull: Preadolescents Type: general – SubjectFull: Cultural Awareness Type: general – SubjectFull: Social Attitudes Type: general – SubjectFull: Content Analysis Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: Asian Indian American Children's Creative Writing: An Approach for Cultural Preservation Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Iyengar, Kalpana Mukunda – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Smith, Howard L. IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 01 M: 01 Type: published Y: 2016 Identifiers: – Type: issn-print Value: 0013-1946 Numbering: – Type: volume Value: 52 – Type: issue Value: 2 Titles: – TitleFull: Educational Studies: Journal of the American Educational Studies Association Type: main |
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