Learning in action

Abstract

This qualitative research study is informed by my three and a half years participant observation within one Karen community living in rural eastern Georgia and the result of a participatory action research (PAR) project performed alongside three adolescent Karen brothers from 2010 to 2012. Such a fusion of methodologies is what Nelson and Wright (1995) describe as ‘creative synthesis’ where research is done both with and on participants. The first findings chapter (Chapter Six) analyzes how three adolescent Sgaw Karen brothers use online digital literacies to cope with resettlement. This component of the study explores the digital literacy practices of three adolescent Karen brothers as they attempt to navigate multiple institutions like school. Findings from this study suggest that newly arrived immigrant youth benefit in many social, psychological, and academic ways as a result of their online presence. The study looks specifically at how they use online spaces to (a) maintain and build co-ethnic friendships, (b) connect to the wider Karen Diaspora community, (c) sustain and promote ethnic solidarity and, (d) create and disseminate digital productions. This component of the study offers insights that can help teachers better understand their students’ out-of-school literacy practices and ways they can incorporate such digital literacies in more formal educational contexts.

This study also provides findings about Karen resettlement via the collaborative enactment of a participatory action research (PAR) project between these three Karen brothers and myself. The findings from that component of the study relate to the educational experiences of Karen youth in four Karen communities in the US, two in the Midwest and two in the Southeast. These findings specifically addresses Karen (a) educational experiences prior to resettlement; (b) English language learning; (c) parental involvement in their children’s schooling; and (d) bullying and gangs. In aggregate, both methods provide teachers, community members, and service providers important insights into Karen resettlement experiences in the US.