Writing & Rhetoric MKE
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Social Justice
    • Antiracist Literature
    • Taking Action
  • Submit
  • #4C20
    • Welcome
    • Accessibility
    • Land/Water Acknowledgement
    • Lodging & Transportation
    • Local CCCC Events
    • VisitingMKE >
      • Museums & Tours
      • Outdoor Activities
      • Recovery Groups
      • Restaurant Guide
      • Social Spaces
  • Contact

BLOG

Community & SEA Literacy

12/6/2018

0 Comments

 
Two words come to mind upon stepping into the SEA Literacy Center on the second floor of the Neighborhood House of Milwaukee: organized chaos. The SEA in SEA Literacy Center stands for Southeast Asian and twice a week this space, complete with vibrant nature-scape themed walls, is transformed into a community of Burmese refugees primarily between the ages of 6 and 22 and Milwaukee area volunteers of all ages working together in powerful ways. 

According to its website, SEA Literacy originated from Milwaukee landlord Bob Heffernan’s recognition that his refugee tenants were “largely isolated from the larger Milwaukee community” and the refugee children often struggled academically in their new schools and with English language learning in general. In 2011, SEA Literacy was born with a mission to bridge the gaps Heffernan recognized. Dedicated to more than simply tutoring students on the fundamentals of language learning, SEA seeks to foster connections between members of the Burmese refugee community and between the refugee community and the greater Milwaukee community. Its mission is as follows:

SEA Literacy uplifts the lives of Southeast Asian refugees in greater Milwaukee by empowering them to become engaged members of this diverse, dynamic community. Our goal is to foster social and educational development, thus creating community leaders and inspiring future generations. We are also committed to providing the people of Milwaukee and the surrounding suburbs the opportunity to reach out to their neighbors and strengthen the harmony in our city!

Much of the philosophy and mission of SEA Literacy relates to Django Paris and H. Samy Alim’s text Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies: Teaching and Learning for Justice in a Changing World. Paris and Alim argue that “culturally sustaining pedagogy seeks to perpetuate and foster--to sustain--linguistic, literate, and cultural pluralism as part of schooling for positive social transformation” (16). Clearly, pedagogies that promote cultural pluralism and foster positive social transformation go well beyond the transference of a particular set of concrete skills like reading and writing. They include strategies and ways of learning and being that can heal and strengthen often divided communities and that can encourage leaders who might otherwise never speak or be heard. 

SEA also reflects Steven Alvarez’s work with MANOS or the Mexican American Network of Scholars. Alvarez advocates for a more individualized approach to literacy and reveals ways to “broker the immigrant bargain and build collaborative networks” for the benefit of those often penalized by the traditional, monolinguistic school systems (15, 19). SEA, not unlike MANOS, offers an environment and context that emphasizes collaboration and a cultural exchange that does not assert the dominance or superiority of one culture over another. In effect, programs such as these can enfranchise the often disenfranchised (144).

According to Lisa Delpit in Other People’s Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom, The collaborative environment of the literacy center also disrupts or contrasts the “culture of power” so often enacted in traditional learning spaces (24). Silvia, a high school senior who has volunteered at SEA for three years, commented, “the kids don’t really need another teacher. They often feel upset or frustrated by school. I’m there to guide them through activities and homework and have fun with them. If we work for an hour or an hour and a half, we then set aside some time to play.” She also remarked on the privilege of learning from them. “The girls are often eager to share stories about their culture,” Silvia remarked, adding, “I think SEA offers a safe environment to receive help and fit in. I have learned so much from working with them.” This mutual, honest exchange between mentor and mentee is one of many ways nontraditional education centers differ from the more hierarchical traditional school systems. Indeed, if “we do not really see through our eyes or hear through our ears, but through our beliefs” as author Lisa Delpit suggests, then this type of communication across cultures is particularly vital for a population that is especially vulnerable (46).

Personally, I am heartened when I talk with young people who are engaged in this work and when I learn about the efforts of fellow Milwaukeeans and our refugee guests. Much of this work and the spirit of this work is overshadowed by hurtful rhetoric about the character and motives of those who flee danger and seek safety away from their homes. With so little wisdom coming from the office of the president or even from my own generation, I find hope in our youth, from where ever they may hail.  
​

Interested in bearing witness to and being a part of the transformative work that happens here every Tuesday evening from  6 pm to 8 pm and Saturday morning from 9 am to noon? Visit sealmke.org for more information!
--WP

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All
    Activism
    African American Rhetoric
    Antiracism
    Archival Research
    Art
    Asian American
    Basic Writing
    Borderlands
    Bronzeville
    Campus Event
    CCCC
    Chicanx
    Code Meshing
    Code Switching
    Community Engagement
    Community Literacies
    Composition Pedagogy
    Creative Writing
    #CSPJustice
    Cultural Rhetorics
    Decolonization
    Digital Humanities
    Disability Studies
    Diversity Rhetoric
    East Side
    #EatingMKE
    Englishes
    Ethics
    Feminism
    Field Notes
    From The Editors
    FYC
    Historic MKE
    Hostile Terrains
    Immigration
    Indigenous Rhetoric
    Labor Issues
    Language Policies
    Latinx
    LGBTQ+
    LGBTQ+ Archival Research
    Lindsay Heights
    Linguistic Diversity
    Literacy Narratives
    #LoveIsRhetorical
    Milwaukee Film Festival
    MKE Neighborhoods
    Multimodal
    Public Writing
    Qualitative Research
    Queer Archives
    Race
    Resistance
    Restorative Literacies
    Rhetorical History
    Rhetorical Listening
    Riverwest
    Shorewood
    Social Justice
    Teaching
    Translation
    Translingual
    UWM
    Virginia Burke Awards
    WAC
    Walker's Point
    Writing Center
    Writing Programs

    Archives

    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    May 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018

    RSS Feed

  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Social Justice
    • Antiracist Literature
    • Taking Action
  • Submit
  • #4C20
    • Welcome
    • Accessibility
    • Land/Water Acknowledgement
    • Lodging & Transportation
    • Local CCCC Events
    • VisitingMKE >
      • Museums & Tours
      • Outdoor Activities
      • Recovery Groups
      • Restaurant Guide
      • Social Spaces
  • Contact