Blending Borders of Language and Culture: Schooling in La Villita

Abstract

This article examines the efforts of a school in a Mexican community in Chicago to help children and parents capitalize on the language and culture of their 2 worlds. It builds on the concepts of border crossings and hybridity, metaphors used to describe the sociocultural and linguistic reality of people living transnationally. Some US communities though far from Mexico, nevertheless experience a border resulting from urban segregation in housing and schooling. The article develops the concept of blending borders to characterize approaches employed by educators who seek to build on the funds of knowledge of Latino families for instruction and community building.

Key words:

• funds of knowledge
• bilingual schooling
• border crossings
• school and community
• Mexican immigrants
• sociolinguistics