In this article I offer thoughts on my recent conceptualization of culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP) (Paris, 2012a), building from empirical work with youth of colour in US contexts, and consider what this conceptualization might mean for Jamaica and other countries where Creole Englishes are widely spoken as the lingua franca. Beginning with my own learning about Jamaican Creole and language variation as a child visiting my father’s native Jamaica, I move to sharing some of my research findings from studies of African American Language among youth in California.

This article summarizes a keynote address that I delivered at the 2013 Literacy Symposium on 22 March 2013 at the University of West Indies at Mona. It builds on the conference’s them: “Literacy for Peace, Progress, and Prosperity.” Although the desire for peace is a lofty, noble, and important goal, it is a complicated process and many systemic, deeply rooted, and inequitable realities interfere with this goal.