Beyond Cultural Capital: African Immigrant and Refugee Families' Support for Their Children's Mathematics Learning

Foregrounding black African immigrants in mathematics education research

“…Viewing parents' participation in children's mathematics learning through an Afrocentric lens allows me to see ways in which the African value system shapes these immigrant parents' involvement practices in Canada. Similar findings were reported in my study with parents with low formal education in rural Ghana (Yaro, 2015) and African immigrant families in Canada (Yaro, 2021) Again, the spirit of communalism (Ubuntu) among these participants shaped my understanding of the concept of family as going beyond the nuclear to include extended members (uncle, aunt, nephews, niece, nannies, grandparents, elders in the community, etc.). Furthermore, the sense of communalism from the AIK lens translates to Africans' participation in a research process as subjects and human agents rather than objects (Mkabela, 2005).…”

“…James (2017) argued that taking a specific cultural stance provides insights into the complexities of peoples' lives in a given context. Indeed, our previous works indicate that SSA immigrants' mathematics experiences are (re)shaped by their African centred worldviews and values (Osibodu, 2020;Yaro, 2021). To this end, our work with the African immigrant population draws largely on African Indigenous Knowledges (AIK) as we use this as both a theoretical and methodological lens to investigate mathematics learning and participation experiences of African immigrant youth and their parents in the Canadian/US contexts.…”

“…I (Kwesi) worked on "African immigrant support for children's mathematics learning" (Yaro, 2021). In this study I employed the concept of cultural capital framework and Afrocentric worldviews to understand the experiences of African immigrant parents in supporting their children's mathematics learning at the upper elementary and middle grade levels (Grades 4 -8) in Canada.…”