Funds of Knowledge in Changing Communities

This chapter presents two case examples of how students negotiate transnational lives in response to rapidly changing social and political circumstances within their communities. These examples are used to illustrate how these circumstances, clearly aversive ones, can influence the nature of the funds of knowledge generated by families and students, and the possibilities they pose for learning in classrooms and other settings. As both examples illustrate, there is a strong sense of vulnerability in these students, as they attempt to decipher their realities or take action in response to the constraints of living and studying in Arizona, with its foreclosed opportunities for higher education. The goal, ultimately, would be that of understanding, indeed, of theorizing, the production of knowledge and expertise related to coping with the complexities of diverse lifeworlds, be it of families, children, or teachers.