Challenging Popularized Narratives of Immigrant Youth From West Africa: Examining Social Processes of Navigating Identities and Engaging Civically

Abstract

Given polarizing popular-media narratives of immigrant youth from West African countries, we construct an interdisciplinary framework engaging a Sankofan approach to analyze education research literature on social processes of navigating identities and engaging civically across immigrant youth’s heritage practices and Indigenous knowledges. In examining social processes, we disrupt three areas of inequalities affecting educational experiences of immigrant youth: (a) homogenizing notions of a monolithic West Africa and immigrant youth’s West African countries, (b) deficit understandings of identities and the heterogeneity of Black immigrant youth from West African countries living in the United States, and (c) singular views of youth’s civic engagement. We provide implications for researchers, policymakers, and educators to better meet youth’s teaching and learning needs.

“It’s OK. She Doesn’t Even Speak English”: Narratives of Language, Culture, and Identity Negotiation by Immigrant High School Students

“…She stated that she enjoys speaking different languages and that "It brings warmth to see somebody else that speaks the same language as you." The participants did not downplay their identity (Watson & Knight-Manuel, 2017) with Haniah talking about her Burkina Faso heritage and Miriam declaring that "I'm Ivorian. I'm also Ghanaian, but not really Ghanaian."…”

Parsing the Gulf between Africans and African Americans

“…Africans' reactions to negative stereotypes about African Americans must be considered in conjunction with inadequate US school curricular coverage of African countries (Jackson and Cothran 2003). As a result of the informational lacuna, distrust is mutual, with African Americans also sometimes distancing themselves from negative stereotypes of Africans (Watson and Knight-Manuel 2017). Our survey respondent comments included negative stereotypes heard in US schools (see Appendix A), insults that reflected very limited knowledge about African countries and contributed to a "single narrative" that Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Adichie decries (TEDGlobal 2009).…”

Critical Affective Civic Literacy: A Framework for Attending to Political Emotion in the Social Studies Classroom

“… Anwaruddin (2016) recommends that “teachers and students interrogate popular culture and media texts to identify which emotions are renamed for particular predefined effects” (p. 391). For instance, the continent of Africa is frequently portrayed in the media as a place shaped by tribalism and ethnic conflict, poverty and malnutrition, and wilderness and exotic animals ( Ukpokodu, 2017 ; Watson & Knight-Manuel, 2017 ). Following the 2014 outbreak of Ebola in parts of West Africa, Newsweek published an issue with a racist photo on its cover, featuring a chimpanzee and the heading “A Back Door for Ebola” ( Flynn & Scutti, 2014 ).…”