Week 6 Day 2

Social and Cultural Capital

• Course: EDUC 005: Introduction to Education Studies

• Date: 2/13/2025

Agenda

• Cultural Capital Recap

• Community Cultural Wealth

• Overview of Scholarship Paper

Cultural Capital

• Definition: Valued set of knowledge, skills, and abilities.

• Context Specific: Varies across different social contexts.

• Forms:

  • Dominant Forms: Valued by privileged groups and carry "currency" in society.

  • Non-Dominant Forms: Often undervalued or unrecognized by mainstream institutions.

• Normalization: Schools and society emphasize and reward dominant forms.

(Dominant) Cultural Capital and Educational Inequality

• Implicit Teaching: Dominant cultural capital is not explicitly taught but is rewarded.

• Middle-Class Performance: Explains why middle-class children tend to excel in education due to possession of dominant cultural capital.

Yosso's Conceptualization

• Community Cultural Wealth: Challenges traditional views of cultural capital, focusing on strengths rather than deficits.

• Critical Race Theory (CRT) Perspective: Highlights the cultural knowledge and skills of marginalized communities, often overlooked in conventional education.

• Recognizes an array of cultural resources possessed by socially marginalized groups.

CRT Tenets

• Intercentricity: Examines how race and racism intersect with other forms of subordination.

• Ideology Challenge: Critiques dominant ideologies that oppress marginalized groups.

• Commitment to Social Justice: Advocates for equitable treatment and representation in social systems.

• Centrality of Experiential Knowledge: Values lived experiences as significant sources of knowledge.

• Transdisciplinary Perspective: Encourages exploration across disciplines.

Income vs. Wealth

• Income: Refers to money received from salaries, wages, and payments.

• Wealth: Total value of an individual’s accumulated assets and resources.

Community Cultural Wealth

• Framework: Consists of different forms:

  • Familial Capital

  • Aspirational Capital

  • Social Capital

  • Cultural Capital

  • Linguistic Capital

  • Navigational Capital

  • Resistant Capital

Social Capital: Reflection Questions

• Acknowledge the support system in education (college, graduate school).

• Strategies for maintaining connections with supporters.

• Expanding the support network for mutual benefit.

• Sharing resources and information to aid others.

Social Capital Definition

• Networks of people and community resources.

• Tradition of 'lifting as we climb': emphasizes mutual support within communities.

• Engagement: Black Ivy League graduates are more likely to be leaders in civic organizations than their white counterparts.

Mutual Aid Societies and Cooperatives

• Historical Context: Family associations and credit practices emerged due to political exclusion.

• Offers support in employment, social insurance, and community welfare.

Building Social Capital: HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities)

• Maintain African American history and culture.

• Establish community leadership and role modeling.

• Navigate predominantly white spaces to open dialogue.

• Develop research agendas relevant to the African American community.

Aspirational Capital: Reflection Questions

• Identify personal educational and professional aspirations and their sources.

• Strategies for maintaining hopes and dreams despite challenges.

• Utilizing support systems to uphold aspirations.

Aspirational Capital Definition

• Capacity to sustain hopes and dreams for the future amid challenges.

• Emphasizing a culture of possibility.

Linguistic Capital: Reflection Questions

• Explore ways of communication that navigate different cultural spaces.

• Understand how language offers diverse perspectives.

• Identify storytelling as a means of connecting with others.

Linguistic Capital Definition

• Skills gained through communication in multiple languages or styles.

• Includes storytelling, visual art, music, and poetry.

• Encompasses multilingual and intercultural social skills.

Hmong Story Cloths

• Cultural Significance: Document history and legacy originating from refugee camps.

• Convey lived experiences of Hmong people.

Enacting Linguistic Capital via Music

• Example: Black Girl Alphabet (link to Facebook video provided).

Language/Cultural Brokering

• 90% of children from language minority families perform brokering roles between age 8-12.

• Contexts include homes, schools, and various community structures.

• Brokering can lead to distress and reflects the need for improved social services.

Language/Cultural Brokering Benefits

• Enhances cognitive and metalinguistic abilities.

• Supports bilingual/bicultural identity development.

• Correlates with academic achievement and strengthens parent-child relationships.

Familial Capital: Reflection Questions

• Assess the influence of familial wisdom, values, and stories on educational journeys.

• Explore connections between family/community successes and personal achievements.

• Identify ways to invite family/community to educational experiences for mutual benefit.

Familial Capital Definition

• Cultural knowledge nurtured within families that holds community history and memory.

• Ethnic student organizations and cultural centers serve as supportive environments.

Navigational Capital: Reflection Questions

• Reflect on challenges overcome in academic journeys.

• Analyze insights gained from experiences and how they guide future actions.

• Identify supportive spaces within the educational institution.

Navigational Capital Definition

• Skills necessary to navigate social institutions not designed for communities of color.

• Emphasizes agency amidst institutional barriers.

Navigational Capital: First Generation Students/Faculty

• Example: #FirstGen college graduates sharing experiences and resources.

Resistant Capital: Reflection Questions

• Determine the thoughts and actions that aid in times of difficulty.

• Explore how support systems shape resilience.

• Consider education as a transformative collective and institutional process.

Resistant Capital Definition

• Knowledge and skills developed through opposition to inequality.

• Passing on community cultural wealth through both verbal and non-verbal lessons.

• Fosters positive racial socialization among community members.

Racial Socialization Messages

• Positive reflections that emphasize resistance against adversity.

Racial Socialization and Academic Outcomes (Wang & Huguley)

• Parents’ cultural socialization positively predicts GPA and educational aspirations.

• Provides protective factors for students facing racial bias in educational settings.

• Preparation for bias enhances school identification and engagement.

Group Work/Pairs Discussion

• Explore concrete examples of each form of community cultural wealth.

• Discuss potential manifestations within educational settings.

Leveraging Skills and Assets

• Strategies to center storytelling and narrative methodologies in education.

• Address intersections of various forms of oppression in learning environments.

• Connect historical contexts to present realities.

• Foster collective learning and social responsibility.

• Ensure the presence of culturally affirming role models.

Young Black Scholars Program (Jayakumar, Vue, Allen)

• Activities: Black history quiz and affirming racial socialization initiatives.

• Education as a tool for transformational resistance and normalization of high expectations.

Young Black Scholars (Continued)

• Create environments that leverage community cultural wealth for achieving cultural integrity.

• Harmonize school and community to foster positive academic and racial identities.

Resistant Capital: Racial Socialization

• Additional reflections on racial socialization practices within communities.

Linguistic Capital: Storytelling

• Example: 2020 Author winner of Pura Belpre Award.

• Focus on storytelling as a means of cultural expression and legacy.