Revisioning curriculum in the age of transnational mobility: Towards a transnational and transcultural framework

Abstract

Revisioning curriculum in the age of transnational mobility: Towards a transnational and transcultural framework. Curriculum Inquiry, 47(1), pp. 80-91.  This is the peer reviewed version of the article which has been published in final form at: http://dx.Abstract: Under the new mobilities paradigm migration is conceptualized as circulatory and transnational, moving us beyond the framework of methodological nationalism. Transnational mobility has called into question dominant notions of migrant acculturation or assimilation.Migrants no longer feel obligated to remain tied to or locatable in a "given", unitary culture.Rather, they are becoming embedded within a shifting field of increasingly transcultural identities. While migrants are becoming more transnational and adopting fluid, transcultural identities, there is a lack of focus and engagement with transnationalism as well as transculturalism in the official Canadian public school curricula. As scholars contend, Canadian school curricula are still based on Eurocentric, homogenizing, nationalistic discourses that tend to normalize values, norms, and behaviours that are perceived as "different" from the dominant norm. In response to the limitations of Canadian official curricula, as noted by various scholars who have examined curriculum documents, this essay proposes a revision of Canadian curricula in the context of transnational mobility with the aim of developing an approach that would integrate transnational and transcultural perspectives into the existing system. The article thus proposes a transnational and transcultural framework as an alternative to build a more ethical and inclusive school curriculum in Canada.

Exploration of student perceptions of multicultural content in American Sign Language distance learning courses : a case study

“…To better understand why the transculturalism framework was selected as a secondary lens, it is necessary to provide the background of transnationalism and how it manifested. The concept of transnationalism sparked interest among curriculum builders in the 1990s with its focus on economic, political, and socio-cultural activities, and popularized and expanded by cultural anthropologists (Guo & Maitra, 2017). Transnationalism was regarded as an analytic approach to individuals and support networks by focusing on their history and activities (Portes, 1999).…”

“…This was deemed an effective way to learn about the institutional foundations of transnationalism, where contemporary grassroots are examined as a response to critical government policies. Using Portes' (1999) example of specific transnational activities, Guo & Maitra (2017) listed three general types of organizations: These activities can be exploited in classroom discourse if concept-related contents are built into the curriculum base, welcoming a potential for learning and appreciation of various perspectives and identities both by learners and instructors. This helped increase focus and engagement in curricula by introducing diverse national identities and understanding how political activity influences, or has power over, the educational system instead of cultural identities being tethered to normative hegemonic conventions, values, and racial categories (Guo & Maitra,p.…”

“…Emerging from transnationalism during this period, the concept of transculturalism was viewed as a process where individuals and society evolve by amalgamating diverse cultural ways of living into new ones (Guo & Maitra, 2017). As opposed to transculturalism, multiculturalism investigates relations between persons from different cultures.…”

“…Following the critical-ideology theory, multiculturalism became the practitioner's go-to solution to achieving and balancing diverse student needs with the incorporation of multicultural contents. This widely used framework received criticism from scholars and theorists concerning perpetual oppression and bias, widening the division between groups (Guo & Maitra, 2017). Transnationalism and transculturalism emerged after realizing this shortcoming of the multiculturalism framework.…”

“…Missing from general online studies are critical-ideology and transnationalism (and transculturalism) theory perspectives, which were born from the existing state of political or social matters. The latter theory sparked interest among curriculum builders in the 1990s with its focus on economic, political, and socio-cultural activities (Guo & Maitra, 2017). It was posited that there was a lack of focus and engagement in curricula with immigrants and that political activity influences, or has power over, the educational system.…”