RES 5530: Race, Class, and Gender in Literacy Research (Spring 2009)

It was ironic for me to read this week’s assignment after a class discussion I had in one of my other classes this week. The professor talked about how much storytelling has faded in our culture. One of the students the researcher was interviewing made a comment about how he feels about storytelling in the refugee community in the U.S.: “People tell a lot of stories, but here, now, we don’t learn,” illustrates the tension Francis feels between the Sudanese community in Africa and the community of refugees in the U.S. and shows how he positions himself in relation to those communities. In addition, his words suggest the significance of the change in storytelling over time”

My professor asked us how far back we could remember about specific details of family members, for instance great great grandmothers. It was neat to hear the discussions that were in the class because some students’ parents told them stories at bedtime instead of reading, and vice-versa. And with this discussion in mind, I couldn’t help to think as I was reading about the wars in Sudan that these boys most likely did not hear a book read to them at night or hear a story as they were trying to hide and escape the kidnappings.

This idea made me think about how different students life’s can be and the environment they grow in can vary so dramatically. Student’s language is not the only aspect that can bring diversity in the class. I think about students as they leave school. What situations do they face at home? Is it pleasant, or harmful? Someone was a teacher for the 7,000 young boys that escaped who attended the schools within the camps. And later in 2000, the students who were saved attended local high schools. This description of the nights some of these kids faced stands out to me: In the weeks and months of their journeys, traveling mostly at night to avoid being bombed from the air or captured by ground troops, lions were a constant threat. The boys began to form close-knit groups, a new sense of family following the loss of their own. They traveled across Saharan desert, into jungles, over mountains and through swamps—all studded with land mines. Think about the background knowledge these students would bring to class and the stories they could tell! No wonder the author/researcher was introduced in the community with the rationale: “She lived in Africa, so she understands”. But I think more importantly, she listened to their stories and I need to ask myself…do I listen to the “stories” students are telling me enough?

After I posted last night, I was watching Good Morning America and wanted to share about one of their stories...

Did any of you guys hear the discussion on Good Morning America this morning (Friday). About how President Obama and his wife are using language a new language to communicate a new message. Mrs. Obama was delivering a speech and at the end, she was asked questions. One of the questions she was asked was (I couldn't remember word for word) "how did you get to the point you are?" Mrs. Obama responded that in school she was identified by her peers as "talking white", but that she was getting A's. GMA only showed clips of her speech and interviewing at the end, and would flip back and forth to President Obama and Mrs. Obama. They discussed a few other things, like his language during his speech. I couldn't catch it all but I thought some of you might like to know about it, I'm sure you could find it on the GMA website. Maybe use it as a discussion in class, I've noticed in the critiques how some of ya'll are doing that.

Elizabeth Griffin