* Investigates the language learning, multiple literacy development, and schooling and community experiences of the Somali population in Minnesota - a community which is Muslim, refugee, and under-schooled * Brings together five years of interdisciplinary research, drawing upon theories from the fields of applied linguistics, second language acquisition, education, and sociology * Uses a range of epistemological frames to explore central and contemporary problems that tie language learning to racialized, religious, and gendered identities * Argues for the centrality of socio-political contexts in language learning and for the integration of advocacy and research