Abstract
The present study demonstrates how the application of Yosso’s (Citation2005) Community Cultural Wealth Model reveals powerful contributions to the social, cultural, and emotional development of Asian Indian diasporic adolescents. Our study deconstructs various personal narratives (e.g., speeches, emails) written by the performers and other cultural insiders of the iconic Bharatanatyam dance. Within the context of any socio cultural milieu, such writings often reveal identity construction, cultural norms, or other social phenomena (e.g., moral support, gratitude, anger). To aid analysis, we adapted Jerome Bruner’s (Citation1991) “Ten Features of Narrative” into our coding scheme in order to foreground the social nature of all cultural practices. The resulting discussion illuminates the multiple levels of meaning subsumed within the activity or cultural artifact (e.g., Bharatanatyam).
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Kalpana Mukunda Iyengar
Dr. Kalpana Mukunda Iyengar holds a PhD in Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching. Since 2010, she has taught teacher preparation courses on diversity, social issues, culture, and literacy. Dr. Iyengar is also a postdoctoral fellow in Culture, Language, and Literacy in the Bilingual Bicultural Department, UTSA where she co-writes, publishes, and conducts family literacy nights and professional development workshops for teachers in public schools across San Antonio along with Dr. Howard Smith.
Howard L. Smith
Dr. Howard L. Smith is Associate Professor in Bicultural-Bilingual Studies at the University of Texas, San Antonio. Dr. Smith teaches courses in bilingual education, biliteracy, sociocultural contexts of language and literacy development, and multicultural education. His coauthored books include Multicultural Literature for Latino Bilingual Children: Their Words, Their Worlds and ELLs in Texas: What teachers need to know. Cognella Press published a curated anthology co-edited by Dr. Smith and Dr. Iyengar on “Diversity in Society and Schools in the US.”