(Un) knowing Diversity by Tricia Gallagher-Geurtsen

I have known the author of this book for a number of years and am aware of her passion.  Therefore, having an opportunity to read this book was of particular interest to me. 

In the introduction Dr. Gallagher-Geurtsen explores the idea of what makes a real American and diversity in the neocolonial classroom.  She explains how the colonized often come to believe in their own inferiority and look to the colonizer for guidance as to what is acceptable.  The important mission of colonialism is that a hierarchy of races be communicated and accepted as true.  The schools in the United States are normalizing and standardizing places in order to keep the current system intact and to guarantee that the majority of White European educators and students benefit.

Gallagher-Geurtsen explains in the introduction about mimicry.  This is where the neocolonizer requires the minoritized (who also develop the desire) to look and act more like European American Whites--to show that they are reformed but recognizable "other." 

Gallagher-Geurtsen uses testimonios as voices from immigrant students to raise the consciousness of her readers on how this system has affected them. Most testimonios have the following in common:

1. They are based on traumatic historical and/or social episode(s).
2. They are told from an individual perspective.
3. The individual experience serves as an allegory for the communal experience as a whole.
4. The subject has been oppressed or silenced in some capacity, and the work contains political statement against the perceived oppressor or suffering caused by that oppression.

Each chapter from two-six, Gallagher-Geurtsen focuses on a different student and his or her testimonio. 

Chapter Two:  Ana's Testimonio
Ana's mother is from Columbia and her father is from the Midwest with a Norwegian, German, and Irish heritage.  Ana shares how hard it is for her to learn Spanish and how she wanted her hair to be more "American."  She struggles with her identity because she really doesn't relate to being Columbian but people remind her that she is. 
Author's comments:

• Research has shown that allowing students to use their primary language in the classroom helps rather than hinders their long-term academic success.
• "The unwillingness of the neocolonizer to allow the colonized to be exactly like the colonizer will eventually lead to the colonized recognizing that they are restricted to being not-quite-exact copies of the colonizer.  Once minoritized students realize that even though they walk, talk, and even act like White European Americans they still won't be allowed into the clubhouse because they will never look exactly like the powerful, they can begin to critique the neocolonizer." 

Message to teachers:  Teachers can be a source of reclaiming culture, heirtage, and identity for their students. 

Chapter Three:  Cynthia's Testimonio
Although Cynthia's father is from Mexico, he was raised in Los Angeles.  She physically appears White European American.  It wasn't until she was older and had some cross-cultural experiences that she started to be more interested in her father's side of the family.  It was actually her White grandmother who encouraged her to do this.  Cynthia said that she uses her last name and her Mexican American heritage to her advantage.  She is striving to find her way to live in a Third Space between being White (and looking White) and Hispanic. 


Chapter Four:  Nadya's Testimonio
Nadya is a Black child adopted by a White family and grew up in an upper middle class, predominantly White environment.  She found that being biracial growing up in a White family has its own unique challenges in order for her to find her place in the world.  She found that even what she wanted to do with her hair caused her stress.  Nadya likes the fact that she exceeds the expectations others have of her because she looks Black. 

Message to teachers:  Talk to the kids, learn their story.  Know your kids.  You cannot know someone based solely on his/her ethnicity.  Her mantra:  Be prepared to be surprised!

Chapter Five:  Amelia's Testimonio
Amelia is from the Philippines, and her first language is Tagalog.  She always feels Filipina first and feels more Filipino than American.  She considers the U.S. to be the best country in the world because of its multilingualism.  She doesn't feel you have to speak English to be American. 

Message for teachers:  Speak slowly to students who are learning English so they can understand, give them enough time to think, and help them to their work.  Also, teachers need to be aware when students are being teased for not learning enough English or even their attempts to learn English. 

IMPORTANT:  Make space for educators and policymakers to act upon unexamined ideologies about what it means to be an American and indeed, what it means to Americanize someone.  Despite the research on the benefits of bilingualism, the United States' insistence on English monolingualism is a legacy of colonialism. 

Amelia says that some students want to be "very American."  She goes on to explain that being very American consists of speaking a lot of English, doing well in school, and ignoring or ostracizing people who do not know a lot of English.  The goal is to gain more attributes of the neocolonizer which garners more status and power. 

Chapter Six:  Dung's Testimonio
Dung (his real name but changed it because of being teased) comes from Vietnam.  He felt like he didn't belong in his school because there were so many Mexican students who spoke Spanish.  He speaks Vietnamese and English.  He feels that everything in the United States is about money and people aren't respectful.    He says that he feels American because of the freedom.  Yet, he doesn't want to forget his Vietnamese culture and feels that his culture comes first, not his second language. 

Message to teachers:  Understand children better.  Go to them--express care and concern. Ask them about their lives.  Teachers need to take explicit responsibility for teaching their students.  He also requests that school and society bend to immigrant students, not the other way around.  He also gives the reminder that Asians are different. 

Question that needs to be asked:  What educational outcomes might result if teacher credentialing programs made knowledge of students a certification requirement with the same primacy as knowledge of subject matter?

Now What?
If we are striving to make education more relevant for youth, especially minority youth, how can schools and classrooms listen to and respond differently to our students?  How can we make students feel at home in our schools and classrooms while helping them feel pride in who they are?  Using funds of knowledge can help. 
All five students emphasized this powerful advice for educators:  talk to and know your students.  This can only happen through genuine dialogical relationships.