“What Are You and Where Are You From?”

Abstract

Although most educators would agree that enacting cultural relevance in the classroom is always a complex process, we have too few examples in the research literature of what that complexity looks like and how it plays out in highly diverse classrooms. Drawing on a range of qualitative data sources, this case study examines how one teacher's interpretation of culturally relevant pedagogy bumped up against children's ideas about their own and others' cultural and racial positionings in an elementary classroom where both cultural background and race varied. The authors argue that it is vital for teachers and researchers to consider cases such as this if we are to better understand and respond to the complexities of substantively engaging children in issues of culture and race in diverse public school communities.