What Are We Seeking to Sustain Through Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy? A Loving Critique Forward

Abstract

In this article, Django Paris and H. Samy Alim use the emergence of Paris's concept of culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP) as the foundation for a respectful and productive critique of previous formulations of asset pedagogies. Paying particular attention to asset pedagogy's failures to remain dynamic and critical in a constantly evolving global world, they offer a vision that builds on the crucial work of the past toward a CSP that keeps pace with the changing lives and practices of youth of color. The authors argue that CSP seeks to perpetuate and foster linguistic, literate, and cultural pluralism as part of the democratic project of schooling and as a needed response to demographic and social change. Building from their critique, Paris and Alim suggest that CSP's two most important tenets are a focus on the plural and evolving nature of youth identity and cultural practices and a commitment to embracing youth culture's counterhegemonic potential while maintaining a clear-eyed critique of the ways in which youth culture can also reproduce systemic inequalities.

Innovative Education for Diverse Students in a Changing Era: One U.S. Urban School’s Alternative Teaching and Learning (pp. 36-55)

“…Research on culturally sustaining pedagogy (Paris, 2012;Paris & Alim, 2014) also provides important insights to this study. Built upon Ladson-Billings' (1995) work on culturally responsive teaching, Paris and Alim (2014) argue that culturally sustaining pedagogy promotes diversity among students by paying particular attention to the fluid and pluralist nature of youth identity as well as youth cultural practices.…”

“…Built upon Ladson-Billings' (1995) work on culturally responsive teaching, Paris and Alim (2014) argue that culturally sustaining pedagogy promotes diversity among students by paying particular attention to the fluid and pluralist nature of youth identity as well as youth cultural practices. In response to current linguistic, cultural, and educational realities of U.S. public schools, culturally sustaining pedagogy highlights the importance of critically addressing issues of culture, equity, and justice and creating room for alternative interpretations of culture as a way to democratize schools.…”

Toward Culturally Sustaining Leadership: Innovation beyond ‘School Improvement’ Promoting Equity in Diverse Contexts

“…Educational leadership should also be responsive enough to change with socio-historical contexts and circumstances to reflect the best knowledge about what works in as many educational configurations as possible. In keeping with demographic shifts and complexities amongst populations in the United States (US) and similar countries contributing to increased levels of cultural, ethnic, and linguistic diversity; leadership practices should be culturally sustaining [2,3]. As such, these practices should push the boundaries of the status quo leadership practice and further develop existing culturally responsive practices in education so these ways of leading begin to rely upon, support, and reflect local, regional and global contexts.…”

The Right to Culturally Sustaining Language Education for the New American Mainstream: An Introduction

“…In various ways, each of these articles takes up the ways communities, educators, scholars, and schools-bound up in the nexus of inequitable policies, ideologies, and practices-have worked across centuries and decades to forward what I understand to be a culturally sustaining (Paris, 2012;Paris & Alim, 2014) education, one that perpetuates and fosters multilingualism and multiculturalism, with the maintenance of dynamic heritage languages and cultures as a core principle. 4 The authors in this special issue have dedicated their professional lives-many decades of research and teaching-to understanding, fostering, and sustaining educational and linguistic justice for students, families, and communities that represent the new mainstream.…”