Shifting Identities: The Figured Worlds of One Adolescent Immigrant English Learner
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Shifting Identities: The Figured Worlds of One Adolescent Immigrant English Learner Corrine M. Wickens1 · James A. Cohen1 · Jennifer C. Theriault1
© Springer Nature B.V. 2019
Abstract The purpose of this paper is to examine the complex nature of identity construction of one adolescent Mexican-American immigrant English Learner (EL) through the frame of figured world theory (Holland et al. Identity and agency in cultural worlds, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1998). We use case study methodology to explore the question: How does one adolescent Mexican-American immigrant EL, Mario, construct his identity, as he invokes different subject positions in relation to diverse social contexts? We highlight how Mario performs different identities within the diverse contexts in Mexico and in the U.S.: (1) a retornado (one who has returned) in Mexico, and then variously in his ESL classroom as (2) a model student, (3) a student of color challenging his white teacher’s authority, and yet other times, (4) a disruptive and uncooperative student, who missed class regularly, because he did not want to “miss out on life.” We underscore the importance for educators to understand adolescent identity construction, not as a linear set of stages, but as a shifting, complex, and multifaceted process, especially that of adolescent immigrants and the diverse geopolitical contexts from which they and their families originate. Keywords Figured world theory · Identity construction · English language learners
Introduction A growing body of research has examined how schools position and shape students’ identity construction. Such research has analyzed the ways in which educators, educational artifacts, testing regimes, and teacher discourses are used to privilege and disempower different students based around class, race/ethnicity, and linguistic diversity. Building upon Holland et al.’s (1998) theory of “figured world theory,” such studies demonstrate how schools reproduce structures of oppression by framing marginalized and disenfranchised students as unintelligent, * Corrine M. Wickens [email protected] 1
Department of Curriculum & Instruction, Northern Illinois University, DeKallb, IL, USA
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The Urban Review
incompetent, and incapable (Andreouli and Howarth 2013; Chang 2014; Chang et al. 2017; Desai 2016; Hatt 2007; Michael et al. 2007; Rubin 2007; Ryu and Tuvilla 2018; Urrieta et al. 2011). While such studies have largely focused on how schools construct and identify students, the purpose of this paper is to examine the ways in which one adolescent Mexican-American English learner (EL) actively created and altered his own identities in response to different contexts and their respective figured worlds. We do so because figured world theory is situated at the intersection of cultural, structural, and constructivist theories. It highlights identity as not something solidified through a series of stages and conflict (Erikson 1968), but as a sediment of experiences layered upon each other. More import
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