Wednesday November 29, 2023 at 8:30 am Pacific Standard Time
Guest Speaker: Tara Ratnam, Independent Teacher Educator and Researcher, Mysoyre, India
Summary:
Viewed as a dialectic between local cultures and global imperatives, different cultural interactions and cultural syntheses can be identified. One concern is that vulnerable local indigenous cultures exposed to dominating global systems, such as technocapitalism, are in danger of being eradicated. Tara Ratnam’s experience in postcolonial India provides a contrast with the community in Kyrgyzstan that Gillian McNamee has worked with (September 13 , 2023 Cultural Praxis video session). Informed by a Funds of Knowledge approach (González, Moll & Amanti, 2005), this presentation explores the possibility of framing such exchanges with a dominant colonizing culture in a positive way.
Contact Francine Smolucha at lsmolucha@hotmail.com for the ZOOM link.
READING:
Ratnam, T. (2014) The Development of Oral and Written Communication in a Funds of Knowledge Approach
FURTHER READINGS:
Gonzalez, N. E., Moll, L., & Amanti, C. (Eds.) (2005). Funds of knowledge: Theorizing practices in households, communities, and classrooms. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
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Tara provided a wonderful example of applying the Funds of Knowledge approach to literacy education. I specifically use the term literacy, because as our discussion showed, this is not a matter of literacy in one language intent on superseding literacy in another language. Tara’s students, their families, and community typically did not have literacy skills. Our discussion also addresses the social impact that literacy has on the previous family dynamic, particularly as it relates to a daughter becoming literate and aspiring to higher education.
Thanks Francine for addressing the social and gender dynamics. This is a challenge in a community that , as Haseena pointed out, views girls and women as subordinate to boys and men in every way, including education. I think this is where FoK matters as an approach that goes beyond the walls of classroom in creating an inclusive learning environment to build bridges with the community for influencing their perceptions.