Foreword by: Shondel Nero
Afterword by: S. Joel Warrican
Publication Date: November 24, 2023
Pages: 176
Series: Language and Literacy Series
Learn how to center, affirm, and develop Black immigrant literacies in ways that allow all youth to engage with and honor their literacies. This book presents a framework to revolutionize teaching in ways that draw on students’ assets for redesigning, rethinking, and reimagining literacy and the English language arts curriculum. This novel framework has five mechanisms through which Black immigrant literacies and languaging can be better understood: the struggle for justice, the myth of the model minority, transraciolinguistics, the local-global, and holistic literacies. Presenting authentic narratives of Afro-Caribbean youth, the author describes how teachers and educators can: (1) teach the Black literate immigrant; (2) use literacy and English language arts curriculum as a vehicle for instructing Black immigrant youth; (3) foster relations among Black immigrants and their peers through literacy; and (4) connect parents, schools, and communities. The text includes lesson plans, instructional modules, and templates that range in their focus from K–12 to college.
Book Features:
Patriann Smith is an associate professor in literacy studies at the University of South Florida and coauthor of Affirming Black Students’ Lives and Literacies: Bearing Witness.
“Smith proffers a nuanced and rigorously researched Black Immigrant Literacies framework to provide an avenue to centralize race in the teaching of Black immigrant youth, and to give them an opportunity to thrive….She speaks to every audience that has a role in the education of Black youth—teachers, parents, peers, community members, administrators, policymakers….This book invites you into the conversation with honesty, grace, and love.”
—From the Foreword by Shondel Nero, professor of language education, New York University
“In Black Immigrant Literacies, Dr. Patriann Smith masterfully reveals the unique and rich Black Englishes and literacies of Black Caribbean-originated youth. She addresses with courage various ethnoracially tinged tensions and myths pertaining to distinctive Black demographic groups in the United States, and ultimately offers educators and scholars a framework for working alongside all minoritized youth of color toward solidarity and racial justice.”
—Allison Skerrett, professor, The University of Texas at Austin
“Black Immigrant Literacies is one of the best books I have read on marginalized populations in the United States and the rapidly increasing population of immigrants. I can see myself going back to this book again and again, learning more each time I read it. You cannot leave this book without new insights about the nature of the colonial entanglements of race, language, and identity. It is well worth reading!”
—Patricia A. Edwards, professor, Michigan State University
“Patriann Smith’s Black Immigrant Literacies is an important new text that describes the theory, use, and implications of a novel instructional approach. This approach foregrounds the unique literacies of Black immigrant youth, and situates them as ‘raciosemiotic architects’ of a world that will embrace their aspirations in new ways. This is a must-read for educators who long for schooling that centers the assets of those who will help us realize a more just future.”
—Kathleen A. Hinchman, emeritus professor, Syracuse University
“For years teachers, educators, and policymakers have been perplexed by how to value and effectively leverage Black immigrant languages, literacies, and epistemologies in their classrooms. By drawing on authentic narratives of the language uses of Afro-Caribbean immigrant youth, this book provides research-based methods for educators, especially those working in monolingual-, monocultural-, and monoracial-dominant settings. The Black immigrant literacies framework will help teacher educators transcend barriers and model relations of solidarity among schools, parents, and nondominant communities. Black Immigrant Literacies, quite simply, is a guide for the linguistically, culturally, and racially perplexed.”
—Aria Razfar, professor of education and linguistics, University of Illinois Chicago
Contents (FINAL)
Foreword Shondel Nero vii
Acknowledgments and Dedication ix
1. Introduction 1
The Framework for Black Immigrant Literacies 2
Authentic Narratives 4
A Call to Teachers, Educators, Schools, and Policymakers 6
Envisioning Imaginary Futures With Black Immigrant Literacies 8
Overview of the Chapters 9
2. Reenvisioning the Literacies of Black Immigrant Youth 10
A Brief History and Demographics of Black Immigrants in the United States 10
Intersections Surrounding Black Immigrant Youth as a “New Model Minority” 11
Languaging and Englishes of Black Immigrants: A Selective Review 15
Peer Interactions in the Black Immigrant Experience 22
Reenvisioning the Literacies of Black Immigrant Youth 23
Summary 26
Questions to Consider 26
3. The Framework for Black Immigrant Literacies 27
Elements of the Black Immigrant Literacies Framework 27
Intersectional Lenses Undergirding Black Immigrant Literacies 32
Applying the Black Immigrant Literacies Framework 39
Questions to Consider 39
4. Teaching Chloe, a Black Jamaican Literate Immigrant: Entanglements of Englishes, Race, and Migration 40
Chloe’s Authentic Narrative: Entanglements of Englishes, Race, and Migration: “You’ll Never Hear Her Speak, Like Broken” 41
Insights From Chloe’s Authentic Narrative 47
Questions to Consider 65
5. Teaching Ervin, a Black Bahamian Literate Immigrant: Fostering Peer Interactions 67
Ervin’s Authentic Narrative: Rac(e)ing Englishes as a Multilingual Migrant: “Talking Like I’m Ghetto” 68
Insights From Ervin’s Authentic Narrative 75
“Black Enough” as a Way to Belong 75
Questions to Consider 102
6. Bridging Invisible Barriers With Black Immigrant Literacies: Building Solidarity Among Schools, Parents, and Communities 103
Parents 104
Schools and Teachers 118
Community 119
Summary 119
Afterword 133
Appendix 136
References 140
Index 155
About the Author 164
Download book figure in PDF format
Professors: Request an Exam Copy
Print copies available for US orders only. For orders outside the US, see our international distributors.