An Artful Narrative Inquiry into the Curriculum-Making Experiences of South Asian Girls, Mothers, and Teachers in Canada

• Author / Creator

  Menon, Sajani Jinny

• The demographic profile of South Asians residing in Canada has grown appreciably over the years. For instance, as of 2011, South Asians made up Canada’s largest visible minority group (Statistics Canada, 2011) and was predicted to continue growing (Statistics Canada, 2012). More recently, Statistics Canada (2017) surmised, “In all the projection scenarios, South Asians would still be the main visible minority group in 2036” (Morency, Malenfant, & MacIsaac, p. 6). Significantly, Statistics Canada (2016) reported “the largest group of visible minority females is now South Asian” (Hudon, p. 4). Given the increasingly diverse composition of Canada’s population, it is crucial to recognize South Asian female students may arrive in schools embodying complex notions of culture and identity (Ghosh, 2000; Kurien, 1999) which shape in profound ways who they are and who they wish to be. Yet far too little is understood about these experiences.

  Moreover, teachers in Canada are often unaware, for such students, identity and culture are inherently multilayered, multi-dimensional considerations (Clandinin et al., 2006; Clandinin, et al., 2016) defying simple understandings (Handa, 2003; Ragoonaden, 2010; Rajiva, 2006).
  South Asian girls and their families live with, and amongst, interconnected, overlapping, and conflicting cultural, familial, intergenerational, and institutional narratives. Working within a narrative conception of knowledge, context, and identity, Clandinin et al. (2006) pointed to tensions that teachers, children, and families experience when co-composing curriculum within Canadian schools. Insofar as South Asian girls are concerned, it is vital to consider how embedded narratives shape their identity-making and additionally, what is taught and learned within the different curriculum-making worlds they live (Huber, Murphy, & Clandinin, 2011; Lugones, 1987) and travel within and amongst (Lugones, 1987).

  At the same time, there is a paucity of research with respect to how South Asian mothers support their daughters in their living and being. Seeking in part to trouble monolithic (and at times pejorative) constructions of South Asian girls and females, this multiperspectival narrative inquiry inquired into the storied experiences of two girls, their mothers and teacher over the span of several years. Shaping my research puzzles are the experiences I embody as a South Asian female born, raised, educated, and living in Canada. In the unfolding of this research, in ethical relationship with co-learners, we inquired into our experiences of identity-making and identity living as crafting an artistry of our lives.

  Field texts included audio-recordings of conversations with co-participants, transcripts of conversations, researcher observations of activities and events, artful wonderings which I called, heart-full musings (Menon, 2019), and artifacts such as photographs, memory books, written work (poetry and stories), annals, and artful representations. Wakeful (Greene, 1995/2000) to the metaphorical three-dimensional inquiry space (Clandinin, 2013; Clandinin & Connelly; 2000), attention was directed to place, sociality, and temporality. Four narrative accounts were created in close relationship with co-learners. Thinking alongside the stories and experiences of research friends, made visible experiences of tension and dis/ease. These bumping places (Clandinin et al, 2006), where different stories bumped up against one another provoked sites for deeper inquiry. By narratively inquiring into how teachers, South Asian girls, and their mothers experience curriculum making in home and school worlds, this study contributes to our knowledge of democratic pedagogy (Fernandez, 2006; Gay, 2002; Mosquera & Mosquera, 2005), and forwards an understanding of teacher and student practice for diversity and not merely about diversity (Clandinin et al. 2006; Clandinin et al; 2016; Eisner,1982, 2005; Greene, 1993, 1995; Ladson-Billings, 1995, 2012; Swartz, 2009).

  Additionally, by shifting away from more traditional and taken-for-granted (Greene, 1995/2000) understandings of academic research, this study illuminates and honours different ways of knowing, being, and learning. Doing so, situates this research firmly within a narrative understanding of social justice (Caine et al., 2018), while magnifying the nuanced experiences of South Asian children and women, as creative, agentic, and artistic, architects of their own experiential worlds.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • narrative inquiry
  • mothers
  • learners
  • artmaking
  • experience
  • children
  • South Asian
  • curriculum-making
  • teachers
  • worlds
  • social justice
  • diversity
  • Indian
  • girls
  • imagination
  • schools
  • identity
  • artistry of lives
  • multiperspectival

• Graduation date

  Fall 2020

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Doctor of Philosophy

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-3yy2-6587

• License

  Permission is hereby granted to the University of Alberta Libraries to reproduce single copies of this thesis and to lend or sell such copies for private, scholarly or scientific research purposes only. Where the thesis is converted to, or otherwise made available in digital form, the University of Alberta will advise potential users of the thesis of these terms. The author reserves all other publication and other rights in association with the copyright in the thesis and, except as herein before provided, neither the thesis nor any substantial portion thereof may be printed or otherwise reproduced in any material form whatsoever without the author's prior written permission.