Syncretic literacy practices among Arab heritage students in Denmark

Abstract

This study inquires how students of Arab heritage in an urban setting in Denmark interpret Islamic literacy artefacts available in their homes, and how these interpretations reflect broader faith literacy practices in the students’ diaspora community. Through a linguistic ethnographic study design students have been invited to photograph literacy artefacts of their own choice in their homes and to discuss these photos in group interviews. A framework of syncretic literacy practices with a focus on faith literacy practices is employed to analyse data. We discuss how faith literacies in diaspora communities are inherently multilingual practices as they include the language of religious texts and its various registers, the home language, and the mainstream language. As such, these literacy practices play an important role in the formation of students’ transnational identities. Our findings indicate that syncretic literacy practice has potential to contribute to improve the policies and curriculum of literacy education, as well as linguistic minority students’ literacy learning.