Community-based heritage language schools as transnational counterspaces for immigrant families

Abstract

This qualitative case study focuses on the crucial, expanded role of a community-based Chinese heritage language school in a Southeastern state in the United States. Our study found that the school not only helps immigrant families sustain their language and culture but also serves as a transnational counterspace for first-generation immigrant families. The study also revealed that in this space, the families resist dominant narratives, develop positive identities, foster collective agency, and sustain transnational social capital. These new possibilities offered by community-based heritage language schools invite educators, community members, and policymakers to understand and engage with heritage language schools as sites for heritage preservation, identity transformation, and social justice advocacy.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 4 citations exist upstream.

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.