Exploring Identity Negotiations, Multiple Literacies, and Imagined Communities of Somali American High School Students

• Published in: Research in the teaching of English Vol. 59; no. 2; pp. 187 - 212
• Main Authors: Kiramba, Lydiah Kananu, Ali, Ubah Abdi, Saeed, Aisha, Hamann, Edmund “Ted”
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Urbana National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) 01.11.2024; National Council of Teachers of English
• Subjects: Academic Ability; Acculturation; Children & youth; Cultural differences; Curricula; Diaspora; Disproportionate Representation; Dropouts; Education reform; Educational Change; Educational Experience; Educational Research; Females; High School Students; Identity; Ideology; Immigrant students; Immigrants; Individual Differences; Kenya; Language; Learner Engagement; Linguistics; Literacy; Migrant Children; Migrant Education; Minnesota; Minority Group Students; Multiple Literacies; Narratives; Peers; Refugees; Refugees, African; Saeed, Aisha; School dropouts; Secondary school students; Secondary schools; Social aspects; Social Environment; Somali language; Somalia; Students, Foreign; United Kingdom; United States; Somalia; United Kingdom; Minnesota; Kenya; United States; United States > US
• ISSN: 0034-527X; 1943-2348
• DOI: 10.58680/rte2024592187

Through narrative inquiry, this study uses the concept of “imagining community” and finding purpose and agency related to selected and ascribed affiliations in order to understand the transnational literacies of two Somali American Muslim girls of refugee background attending high school in a US meatpacking community. With the girls as coauthors paired with two academics, we center the Somali American girls’ experiences in their school and community, illustrating strategic deployments of literacies and various identities to construct a sense of belonging/acceptance in different spaces. We also chronicle their resistance to different forms of discrimination arising from linguistic, cultural, and religious differences through their advocacy for themselves, their peers, and their communities. Ultimately, this study has implications for educators working with immigrant students, and reminds us of the wisdom of listening to students’ own voices.