Engaging the Transnational Lives of Immigrant Youth in Public Schooling: Toward a Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy for Newcomer Immigrant Youth

Abstract

Drawing on ethnographic research in urban schools serving recently arrived immigrant students in New York City, this article considers the importance of drawing on transnational attachments in culturally sustaining pedagogy for newcomer immigrant students. The authors document how recently arrived immigrant youth narrated real and imagined transnational attachments as they described their past, current, and future lives in the United States and in home countries. Furthermore, they show how educators recognize and build on young people’s connections to homelands in their classrooms and in the teaching of academic content to promote the belonging and engagement of their students. Thus, the authors argue that by recognizing and engaging students’ transnational knowledge, experiences, and attachments, educators are engaging in a culturally sustaining pedagogy that prepares students for our changing globalized world.