Upcoming anthology features multicultural, multilingual children’s stories, written by parents
by Brooke Hall
Dec. 7, 2023
For more than three years, IU Columbus Education Associate Professor Laura Liu has been working on a project to foster community sharing of multicultural, multilingual funds of knowledge*, resulting in an anthology of 15 parent-written stories that will hit the shelves soon, Home: Multilingual Funds of Knowledge Parent Stories.
The publication features children’s books written and designed by parents and families sharing their stories in their home language and English. The project has received funding from the Bartholomew County Literary Task Force, directed by IUC’s Karen Garrity, the Community Engaged Alliance, IUPUI’s Arts & Humanities Institute, as well as student projects funded by IU Columbus’ Office of Student Research. As Director of School and Community Relations in the Division of Education, Garrity has played a key role in the development of the anthology.
Liu noted the project has several goals. “This project aims to support parents in sharing home cultures and languages within the community, including K-12 and university classrooms, so their voices may be heard and valued. The audiences of these stories have the opportunity to discover and appreciate the wealth of cultures, languages, and experiences around them.”
One of the stories featured in the anthology is Picture Day: A Nigerian American Story, written by Amy and Israel Shasanmi and their family. It is loosely based on a true story of a young boy deciding if he should wear traditional Nigerian clothing to picture day at school. Amy outlined the drawings and wrote the English text, while Israel translated it into Yoruba. The whole family contributed to the content and helped color it in.
“I never would have dreamed we would have done this, but it was a wonderful experience, a true family project and learning opportunity. It really helped us think about, discuss, and answer questions about our own cultural experiences,” said Amy Shasanmi, IU Indianapolis Assistant Professor of Sociology, adding, “My sons already want to write another book!”
Israel Shasanmi, Deputy Director of Indy’s MLK Center, noted the translation was complicated because of the different nuance and dynamic of parent-child dialogue in Nigeria compared to Americans’ way of speaking. Interestingly, he learned that parents translating into Chinese for the anthology ran into similar issues. Amy and Israel Shasanmi added that it was a meaningful experience to share their story with other authors and student-teachers during events (hosted by Liu and IU Columbus) leading up to the publication.
Another author in the anthology, IU Columbus student Anakarina Hurtado, wrote her husband’s account of fleeing Cuba by boat at only 6 years old: La Gran Aventura de Gabriel (Gabriel’s Great Adventure).
“When I was growing up, I felt very different from my classmates. I want to empower kids to embrace who they are and where they come from,” said Hurtado, who came to the United States from Caracas, Venezuela, when she was 8 years old.
Though Home isn’t on bookshelves yet, it’s already having an impact that extends beyond campus. The project has been featured at both a regional and a national education conference, a journal publication and a book chapter coming out in the spring. Stories in the anthology have been shared during parent author readings in libraries and classrooms, at literary festivals and parks, and with IU Columbus teacher candidates, including a virtual learning exchange with Beijing Normal University teacher candidates.
Once published, the anthology will be available in all area libraries and elementary schools. A website is in development to share free lesson plans designed around the books to help teachers bring the stories to life in their own classrooms.
Stay tuned for a follow-up article this spring when Home becomes available on Amazon, in libraries and schools.
*Funds of knowledge is a concept developed in by Professor Luis Moll and colleagues in the 1990s to support teachers in learning from the backgrounds, experiences, knowledge, and skills of multilingual learners and their families, and integrating this into class curricula.
