Cultural Citizenship and Visual Literacy: U.S.-Mexican Children Constructing Cultural Identities Along the U.S.-Mexico Border

Abstract

In this article we examine a theoretical concept: cultural citizenship. Educators of color typically advance this theoretical perspective because it provides a way of probing into ways students' differing linguistic and cultural resources can be made visible and effectively included in literacy events both in and outside of school. Through this theoretical lens we build an understanding of the role of culture and visual literacy in the lives of young people living in rural South Texas. We suggest a cultural citizenship framework can (a) facilitate the inclusion of multiple perspectives that "transcend the negative effects of the dominant culture" (Ladson-Billings, 1994, p. 17) and (b) "develop the vision and the power of our future citizens to forge a more just society" (Sleeter, 1991, p. 2). Thus, we consider the nature and function of visual literacy in the lives of children becoming writers who affirm their cultural citizenship along the U.S.-Mexico borderlands.