Cultural Literacy in Asian Indian American Students

The cultivation of ‘cultural literacy’ in students from multicultural backgrounds may occur outside schooling practices in the US due to curricular framing and a lack of interest in integrating cultural education at schools. ‘Cultural literacy’ warrants student participation and requires a conduciv...

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Main Author: KALPANA M. IYENGAR
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Dr. Chinmay Pandya 2015-07-01
Series:Dev Sanskriti: Interdisciplinary International Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dsiij.dsvv.ac.in/index.php/dsiij/article/view/60
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author KALPANA M. IYENGAR
author_facet KALPANA M. IYENGAR
author_sort KALPANA M. IYENGAR
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description The cultivation of ‘cultural literacy’ in students from multicultural backgrounds may occur outside schooling practices in the US due to curricular framing and a lack of interest in integrating cultural education at schools. ‘Cultural literacy’ warrants student participation and requires a conducive learning environment where multiethnic students can seek inspiration through exploration. The San Antonio Writing Project organizes literacy project called the Kahani Project, and it fosters creativeness and facilitates authentic expression of cultural funds of knowledge of Indian American students. Performing arts including dance and music engage Indian students and enable them to learn about their culture, heritage, and religion. The Kahani Project is culturally contextualized writing activity, where Asian Indian American students write about their generational practices that may not addressed in schools in the US. This qualitative study explores two narratives written for the Kahani Project. The study utilized Leiblich et al., holistic content analysis to arrive at themes, categories, and meta categories. The findings revealed Indian students’ willingness to preserve their culture through writing about Indian dance and music. The second inference of this study was that Indian students’ heritage is neglected and excluded in US curriculum.
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spelling doaj.art-0cdff6666f8d4263813a576a844df9fd2022-12-22T02:50:33ZengDr. Chinmay PandyaDev Sanskriti: Interdisciplinary International Journal2279-05782582-45892015-07-01610.36018/dsiij.v6i0.60Cultural Literacy in Asian Indian American StudentsKALPANA M. IYENGAR0UTSA San Antonio Writing Project, The University of Texas, San Antonio, U.S. The cultivation of ‘cultural literacy’ in students from multicultural backgrounds may occur outside schooling practices in the US due to curricular framing and a lack of interest in integrating cultural education at schools. ‘Cultural literacy’ warrants student participation and requires a conducive learning environment where multiethnic students can seek inspiration through exploration. The San Antonio Writing Project organizes literacy project called the Kahani Project, and it fosters creativeness and facilitates authentic expression of cultural funds of knowledge of Indian American students. Performing arts including dance and music engage Indian students and enable them to learn about their culture, heritage, and religion. The Kahani Project is culturally contextualized writing activity, where Asian Indian American students write about their generational practices that may not addressed in schools in the US. This qualitative study explores two narratives written for the Kahani Project. The study utilized Leiblich et al., holistic content analysis to arrive at themes, categories, and meta categories. The findings revealed Indian students’ willingness to preserve their culture through writing about Indian dance and music. The second inference of this study was that Indian students’ heritage is neglected and excluded in US curriculum. http://dsiij.dsvv.ac.in/index.php/dsiij/article/view/60Asian Indian StudentsCultural literacyKahani ProjectDanceMusic
spellingShingle KALPANA M. IYENGAR
Cultural Literacy in Asian Indian American Students
Dev Sanskriti: Interdisciplinary International Journal
Asian Indian Students
Cultural literacy
Kahani Project
Dance
Music
title Cultural Literacy in Asian Indian American Students
title_full Cultural Literacy in Asian Indian American Students
title_fullStr Cultural Literacy in Asian Indian American Students
title_full_unstemmed Cultural Literacy in Asian Indian American Students
title_short Cultural Literacy in Asian Indian American Students
title_sort cultural literacy in asian indian american students
topic Asian Indian Students
Cultural literacy
Kahani Project
Dance
Music
url http://dsiij.dsvv.ac.in/index.php/dsiij/article/view/60
work_keys_str_mv AT kalpanamiyengar culturalliteracyinasianindianamericanstudents