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CTL1031H
LANGUAGE, CULTURE AND IDENTITY:
USING THE LITERARY TEXT IN TEACHER DEVELOPMENT
Grace Feuerverger
Professor
Department of Curriculum, Teaching & Learning (CTL)
OISE/University of Toronto
Fall Term 2012
Exile is strangely compelling to think about but terrible to experience. It is the unhealable rift
between a human being and a native place, between the self and its true home; its essential
sadness can never be surmounted. And while it is true that literature and history contain heroic,
romantic, glorious, even triumphant episodes in an exile's life, these are no more than efforts
meant to overcome the crippling sorrow of estrangement. The achievements of exile are
permanently undermined by the loss of something left behind forever. (Edward Said)
Who is to say that robbing a people of its language is less violent than war? (Ray Gwyn Smith)
Identity is the essential core of who we are as individuals, the conscious experience of the self
inside. (Gershen Kaufman)
So, if you really want to hurt me, talk badly about my language. Ethnic identity is twin skin to
linguistic identity -- I am my language. Until I can take pride in my language, I cannot take pride
in myself...I will no longer be made to feel ashamed of existing. I will have my voice: Indian,
Spanish, white. I will have my serpent's tongue -- my woman's voice, my sexual voice, my poet's
voice. I will overcome the tradition of silence. (Gloria Anzaldua)
The historical spaces of the twentieth century have been inhabited, in unprecedented
numbers, by those fleeing war, poverty and famine. Their sense of rootlessness, as well as their
struggle to find voice, meaning and balance in their new lives can be regarded as a metaphor for
the (post)modern urban condition. This immigrant/refugee experience has created complex
transformations in all metropolitan centres around the world, but especially in those western
countries which encourage immigration and offer a sense of possibility and hope for the
displaced. Canada is one such country. Indeed, the United Nations has recently named Toronto,
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Canada's largest urban centre, the most ethnically diverse city in the world. Furthermore, the
Canadian societal fabric is built upon the notion of a multicultural mosaic where, at least
officially, the maintenance of minority languages and cultures is encouraged. The issue of
cultural and linguistic diversity is layered, complex and multiple in symbolic meanings within
Canadian society. Multicultural education, by its very nature, engenders emotionally intense
discussions -- situated as it is at cultural crossroads which have been so dramatically altered over
the last few decades in all Canadian urban centres, and especially in Metropolitan Toronto.
Giroux claims that "multiculturalism has become a central discourse in the struggle over issues
regarding national identity, the construction of historical memory, the purpose of schooling, and
the meaning of democracy".
A major objective of this course is to explore the delicate balancing act of language and
ethnic identity maintenance and its implications for teacher development. This course will
explore literature (both fiction and non-fiction) that focuses on the experiences of those who live
within and between various cultural worlds, struggling to find voice, meaning and balance in
their lives. (From literature to the classroom.) Various research methodologies will be examined
with a view to the construction and reconstruction of meaning of teaching for the individual
teacher, educator, researcher in a changing linguistic and cultural educational landscape. The
focus will be on autobiographical narrative within a multicultural context and on the power of
narrative as a means to our understanding of the self in relation to the other.
We will use the literary text as a vehicle for reflection on issues of language and ethnic
identity maintenance which will allow us to live vicariously in other ethnocultural worlds. We
will have the opportunity of exploring the immigrant experience through the eyes of those who
necessarily live between two (or more) worlds and have articulated the experience for others to
understand. (How do they compare and contrast with our own cultural stories?) These new
insights will be used to examine the personal, social and academic adjustment that minority
group children and parents face in the school system and in their new society in general.
"...The reader lives vicariously in a virtual world... What he experiences here is an idea of a
piece of subjective life. In this reconstructive process, ...the self of the reader discovers an
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"otherness" (Poulet, 1986)...The reader hears the voice of another subject offering the fruits of
her inquiry into the qualities of lived experience". (Barone, 1990 in Eisner & Peshkin ( eds.)
Discussing one's subjective perceptions of ethnic identity involves a great deal of personal
reflection and inquiry which strikes at the very core of how one defines oneself in the world. It
is all tied into one's sense of purpose and self-worth within society.

the issue of "strangerhood" (Kristeva, Shabatay), "exile" (Said)

The balancing act of ethnic identity maintenance and its implications on teacher
development

the search for our personal and collective Canadian identity
The "children of immigrants" experience within the classroom and narrative inquiry, my
stories and those of the graduate students and children of immigrants (language and
identity as reflected in literature.) In the course, I will share my own stories from my
experiences as child of immigrant/ refugee parents, and a learner of many languages and
a visitor in many cultures; as teacher of students from diverse ethnocultural backgrounds
in the inner
city; and as researcher on issues of language, culture and identity in
education.

how educators define their role in relation to children and communities of diverse
ethnocultural, linguistic, racial, religious backgrounds

the use of interviews, documents, storytelling,
auto/biography, auto-ethnographic
methods in education
Sam Keen says that "storytelling is a communal act; it requires community and it creates
community. In the telling, there is a teller and a listener, and so it removes the isolation of the
sufferer. In the telling, we remember our past, discover our present and envision our future. In
the telling, we overcome loneliness. The sharing of our stories cures us. We exchange our
unconscious myths, for the conscious autobiography. That is the task of a life and that is the road
to healing."
This is the challenge for us in this course.
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In sum, in this course the literary text is used as a vehicle for reflection on issues of
language, culture and identity writ large and for allowing students to an opportunity to live
vicariously in other ethnocultural worlds.
The course examines the complex implications of understanding teacher development as
autobiographical / biographical text. It focuses on autobiographical / biographical narrative
within diversity as a means to our understanding of the "self" in relation to the "other".
Our interpretive inquiries, which focus on the multicultural relationship between students and
teachers in the field, are layered, complex and multiple with symbolic narratives. We then extend
this epistemological investigation into more broadly conceived notions of meaning-making that
incorporate aesthetic and moral dimensions within the multicultural/anti-racist education
enterprise.
The Literary Texts

Teaching, Learning and Other Miracles (Grace Feuerverger)

Hunger of Memory (Richard Rodriguez)

To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)

The Joy Luck Club (Amy Tan)

Fugitive Pieces (Anne Michaels)
(Possible others to be discussed)
Evaluation Assignments will be based on course readings and class discussions.
1. You will keep an informal journal/log (using many artistic venues to be discussed) on your
ongoing experiences throughout the term and your writing can be shared with peers in class
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discussions. These writings will be an activity-in-progress and encompass changes in your
daily personal and academic life as a result of our readings throughout the term; therefore
they will be continually reconstructed and reshaped throughout the course. They will be
extremely useful when it comes time to write your final paper. (15%)
3. In consultation with me, you will write a research paper with a focus on how your
personal/professional story has influenced your research interests and how these interact with
what you are discovering through the text analysis and classroom discussion. You will reflect
on how your research story is evolving through this process.
You may also describe an episode from several of the texts that have particularly affected
you. This paper is meant to be a reflective endeavour from many perspectives of your lived
experience: as graduate student/researcher/teacher/educator/literary critic. (Your journal will
be an invaluable resource for this work). (85%)