Interculturally Relevant Pedagogy

Abstract

Although culturally responsive pedagogy has been geared towards students' cultures, interests, and needs, it does not meaningfully consider intercultural communication dynamics that are always existing in almost all classrooms, especially highly multicultural ones. This assumption is problematized by the current academic discussion on individuals' tendency to oscillate between different identities/cultures and the significance of intersubjectivity in the epistemological complexity of interculturality. This chapter makes a case for interculturally relevant pedagogy as an educational approach that recognizes the importance of considering students' cultures while emphasizing intercultural communication in K-12 classrooms procedures with the aim of simultaneously attaining social justice and scholastic achievement. It argues for the plausible need of integrating popular culture in order to present sociopolitical realities and accordingly enable students, along with teachers' guidance, to critically question the current power imbalances and the cultural hegemony of dominant group.