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Django Paris

Bio: Django Paris is an academic researcher from University of Washington. The author has contributed to research in topics: Cultural pluralism & Pacific islanders. The author has an hindex of 14, co-authored 17 publications receiving 3189 citations. Previous affiliations of Django Paris include Arizona State University & Michigan State University.

Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The notion of culturally sustaining pedagogy was introduced by as discussed by the authors, who argued that teaching and learning relevant and responsive to the languages, literacies, and cultural practices of students across categories of difference and (in)equality.
Abstract: Seventeen years ago Gloria Ladson-Billings (1995) published the landmark article “Toward a Theory of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy,” giving a coherent theoretical statement for resource pedagogies that had been building throughout the 1970s and 1980s. I, like countless teachers and university-based researchers, have been inspired by what it means to make teaching and learning relevant and responsive to the languages, literacies, and cultural practices of students across categories of difference and (in)equality. Recently, however, I have begun to question if the terms “relevant” and “responsive” are really descriptive of much of the teaching and research founded upon them and, more importantly, if they go far enough in their orientation to the languages and literacies and other cultural practices of communities marginalized by systemic inequalities to ensure the valuing and maintenance of our multiethnic and multilingual society. In this essay, I offer the term and stance of culturally sustaining pedagogy ...

1,921 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Paris and Alim as discussed by the authors argue that CSP seeks to perpetuate and foster linguistic, literate, and cultural pluralism as part of the democratic project of schooling and as a needed response to demographic and social change.
Abstract: In this article, Django Paris and H. Samy Alim use the emergence of Paris's concept of culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP) as the foundation for a respectful and productive critique of previous formulations of asset pedagogies. Paying particular attention to asset pedagogy's failures to remain dynamic and critical in a constantly evolving global world, they offer a vision that builds on the crucial work of the past toward a CSP that keeps pace with the changing lives and practices of youth of color. The authors argue that CSP seeks to perpetuate and foster linguistic, literate, and cultural pluralism as part of the democratic project of schooling and as a needed response to demographic and social change. Building from their critique, Paris and Alim suggest that CSP's two most important tenets are a focus on the plural and evolving nature of youth identity and cultural practices and a commitment to embracing youth culture's counterhegemonic potential while maintaining a clear-eyed critique of the ways in ...

1,064 citations

Book
05 May 2017
Abstract: Educational environments that exist in pluralistic societies today prove to offer students little purpose to attend school and limited support in becoming successful. The lack of understanding the needs of students, along with preconceived notions of cultures and identities of communities of colour have resulted in a partial eradication of student cultures, and the creation of vulnerable, stigmatized, and marginalized student populations. The “divide that exists between many educational institutions and the students they are supposed to serve” (Paris & Alim, 2017, p. 95) only continues to grow because students do not feel that their identities are affirmed through the curriculum taught; it is irrelevant, impractical and exclusionary to their backgrounds, experiences, and lives. Identifying the various challenges that students of colour are faced with in schools is the first step towards finding a possible solution to address those issues and concerns. Several educators and researchers, under the editorial guide of Paris and Alim (2017), tackle the history of pathologizing students — the silencing and ignoring their voices, the overrepresentation of white teachers in the classroom, and the numerous discourses related to teaching and diversity — to offer a possible solution through the implementation of culturally sustaining pedagogies (CSP). Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies: Teaching and Learning for Justice in a Changing World begins with the editors explaining the way in which the book came together and identifying the contributors to the volume. Following this, the introductory chapter provides a definition of CSP, explains its meaning and importance, and identifies the goal of the book, which according to the editors involves

323 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors provides a range of voices on the Language Gap, as their aim is to shed light on the need for more critical dialogue to accompany the proliferation of political initiatives, policymaking, educational programs, and media coverage.
Abstract: This Forum provides a range of voices on the Language Gap, as our aim is to shed light on the need for more critical dialogue to accompany the proliferation of political initiatives, policymaking, educational programs, and media coverage. We highlight some relevant background on the Language Gap and describe some of the research used to support the concept. The diverse slate of Forum contributions that we have assembled approach the Language Gap topic from a range of linguistic anthropological perspectives—theoretical, empirical, political, ethnographic, personal, and experiential. Based on an acknowledgment of the need to improve educational access for economically and culturally diverse students, the subsequent discussions provide a range of perspectives designed to move away from denouncing and altering home language skills as a panacea for academic woes and social inequity. Linguistic anthropology's focus on language learning ecologies, and the sophistication therein, provides a novel perspective on the Language Gap. The contributions included below problematize existing ideologies, demonstrate the wealth of resources within various communities, and propose new directions for school practices and policymaking in an effort to bridge the “language gap” toward a more inclusive and discerning view of linguistic practices across diverse groups. Video Abstract

147 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article conceptualized ethnographic, qualitative, and social language research with marginalized and oppressed communities as humanizing research and provided evidence that such humanization is not only ethically necessary but also increases the validity of the truths we gain through research.
Abstract: In this article, I conceptualize ethnographic, qualitative, and social language research with marginalized and oppressed communities as humanizing research. Humanizing research is a methodological stance, which requires that our inquiries involve dialogic consciousness‐raising and the building of relationships of dignity and care for both researchers and participants. I offer evidence that such humanization is not only ethically necessary but also increases the validity of the truths we gain through research. Working from a 2006–2007 study of language, literacy, and difference in a multiethnic high school and youth community, I provide examples from fieldwork that led to research that attempted to humanize rather than colonize the youth I worked with. I draw on the work of others to extend a long line of methodological thinking in pursuit of representation and humanization in interpretive studies in schools and communities.

144 citations


Cited by
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Book
01 Jan 2012
Abstract: Experience and Educationis the best concise statement on education ever published by John Dewey, the man acknowledged to be the pre-eminent educational theorist of the twentieth century. Written more than two decades after Democracy and Education(Dewey's most comprehensive statement of his position in educational philosophy), this book demonstrates how Dewey reformulated his ideas as a result of his intervening experience with the progressive schools and in the light of the criticisms his theories had received. Analysing both "traditional" and "progressive" education, Dr. Dewey here insists that neither the old nor the new education is adequate and that each is miseducative because neither of them applies the principles of a carefully developed philosophy of experience. Many pages of this volume illustrate Dr. Dewey's ideas for a philosophy of experience and its relation to education. He particularly urges that all teachers and educators looking for a new movement in education should think in terms of the deeped and larger issues of education rather than in terms of some divisive "ism" about education, even such an "ism" as "progressivism." His philosophy, here expressed in its most essential, most readable form, predicates an American educational system that respects all sources of experience, on that offers a true learning situation that is both historical and social, both orderly and dynamic.

10,294 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The notion of culturally sustaining pedagogy was introduced by as discussed by the authors, who argued that teaching and learning relevant and responsive to the languages, literacies, and cultural practices of students across categories of difference and (in)equality.
Abstract: Seventeen years ago Gloria Ladson-Billings (1995) published the landmark article “Toward a Theory of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy,” giving a coherent theoretical statement for resource pedagogies that had been building throughout the 1970s and 1980s. I, like countless teachers and university-based researchers, have been inspired by what it means to make teaching and learning relevant and responsive to the languages, literacies, and cultural practices of students across categories of difference and (in)equality. Recently, however, I have begun to question if the terms “relevant” and “responsive” are really descriptive of much of the teaching and research founded upon them and, more importantly, if they go far enough in their orientation to the languages and literacies and other cultural practices of communities marginalized by systemic inequalities to ensure the valuing and maintenance of our multiethnic and multilingual society. In this essay, I offer the term and stance of culturally sustaining pedagogy ...

1,921 citations

01 Oct 2006

1,866 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, Ladson-Billings reflects on the history of her theory of culturally relevant pedagogy and the ways it has been used and misused since its inception.
Abstract: In this article, Ladson-Billings reflects on the history of her theory of culturally relevant pedagogy and the ways it has been used and misused since its inception. She argues for the importance o...

1,383 citations