ANALYTIC TEACHING AND PHILOSOPHICAL PRAXIS VOLUME 41, ISSUE 2 (2021) 19 Can Philosophy Aid the Adjustment of Newcomer Children? Parmis Aslanimehr he proportion of foreign-born population in Canada is at the highest it has been in 70 years. Such an increase in immigration is projected to account for 100 percent of the population growth by 2026.1 The children of families arriving from different parts of the world into Canada’s multicultural mosaic are commonly believed to have an easier time adjusting to their new conditions than adolescents and adults. This assumption further adds to an abandonment of inquiry into their experiences in adapting to their unique and, at times, complicated surroundings.2 Such a view likens the child of a newcomer immigrant family to the accompanying luggage, for they rarely have any say in the decision to migrate. As a result of this change to a new country, the stability in childhood can be lost: The domains of conflict common in newcomer households can involve levels of aggression, the importance of education, the preference for speaking English at home and sexual openness in youth.3 Notably, one in five children of newcomers, specifically visible minorities, tend to encounter discrimination and prejudice during their resettlement years in Canada.4,5,6 Hence, their sudden encounter with the challenges that accompany settlement calls for special attention, notably because specific inner negotiations may be at play. Understandably, many educators of newcomer children may express apprehension due to the lack of communication through a common language and of knowledge of diverse cultures. Educators may feel conflicted if they are working under pedagogical frameworks that rely heavily on high-stakes testing, pushing them to encourage the use of English at all times to prepare linguistically diverse learners for such a system.7 Other educators may be misled by the slow and gradual comprehension of the second language in students. It takes an average of four to seven years of English language instruction for newcomer students to reach classroom norms. Current social movements such as Black 1 “Canadian Multiculturalism Act,” Justice Laws Website, 2015, http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-18.7/page-1.html 2 Marjorie F. Orellana, Barrie Thorne, Anna Chee, and Wan S. E. Lam, “Transnational Childhoods: The Participation of Children in Processes of Family Migration,” Social Problems 48 no.4 (2001): 572-591, doi:10.1525/sp.2001.48.4.572 3 Min Zhou, "Growing up American: The Challenge Confronting Immigrant Children and Children of Immigrants," Annual Review of Sociology 23 (1997): 63-95. 4 Samuel N. M. Beiser, Violet Kaspar, Feng Hou, and Joanna Rummens, “Perceived Racial Discrimination, Depression and Coping: A Study of Southeast Asian Refugees in Canada,” J Health Soc Behav 40 no. 3 (1999):193-207. 5 Housing, Family and Social Statistics, “Ethnic Diversity Survey: Portrait of a Multicultural Society,” Statistics Canada, cata. no. 89- 593-XIE (2003). http://www.statcan.gc.ca 6 Morton Beiser, Samuel Noh, Feng Hou, Violet Kaspar, Joanna Rummens, “Southeast Asian Refugees’ Perceptions of Racial Discrimination in Canada,” Canadian Ethnic Studies Journal 33 no.1 (2001): 46-70. 7 Reynaldo Reyes, "Cheating as Good Pedagogy: Bilingual Teachers Defying English-Only to Foster Student Achievement,” Multicultural Perspectives 10 no.4 (2008): 209-13, doi: 10.1080/15210960802526136 T ANALYTIC TEACHING AND PHILOSOPHICAL PRAXIS VOLUME 41, ISSUE 2 (2021) 20 Lives Matter, Stop Asian Hate, and Every Child Matters, to name but a few, further prove the misguided notion that adopting a colour-blind approach is appropriate as it bypasses the historicity of belonging to certain groups. The differences that lie between the teachers as well as between the students extend beyond culture: This can make teaching newcomer students incredibly challenging, given obstacles such as English language limitations, low immigrant achievement and low parent involvement.8,9 Another problem lies in the lack of literature available to educators. In an examination of 579 articles published by the Journal of Teacher Education between 1980 and 2001, only a handful of articles included immigrant children and the importance of responding to their educational needs.10 What seems to be missing is a platform that can address their present and their (at times) alienated subjectivity as they reconcile their old life with their new one. As mentioned, children tend to struggle with the wide gap between home and school. The programs proposed by educators, if not implemented successfully, can be an added disparate element in children’s two incompatible worlds, thus marginalizing them further.11 Moreover, many pedagogically sensitive recommendations in multicultural educational guidelines tend to lack the voices of such children, though they do encourage tolerance of diversity. However, merely enduring the presence of the other risks creating a comfortable climate of relativism that bypasses the vulnerability of having to engage with the other in a critical dialogue.12 Philosophy for Children theorist Barbara Weber expands on this sentiment that “[…] wishing to cultivate ‘tolerance ’as a permanent virtuous attitude in a multicultural society seems to ultimately lead to the cultivation of indifference and prevent the sincere recognition of ‘Other’ in their personhood. This, in turn, leads to the suggestion that cultivating intercultural recognition is important” (2014, 80).13 This article will orient towards such recognition by building upon research that suggests educators benefit instead from competence as a social venture. The word competence has Latin roots in com-petere, meaning “to seek together.” In other words, perhaps educators can communally venture with newcomer students to meet them where they are.14 To suspend anticipation of adjustment, educators can better attune to students as a source of knowledge in the aftermath of settlement if engaged in a critical dialogue that may invite reformulation and refinement of beliefs. By depicting the social and emotional triggers facing newcomer immigrant children in the domains of educational policy, the Canadian classroom, and ongoing research and lenses, I hope to inspire paths upon which practitioners of philosophical inquiry may meaningfully tread. Perhaps the trajectory of integration for 8 Martha J. Strickland, Jane B. Keat, and Barbara A. Marinak, “Connecting Worlds: Using Photo Narrations to Connect Immigrant Children, Preschool Teachers, and Immigrant Families,” School Community Journal 20 (2010): 81-102. 9 Nicole Heusch and Cécile Rousseau, “The Trip: A Creative Expression Project for Refugee and Immigrant Children,” Art Therapy 17 (2000): 31-40, doi: 10.1080/07421656.2000.10129434 10 A. Lin Goodwin, “Teacher Preparation and the Education of Immigrant Children,” Education and Urban Society 34, no. 2 (2002): 156-172, doi:10.1177/0013124502034002003 11 Nicole Heusch and Cécile Rousseau, “The Trip: A Creative Expression Project for Refugee and Immigrant Children,” Art Therapy 17 (2000): 31-40, doi: 10.1080/07421656.2000.10129434 12 Barbara Weber, “To Tolerate Means to Insult’ (J. W. v. Goethe): Towards a Social Practice of Recognition,” in Towards Recognition of Minority Groups: Legal and Communication Strategies, eds. M. Zirk-Sadowski, B. Wojciechowski, & K. M. Cern (Surrey, UK: Ashgate Publisher, 2014), 245-256. 13 Ibid., 14 See Ted T. Aoki, Curriculum in a New key: The Collected Works of Ted T. Aoki, eds. William F. Pinar and Rita L. Irwin (Routledge, 2004), 130. ANALYTIC TEACHING AND PHILOSOPHICAL PRAXIS VOLUME 41, ISSUE 2 (2021) 21 newcomer children has been pre-planned and lacks their voices; thus, a Community of Philosophical Inquiry may serve the undertones of an accompanying exilic subjectivity in such children. Multiculturalism in Canada In 1971, Canada was the first country to implement multiculturalism as an official policy, implying that identifying with a heritage culture and adopting its values and practices should hold no barrier to developing a shared Canadian identity.15 In 1985, the equality rights article of the Charter, Section 15, came into effect, detailing that every individual had the right to equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, or religion.16 However, is multiculturalism attainable for all—including those whose cultural values posit the most significant contradictions with the generalized Canadian culture? Consider the seemingly harmless political recognition of a minority group as a collective identity: as cultural theorist Kwame Anthony Appiah warns, such celebrations of identity may work to create certain aspects, like skin colour, as a script outside the reach of one’s particularities.17 Hence, to be recognized politically through policies like multiculturalism, one may be tied to scripts with very little control. Similarly, education systems that operate under the hegemony of multiculturalism bear the intent to welcome newcomers, though the practices and programs used to educate may whisper elements of an assimilation agenda.18 In other words, reducing the multidimensionality of the reality for immigrant children to a mere celebration of culture can mark the school as a place of oppression that may inadvertently suffocate particularities of identity. Furthermore, Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor depicts the school as a public arena where identity becomes very malleable and even multiple. Taylor describes identity as partly shaped by recognition or its absence, known as the misrecognition of others. As multiple cultures come into fruition between people, neglecting the struggles embedded in the reconciliation of contradictory elements present in both cultures can misrecognize newcomer immigrants. Such misrecognition by a host society can have damaging effects on newcomers, for it confines them to a reduced mode of being.19 Given that many countries have lowered their barriers to immigration, thereby allowing more back and forth travel across borders, migration is not always a unidirectional journey for many families.20 Often the school serves as an intersection where newcomers reunite their past with the (at times) scripted present. Additionally, a sense of exclusion can linger both in the classroom and on the 15 “Canadian Multiculturalism Act,” Justice Laws Website, 2015, http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-18.7/page-1.html 16 “Annual Report on the Operation of The Canadian Multiculturalism Act,” Canadian Heritage Multiculturalism Site, 2006, http://www.publications.gc.ca/collections/Collection/CH31-1-2005E.pdf 17 Charles Taylor and Amy Gutmann, Multiculturalism: Examining the Politics of Recognition (New Jersey: Princeton Universitry Press, 1994). 18Aimee V. Garza and Lindy Crawford, “Hegemonic Multiculturalism: English Immersion, Ideology, and Subtractive Schooling," Bilingual Research Journal 29, no. 3 (2005): 599-619, doi: 10.1080/15235882.2005.10162854 19 Charles Taylor and Amy Gutmann, Multiculturalism: Examining the Politics of Recognition (New Jersey: Princeton Universitry Press, 1994). 20 Robert Crosnoe and Andrew J. Fuligni, “Children from Immigrant Families: Introduction to the Special Section,” Child Development 83 no.5 (2012): 1471-6, doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2012.01785.x ANALYTIC TEACHING AND PHILOSOPHICAL PRAXIS VOLUME 41, ISSUE 2 (2021) 22 playground. Irrespective of racial, ethnic, or linguistic backgrounds, immigrant children commonly experience loneliness and social isolation, described as the distance between them and others.21,22 At times, there can be an accompanying fear of never recovering from the losses left behind.23 Such a public space often serves as the first reminder of differences in skin color, religion, and ethnicity between children.24 In the private sphere, newcomer children may grapple with a sense of loss: This can be regarding objects, people, places, and in some cases, identity. The first change in a newcomer child’s life is losing a home, which encompasses losing attachments to familiar objects taken for granted. In a new environment, they may even experience differently those treasured toys brought from their home country.25 Differences between the norms of the home country and the dominant host culture may trap them into standing out and being overlooked by society at the same time.26 Considering some of these adversities in the home and school, is adjusting to Canadian life equally attainable for all children? Additionally, the longer newcomer children remain away from home, the less tangible their experience of it, and the associations with history, language and tradition. Thus, as Edward Said has expressed, they may only be acting to be at home. Still, with time, it may become difficult to associate with cultural identity, and one becomes the other, or a “flaw in the geometry of resettlement.”27 It is up to families to culturally construct their living conditions when faced with various challenges such as mastering a second language, a weak sense of belonging, dealing with discrimination, and overcoming barriers to find employment.28,29 Thus, studying acculturation in children can be incredibly challenging because integration and development are operating simultaneously. Both of these processes are interacting as well, making their adjustments a highly time-sensitive issue.30 The 21 Anna Kirova, “Loneliness in Immigrant Children: Implications for Classroom Practice,” Childhood Education 77 no.5 (2001): 260-267, doi: 10.1080/00094056.2001.10521648 22 Michael J. Emme, Anna Kirova, Oliver Kamau, and Susan Kosanovich, "Ensemble Research: A Means for Immigrant Children to Explore Peer Relationships Through Fotonovela," Alberta Journal of Educational Research 52, no. 3 (2006): 160- 181. 23 Koplow, Lesley, and Eli Messinger. 1990. Developmental dilemmas of young children of immigrant parents. Child & Adolescent Social Work Journal 7 (2): 121-34, doi: 10.1007/BF00757649 24 Susan S. Chuang and Uwe P. Gielen, "Understanding Immigrant families From Around the World: Introduction to the Special Issue," Journal of Family Psychology 23 no. 3 (2009): 275-278, doi: 10.1037/a0016016; Zheng Wu, Christoph M. Schimmele, and Feng Hou, "Self-Perceived Integration of Immigrants and Their Children," Canadian Journal of Sociology 37 no. 4 (2012): 381-408. 25 Jacqueline Oxman‐Martinez, Anneke J. Rummens, Jacques Moreau, Ye R. Choi, Morton Beiser, Linda Ogilvie, and Robert Armstrong, "Perceived Ethnic Discrimination and Social Exclusion: Newcomer Immigrant Children in Canada," American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 82, no. 3 (2012): 376-388. 26 A. Lin Goodwin, “Teacher Preparation and the Education of Immigrant Children,” Education and Urban Society 34 no.2 (2002): 156-172, doi:10.1177/0013124502034002003; Barbara Weber, e-mail message to author, February 2015. 27 Edward W. Said, Reflections on Exile and Other Essays (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 2000), 184. 28 Joseph H. Puyat, “Is the Influence of Social Support on Mental Health the Same for Immigrants and Non-Immigrants?” Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health 15 no.3 (2013): 598-605, doi:10.1007/s10903-012-9658-7; A. Lin Goodwin, “Teacher Preparation and the Education of Immigrant Children,” Education and Urban Society 34, no. 2 (2002): 156-172, doi:10.1177/0013124502034002003 29 Margie K. Shields and Richard E. Behrman, “Children of Immigrant Families: Analysis and Recommendations,” The Future of Children 14 no.2 (2004): 4-15. 30 John W. Berry, "Immigration, Acculturation, and Adaptation," Applied psychology 46 no.1 (1997): 5-34, doi: 10.1111/j.1464-0597.1997.tb01087.x ANALYTIC TEACHING AND PHILOSOPHICAL PRAXIS VOLUME 41, ISSUE 2 (2021) 23 struggles that newcomer children feel at school intertwine with their relationships with their families. Such clashing of two cultures—known as dissonant acculturation—may, in turn, result in lower parent- child closeness.31 Under such circumstances, connections to domains beyond the immediate family, such as the education system, carry responsibility in mitigating the post-migration experiences of a child. Before continuing further, it is worth considering whether labels of status can create limited boundaries in a newcomer child’s experiences that may not exist for other children. Defining the Path for Newcomer Children One of the dominant approaches to studying adjustment to life in a host culture is the acculturative framework created by John Berry. This theory outlines four acculturation strategies, depending on how ethnic group members identify with their home and host culture. The immigrant is classified as “Integrated” when maintaining the cultural identity of the home country and fully associating with the new society. Another classification may be “Assimilated” if an individual absorbs the cultural values of the mainstream society but denies their cultural identity. The immigrant is deemed to be “Separated” when the focus is on maintaining the home culture while rejecting the host society; or those who reject both their home culture and resist the host culture are categorized as “Marginalized.”32 However, achieving integration has been criticized for various reasons. For instance, one cannot be both a Christian and a Muslim within religion since its practices clash.33 Meaning, some cultural practices do not permit individuals the freedom to switch between cultural codes. Furthermore, the ‘Integrated’ individual implies that the immigrant has undergone a free choice of independently weaving the values of the dominant mainstream culture and those of the ethnic group. But such an act of reconciliation of two cultures is dictated by a more extensive set of political and historical practices linked to and shaped by race, gender, sexuality and power.34 Another acculturative state, defined as “Marginalization,” suggests that individuals are distant from the host culture to which they prefer to belong. Yet often, the problem is that individuals rarely prefer to distance themselves from the reference community; instead, marginalization is often the by-product of a failure to belong to the preferred reference group.35 Perhaps the most blatant criticism stems from the fluidity of acculturation, where one may carry a myriad of such “states” upon settlement. Many newcomers have described their state as constantly undergoing half-involvement and half-detachments, including feeling nostalgic while feeling like a secret outcast.36 Thus, one can be successfully immersed in a host country yet also distanced from home. As described by Said, in a metaphysical sense, one is in movement, unsettled while unsettling others.37 Viewing such individuals free of any categories or 31 Robert Crosnoe and Andrew J. Fuligni, “Children from Immigrant Families: Introduction to the Special Section,” Child Development 83 no.5 (2012): 1471-6, doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2012.01785.x 32 John W. Berry, “Immigration, Acculturation, and Adaptation,” Applied Psychology 46 (1997): 5-34. 33 Floyd W. Rudmin and Vali Ahmadzadeh, “Psychometric Critique of Acculturation Psychology: The Case of Iranian Migrants in Norway,” Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 42 (2001): 41-56. 34 Sunil Bhatia and Anjali Ram, “Rethinking 'Acculturation' in Relation to Diasporic Cultures and Postcolonial Identities,” Human Development 44 (2001): 1-18. 35 Floyd W. Rudmin and Vali Ahmadzadeh, “Psychometric Critique of Acculturation Psychology: The Case of Iranian Migrants in Norway,” Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 42 (2001): 41-56. 36 Veronica R. Martini, “Education on the Transnational Stage: A Shared Spotlight, a Pocket of Hope,” Global Trends in Educational Policy 6 (2005): 173-196, doi:10.1016/S1479-3679(04)06007-4 37 Edward W. Said, Representations of the Intellectual: The 1993 Reith lectures (London: Vintage Books, 1993). ANALYTIC TEACHING AND PHILOSOPHICAL PRAXIS VOLUME 41, ISSUE 2 (2021) 24 cultural frames of reference allows the development of new ideas and new approaches to various life tasks to take shape. With immigration comes the accompaniment of unique past experiences, which supply a double-vision of what has been left behind and what is actual here and now, where one “never sees things in isolation.”38 Although each province has its regulations for accompanying the needs of first- generation immigrant students, the guidelines established by the British Columbia Ministry of Education serve as an example of how acculturation for newcomer immigrant children has been encapsulated. As a resource to educators, the BC Ministry of Education depicted four stages that most newcomers will pass through until adjustment is reached: The “Honeymoon Stage,” characterized by feelings of happiness for the novel experiences; the “Hostility Stage,” which are feelings of hate and frustration generated towards North America; the “Humour Stage,” described as an acceptance of the new ways of living; and finally the “Home Stage,” where the immigrant student feels ‘native’ and as part of Canadian society.39 However, reaching a ‘native’ Canadian identity may not be feasible for many children due to external and internal factors. Further, a policy that anticipates an arrival is illuminating a model that intrinsically needs protection by recognizing specific individuals as “others”—those students who may never feel at home. Hence, we encounter a version of our guiding question once again: Is it justified to assume adjustment as an endpoint for all newcomer immigrants? These stages influencing teaching practice are especially problematic considering that adults have depicted them while the child’s voice in the stages of adjustment is lacking. Perhaps instead of pre- planned destinations, what might better serve such students is to linger on the bridge of in- betweenness as they may be in no hurry to cross over.40 Thus, the challenge for educators lies in facilitating the in-betweenness of such children instead of anticipating their arrival at a pre-determined state. Given the abundance of longitudinal research dedicated to the educational and occupational roles such students fulfill, children of immigrant families are involuntarily swept into the lens of being viewed as one day becoming economically self-sufficient adults. In line with the tradition of promoting economic growth, most studies devoted to immigrant children have instead opted to measure the value in who they have become as adults to validate an adjusted status. Therefore, most research regarding newcomer children evaluates the mastery of the English language as a measurement of adjustment to life in the host country. English comprehension is a valuable skill in making one functional and integrated into society but does not reflect the mental and emotional complexities of migration. For example, English proficiency can have negative repercussions that can bleed into the family: When a child learns a new language faster than their parents, role reversals may occur whereby parents become incapable of assisting children in school-related affairs, paving distance between parents and children. 38 Edward W. Said, “Intellectual Exile: Expatriates and marginals,” Grand Street 47 (1993): 124, doi:10.2307/25007703 39 British Columbia Ministry of Education, “English as a Second Language Learners: A Guide for ESL Specialists,” Ministry of Education Special Programs Branch, (1999): 1-62. 40 See Ted T. Aoki, Curriculum in a New key: The Collected Works of Ted T. Aoki, eds. William F. Pinar and Rita L. Irwin (Routledge, 2004). ANALYTIC TEACHING AND PHILOSOPHICAL PRAXIS VOLUME 41, ISSUE 2 (2021) 25 Moreover, learning English can influence changes in nonverbal behavior as well. With a diverse range of students in Canadian classrooms, the expectation is that non-English speaking and English- speaking students can interact harmoniously and work collaboratively. Even when fluency in English has been achieved, some reported feelings of helplessness and depression, for they assume being negatively evaluated by members of the host culture.41 Additionally, high grades may appear as an indicator of adjustment, but may also be stemming from the guilt students bear after witnessing the sacrifices made by their families to provide better opportunities. Consequently, such children can uphold high educational aspirations as a way of ridding their feelings of indebtedness to their parents.42 To escape the labels of acculturation theories and stages in policies, perhaps the focus can be diverted to how each student can create a culture congruent to their sense of self.43 The following section will heed the call of creativity lingering in the unheard struggles of newcomer children. Philosophical Inquiry with Newcomer Children By conceptualizing newcomers’ adjustment as a series of stages, as English proficiency or through research focused on the outcome, the risk is that we forego the present of the newcomer in exchange for who they have yet to become. Without addressing the varied experiences of each person, conformity may be enforced at the expense of individual particularity. For example, those who identify with belonging to the outside may be dismissed as unqualified to comment. Philosophical inquiry may provide an opening where the struggles of these children can not only be acknowledged but also incorporated into strategies to navigate the complicated experiences they may be encountering. How can facilitators recognize such students’ alienation without resorting to common misconceptions which impose sameness on them and, in turn, eliminate their particularity? To imagine that a Community of Philosophical Inquiry (CPI) can address this sense of alienation unveils further intricacies, since these challenges tend to thrive as a monologue within the self. Thus, the presence of newcomer children in the classroom calls upon facilitators to practice in “tensionality.” This tensionality in a pedagogical situation is a mode of being marked by mis-relations between teacher and students and mis-relations between teacher and instructional pressures to succumb to dated expectations regarding newcomers. Instead, facilitators may incorporate philosophical inquiry to engage in the tension between the present and the future that enables a critical process of self- becoming.44 Attending to lived experiences in response to the forces of recognition requires an inquiry 41 Krystyna Nowak-Fabrykowski and Miroslav Shkandrij, “The Symbolic World of the Bilingual Child: Digressions on Language Acquisition, Culture and the Process of Thinking,” Journal of Instructional Psychology 31 no.4 (2004): 284-292. 42 Cynthia Feliciano, “Beyond the Family: The Influence of Premigration Group Status on the Educational Expectations of Immigrant Children,” Sociology of Education 79 no.4 (2006): 281-303; Peter Burton and Shelley Phipps, "The Well-Being of Immigrant Children and Parents in Canada," (2010): In 31st general conference of the International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, St. Gallen, Switzerland. 43 Mary Jalongo, “A Position Paper of the Association for Childhood Education International: The Child's Right to Creative Thought and Expression,” Childhood Education 79 no.4 (2003): 218-228, doi: 10.1080/00094056.2003.10521196; Angela Leung, William W. Maddux, Adam D. Galinsky, and Chi-yue Chiu, “Multicultural Experience Enhances Creativity: The When and How,” American Psychologist 63 no.3 (2008): 169-81. 44 See Douglas McKnight, D, “Critical Pedagogy and Despair: A Move Toward Kierkegaard’s Passionate Inwardness,” in Curriculum Studies Handbook: The Next Moment, ed. E. Malewski (New York: Routledge, 2010), 500-507. ANALYTIC TEACHING AND PHILOSOPHICAL PRAXIS VOLUME 41, ISSUE 2 (2021) 26 into the labor of the solitary self in collaboration with social practices. Thus, this article invites a pause from pedagogical recommendations in order to not startle the unsettled moments at work in the present—that no universal rule should dictate the conduct aimed at newcomer children. Many creative workshops have been used with immigrant children in order to help them construct meaning, structure their identity and work through their losses.45 An experimental study found creative workshops in a 12-week program with 138 immigrant children aged 7 to 13 years to boost their self-esteem.46 Such activities increase the understanding of teachers about newcomer students and enable them to reconstruct a meaningful personal world while also linking them to the larger classroom group.47 Art therapy is another form of creative expression that has proved promising in assisting immigrant children in better understanding themselves as individuals and as part of a group.48 Perhaps such positive outcomes occur because art is an activity where evaluation is subjective, thereby less stigmatizing.49 Myths and storytelling are forms of creative expression that allow the child to voice their inner reality and explore the tensions associated with belonging to two cultures.50 Providing different avenues of expression for immigrant children, such as verbal and nonverbal activities, can ease the existing language barrier.51 Therefore, CPI dialogues can achieve this because their communal structure promotes responsibility to evaluate differing viewpoints, and in turn, members can think creatively in searching for alternative meanings.52 Matthew Lipman saw the creative process as one that includes originality, transcends the present situation, and expresses itself in an individual's self- definition, with imagination lying at its base.53 Facilitators who have effectively engaged children in philosophical inquiry have noticed creative thinking at play when members formulate questions, articulate problems, define concepts, construct solutions and search for counter-examples while reconstructing philosophical issues.54 45 Ditty Dokter, Arts Therapists, Refugees and Migrants: Reaching Across Borders (London: Jessica Kingsley, 1998); Kenneth E. Miller and Deborah L. Billings, “Playing to Grow: A Primary Mental Health Intervention with Guatemalan Refugee Children,” American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 64 no.3 (1994): 346-56. 46 Cécile Rousseau, Aline Drapeau, Louise Lacroix, Déogratias Bagilishya, and Nicole Heusch, “Evaluation of a Classroom Program of Creative Expression Workshops for Refugee and Immigrant Children,” Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 46 no.2 (2005): 180-5, doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2004.00344.x 47 Ibid. 48 Hilda Wengrower, "Arts Therapies in Educational Settings: An Intercultural Encounter," The Arts in Psychotherapy 28 no. 2 (2001): 109-115. 49 Ibid. 50 Nicole Heusch, Deogratia Bagilishya, Louise Lacroix, and Cécile Rousseau, “Working With Myths: Creative Expression Workshops for Immigrant and Refugee Children in a School setting,” Art Therapy 20 (2003): 3-10, doi:10.1080/07421656.2003.10129630 51 Cécile Rousseau, Louise Lacroix, Abha Singh, Marie-France Gauthier, and Maryse Benoit, “Creative Expression Workshops in School: Prevention Programs for Immigrant and Refugee Children,” The Canadian Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Review 14 no.3(2005): 77-80. 52 Jennifer B. Bleazby, “Dewey's Notion of Imagination in Philosophy for Children,” Education and Culture 28 no.2 (2012): 95-111. 53 Metin Demir, Hasan Bacanlı, Sinem Tarhan, and Mehmet Ali Dombaycı, “Quadruple Thinking: Critical Thinking,” Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 12 (2011): 545-51, doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.02.066 54 Jennifer B. Bleazby, “Dewey's Notion of Imagination in Philosophy for Children,” Education and Culture 28 no.2 (2012): 95-111. ANALYTIC TEACHING AND PHILOSOPHICAL PRAXIS VOLUME 41, ISSUE 2 (2021) 27 My personal experience as a Graduate Research Assistant in a study in British Columbia which aimed to measure empathy in relation to CPI practices provides an exemplar of how such social practices can guide individual understanding. The study investigated the impact of the CPI on fostering children’s experiences of empathy and perspective-taking in grades five to eight across four different schools in Vancouver, British Columbia.55 One of the participants, Sia,56 had recently moved from Iran and spoke very little English in front of the class at large. As co-facilitators, we tried to make sense of the concerns over Sia as expressed by his teacher and we did not know whether Sia heard only bits and pieces of artificial-sounding language in the research sessions. To our surprise, his engagement in various topics throughout the program—from questions such as “What is the meaning of life?” and “Why do we do what we do?”—reflected in his journals near the conclusion of each philosophical inquiry session. His drawings and concise words conveyed to us where he stood in his imaginative responses and as a part of the classroom. Instances of autonomy in his answers to metacognitive questions were apparent where he stated that he had shared ideas with the class. Although he rarely contributed verbally, his journal allowed for his inner voice to be made audible. The Five Finger Model by Ekkehard Martens in philosophical inquiry, as described by Eva Marsal, can also serve the aims of multiculturalism by making a newcomer child understandable while understanding the other. This can unfold through step-by-step reflective practices by facilitators as they cover its tenets: Phenomenology, Hermeneutics, Analysis, Dialectics and Speculation.57 In this context, “Phenomenology” pertains to describing one’s lived experiences. This resonates with newcomers flooded by memories of their past that become veiled and trapped in their present. To address such memories phenomenologically, one can confront the body as a site of memory. John Dewey insisted that successful education connects what happens in the classroom with real-life experiences outside of the school.58 Stimuli integrating historical accounts or the stories of children about familial experiences can welcome the family identity into the public sphere of each child. Such inquiry can reinforce the dialogue between children and their parents about positive aspects of their past, helping them bridge the gap between home and school. In other words, descriptions that are integral to the child's home culture can symbolically introduce the family into the classroom. Next, “Hermeneutics” allows for understanding, more specifically, how each person understands something. This involves not only dialogue following the reading of texts but also interpreting messages outside of the context. To delve into these inner workings, facilitators of inquiry can explore how identities have been fragmented due to public recognition in school. For example, writing letters to friends or valued individuals from their home culture or journaling can support metacognitive thinking and assist expression from those members who may be quiet in group settings.59 These writing practices are a suitable mode of expression for those who may be more comfortable writing in English than speaking it. These varied expressions can support newcomer children to cope with the past, find a balance between their two worlds in the present, and help them imagine a future in their 55 Mahboubeh Asgari, Barbara Weber, Kimberley Schonert-Reichl, and Jenna Whitehead, “Engaged Inquiry with Children: Fostering Empathy and Perspective-Taking,” (in progress). 56 Name of participant has been changed. 57 Eva Marsal, “Socratic Philosophizing with the Five Finger Model: The Theoretical Approach of Ekkehard Martens,” Analytic Teaching and Philosophical Praxis 35 no. 1 (2014): 39-49. 58 John Dewey, How We Think (New York: Dover Publications, 1910). 59 Melissa Freeman and Sandra Mathison, Researching Children's Experiences (New York: Guilford Press, 2009). ANALYTIC TEACHING AND PHILOSOPHICAL PRAXIS VOLUME 41, ISSUE 2 (2021) 28 control. Although such activities are suitable for all students, they recognize each newcomer for their particular identity rather than what may be deemed cultural tourism, where a child’s home culture is reduced to a time-frame of celebrating diversity, national foods, and festivals—which risks reinforcing stereotypes. The “Analytical” aspect involves a conceptual verification of the arguments made. This process can lead to an exploration of particularities that are potentially shared with others. Before I experienced the philosophical inquiry sessions within classrooms over two months, I anticipated students ready to engage with the materials that the Principal Investigator carefully prepared. This was much like the language created by the curriculum planners: I saw hidden voices like Sia’s on the verge of disappearing into the shadow due to policies that were planned for faceless students, shedding them of their uniqueness. I could not help but also sympathize with educators who were also narrowly defined in their performance roles. The paradox of philosophical inquiry when it comes to newcomers is that the anecdotal traces in journals or other forms of expression are telling of something particular while addressing the universal.60 Next, the “Dialectical” step involves a reciprocal dialogue of arguing about the issues raised in order to arrive at further clarification. Personal conceptions are considered and even altered. According to Taylor, the particularities of individuals stem from how they reflect and modify their cultural heritage and that of others they encounter.61 This is a dialogical formation of identity that includes how one responds to relations, including their dialogue with others. Finally, the last step involves “Speculation,” which invites imagining into how to understand something as completely different. This can come through if one remains creatively open and can fantasize about specific questions through philosophizing. The creative process generates an intermediate space that belongs neither to the internal psychological reality nor the external reality of the individual.62 Creativity requires skill, knowledge, and control.63 Although creative thinking relies on imagination, it is not imaginative thinking; creative thinking involves evaluating the solution or idea. Therefore, the creative thinking in a CPI is not just a cathartic expression but undergoes evaluation through critical thinking by the individual and the CPI members as a group, including conflict resolution skills and improved manifestation of emotions, as well as consideration of the thoughts of other children.64,65 For children of immigrant families, especially, such a transitional space welcomes play in external realities until coherence and security are achieved in their inner worlds. In the case of Sia, no matter how loudly or silently in solitude philosophical inquiry was conducted, he reminded me that I am a facilitator to 60 William F. Pinar, William M. Reynolds, Patrick Slattery, and Peter M. Taubman, Understanding Curriculum: An Introduction to the Study of Historical and Contemporary Curriculum Discourses (Peter Lang, 2006), 42. 61 Charles Taylor and Amy Gutmann, Multiculturalism: Examining the Politics of Recognition (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1994). 62 Nicole Heusch and Cécile Rousseau, “The Trip: A Creative Expression Project for Refugee and Immigrant Children,” Art Therapy 17 (2000): 31-40, doi: 10.1080/07421656.2000.10129434 63 Ken Robinson, interview by Amy M. Azzam, Why Creativity Now?: A Conversation With Sir Ken Robinson, Alexandria: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, September, 2009. 64 Metin Demir, Hasan Bacanlı, Sinem Tarhan, and Mehmet Ali Dombaycı, “Quadruple Thinking: Critical Thinking,” Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 12 (2011): 545-51, doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.02.066 65 Deirdre Grogan and Joan Martlew, “Exploring Creative Environments Through the Child's Lens,” Creative Education 5 no.16 (2014): 1528-1544. ANALYTIC TEACHING AND PHILOSOPHICAL PRAXIS VOLUME 41, ISSUE 2 (2021) 29 myself, then to others—although it is not always sequenced linearly. As long as the question for inquiry could resonate with Sia, then the intended multicultural educational theory could be contextualized and communicated to students. Creating spaces in classrooms where children can access these ideas can facilitate meaningful experiences.66 Paulo Freire believed interactions must start with the people’s positions in order to be emotionally engaging.67 John Dewey suggested that reflective thinking could reconstruct unsettling experiences into coherent and meaningful situations.68 To go beyond the problematic experience in actuality, the imagination enables the individual to understand and transform reality.69 Imagination calls upon the individual to draw upon an experience in an inventive way and formulate rich and varied mental images by using past experiences to construct alternative possibilities in problematic situations.70,71 As immigrant children experience exclusion in school, the CPI can serve as a “playground of thought” where children can recreate their interpretations of their experiences and, in turn, achieve ownership of their understandings.72,73 Through deliberation with others and reconstruction of their experiences with the world, philosophical inquiry can transform their identities in this process of achieving self-realization.74 Perhaps, newcomer children and youth can acknowledge how their history suffuses with the present and accompanies their self-consciousness. By giving space to newcomer children to explore their questions, the practice of philosophical inquiry can encourage comfort in uncertainty. This is especially helpful for newcomer immigrant children because new and often conflicting experiences characterize their world. To inquire into their struggles promotes an understanding that issues in life may not be so fixed. Children can perhaps understand that their journey is in their control by gaining comfort with the uncertainties in life in a group setting. In practice, the CPI addresses belongingness by encouraging eye contact during the inquiry and having its members situated in a circle that secures interconnectedness on a nonverbal level.75 Such may not only be appreciated for newcomers who often get separated from their classroom for English instruction but also discourages pre-recognizing 66 Jennifer B. Bleazby, “Dewey's Notion of Imagination in Philosophy for Children,” Education and Culture 28 no.2 (2012): 95-111. 67 Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (New York: Continuum, 1989). 68 Jennifer B. Bleazby, “Dewey's Notion of Imagination in Philosophy for Children,” Education and Culture 28 no.2 (2012): 95-111. 69 Ibid. 70 Mary Jalongo, “A Position Paper of the Association for Childhood Education International: The Child's Right to Creative Thought and Expression,” Childhood Education 79 no.4 (2003): 218-228, doi: 10.1080/00094056.2003.10521196 71 Jennifer B. Bleazby, “Dewey's Notion of Imagination in Philosophy for Children,” Education and Culture 28 no.2 (2012): 95-111. 72 Barbara Weber, “Childhood, Philosophy and Play: Friedrich Schiller and the Interface Between Reason, Passion and Sensation,” Journal of Philosophy of Education 45 no.2(2011): 235-50, doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9752.2011.00804.x 73 Damian Spiteri, “The Community of Philosophical Inquiry and the Enhancement of Intercultural Sensitivity,” Childhood & Philosophy 11 (2010): 86-111. 74 Barbara Weber, “Childhood, Philosophy and Play: Friedrich Schiller and the Interface Between Reason, Passion and Sensation,” Journal of Philosophy of Education 45 no.2(2011): 235-50, doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9752.2011.00804.x 75 Michael J. Emme, Anna Kirova, Oliver Kamau, and Susan Kosanovich, "Ensemble Research: A Means for Immigrant Children to Explore Peer Relationships Through Fotonovela," Alberta Journal of Educational Research 52, no. 3 (2006): 160- 181. ANALYTIC TEACHING AND PHILOSOPHICAL PRAXIS VOLUME 41, ISSUE 2 (2021) 30 the other by concluding the facial expressions of others.76 Miscommunication can occur since given messages are decoded per one’s cultural upbringing. Thus, nonverbal translation is a vital asset in adjustment to a new culture, though its importance receives very little attention in classrooms. In philosophical inquiry, the alternating opportunities for personal expression and small group discussions facilitate the emotional understanding and expression of children’s experiences while allowing them the distance they need from it. Therefore, when newcomer children engage in creative play of sharing their experiences, the CPI connects them to others in a space with no cultural borders that could bind or limit their self-definition while assuring their voices are heard in the group or journals.77 The recognition it requires for newcomers does not entirely develop from intersubjective understanding but from the realization that one will never fully understand the other and can only listen and bear witness to the monologue of the other. Educational opportunities that embrace this diversity can become broader, more tolerant and more stimulating learning environments. The practice of philosophical inquiry has been linked to self-correction and open-mindedness—qualities that depend on the capacity for imagination. Perhaps, with greater practice, the more likely newcomer children can think creatively about new experiences rather than surrendering to the dominant culture or succumbing to peer pressure. I have shared adversities facing newcomer children from various aspects to break from a proper way of being alienated, one in which all alienated individuals must partake to achieve adjustment. Such work runs a danger of replacing one form of estrangement with another. Alienation needs to be explored as a lingering in-betweenness between the public and the private and the tensions it holds in the complexities of in-betweenness. This can be a different approach to designing philosophical inquiry; as an indispensable means for thinking through issues of recognition and difference and understanding relations to others while questioning identity as a point of departure. Many contextual factors influence their experiences in Canada, and to say that all will fall under a category, is to pave over the inequities faced by many newcomer children. Viewing adjustment as a series of stages or labels allows for ease in conceptualization and formulation of outcomes. To assign labels and designate phases to each newcomer dictates how the adult should behave around that specific child. David Kennedy suggested that the problem with any stage theory is that the adult has already pre-planned the child’s journey and destination.78 At the community level, a combination of a lack of culturally inclusive programs and limited awareness of community resources and services has resulted in low participation of immigrant children and youth in such services.79 Although educational guidelines, research and theoretical frameworks contribute to understanding the newcomer population in Canada, such domains have not facilitated their present subjectivity and 76 Anna Kirova, “Loneliness in Immigrant Children: Implications for Classroom Practice,” Childhood Education 77 no.5 (2001): 260-267, doi: 10.1080/00094056.2001.10521648 77 Barbara Weber, “Childhood, Philosophy and Play: Friedrich Schiller and the Interface Between Reason, Passion and Sensation,” Journal of Philosophy of Education 45 no.2(2011): 235-50, doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9752.2011.00804.x ;Wendy Turgeon, "Multiculturalism: Politics of Difference, Education and Philosophy for Children," Analytic Teaching 24 no. 2 (2005): 96-109. 78 David Kennedy, The Well of Being: Childhood, Subjectivity, and Education (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2006). 79 Barbara Schleifer and Hieu Ngo, “Immigrant Children and Youth in Focus,” Canadian Issues 29 (2005): 29-33. ANALYTIC TEACHING AND PHILOSOPHICAL PRAXIS VOLUME 41, ISSUE 2 (2021) 31 their voices. If we listen to their voices, instead of imposing an external interpretation of their complex struggles, we can understand the meaning of lived experience within the community. To locate oneself on the margins or between the ridges of two cultures, one's lived experiences are marked by tension. The practice of philosophical inquiry may prepare students for living life worthy as outsiders, where the gap between the self and cultural identity can be a valuable human condition. Philosophical inquiry can expose the overcasting, lingering qualities of settlement, which should not be mistaken with cultural differences. This practice of “tensionality” can bring comfort with discomfort, for it promises a deeper understanding of oneself and others, resonant with a more human way of recognition than one based on criterion. Perhaps the presence of individuals like Sia in the CPI can encourage a redraft of the curriculum—one that invites voices from newcomer students, where they can project themselves into the past, scrutinize its felt structures and weave their unique through-line in their present. Address Correspondences to: Parmis Aslanimehr, Doctoral Candidate, Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia, Email: parmisa23@gmail.com mailto:parmisa23@gmail.com