A message for faculty from the present-day movement for black lives

Abstract

The present-day movement for Black lives calls attention to the antiblackness that is supported and reinforced in White America. Antiblackness ostensibly contextualizes what it means to Learn While Black at predominantly White institutions. This article presents a content analysis of the demands that pertain to faculty and faculty work Black students submitted to institutional leaders in the aftermath of Ferguson and the campus rebellion led by Concerned Student 1950 at the University of Missouri. Study findings point to the classroom as a pedagogical site of Black Liberation; that is, interrogating Whiteness. This article concludes with recommendations to help faculty, especially White faculty, in interrogating whiteness and advancing Black Liberation in higher education.     

A ratchetdemic reality pedagogy and/as cultural freedom in urban education

Abstract

This article explores the dynamic between Black youth and their teachers through an exploration of an approach to teaching and learning embedded in the complex cultural knowledge(s) of this population. It interrogates the concepts of ratchedemics and reality pedagogy as both philosophy and practice for moving past the framing of particular populations as dystopian and non-academic in the pursuit of the mirage of urban educational utopia.     

Slippin’ in and out of frame: An Afrafuturist feminist orientation to Black women and American citizenship

ABSTRACT

Heeding Karma Chavez’s (2015) call to imagine rhetoric as “something entirely different,” I introduce what I call an Afrafuturist Feminist (AFF) rhetorical approach with the aim of offering one means by which rhetorical studies can move beyond normative white constructions of citizenship. In this piece, I flesh out a theoretical framework that explores the ways Black women’s truthtelling engineers rival conceptions of Blackness, creating spaces for us to reimagine what citizenship can look like in the lived experiences of Black Americans. I invoke the phrase, “in and out of frame,” to preliminarily consider how Black women like Assata Shakur and Cardi B employ rhetoric as threat to negotiate citizenship in the 20th and 21st centuries.     

Distinguishing between demographic and contextual factors linked to early childhood physical discipline and physical maltreatment among Black families

BackgroundDespite persistent discouragement from professionals, U.S. parents, especially Black parents, highly endorse physical discipline, which also is a risk factor for physical maltreatment. Few studies have examined physical discipline heterogeneity or maltreatment, and predictive demographic and contextual factors within the same population.ObjectiveThis exploratory study aimed to identify subgroups of Black parents’ use of early childhood physical discipline. It also examined whether demographic and contextual factors’ relations with physical discipline were similar or different from those with physical maltreatment.Participants and setting310 Black parents from three geographically-distinct high-risk U.S. communities participated in home-based interview and survey data collection.MethodsWe conducted latent class analyses to identify sub-groups among Black parents characterized by physical discipline frequency and type. Bolck, Croon, and Hagenaars method and binary logistic regression were conducted to examine relations between demographic and contextual factors (child gender, family income, marital status, parental education, family stress and perceived neighborhood safety), discipline and maltreatment.ResultsThree physical discipline classes, which differed in frequency and type, were identified among Black parents. Only income was significantly related to both discipline (x² = 18.97, p < .001) and maltreatment (OR = 1.03, p < .01). Child gender (x² = 6.66, p < .01), never-married status (x² = 13.94, p < .001), parental education (x² = 10.32, p < .001), and neighborhood safety (x² = 7.57, p < .01) also significantly related to discipline. Family stress was significantly related to physical maltreatment (OR = 1.42, p < .001).ConclusionsDiffering demographic and contextual factor relations with physical discipline and maltreatment within a Black population should be considered when identifying parents at-risk.     

‘I think it’s very much placed on us’: Black queer men laboring to forge community at a predominantly White and (hetero)cisnormative research institution

Abstract

The sociopolitical conditions in which Black queer college men exist in often marginalize them from fully participating in and engaging with the entire campus community. Some researchers suggest that Black queer men (BQM) create counterspaces on-campus to contend with their marginalization as racial, gender, and sexual minorities. This study explores the collegiate experiences of BQM who forged community and strong interpersonal relationships through a peer-support group. Using intersectionality and queer theoretical frameworks, this study interrogates heteronormativity, cisnormativity, and racism that BQM experiences within postsecondary settings.     

Racially liberatory pedagogy: a Black Lives Matter approach to education

Abstract

In this study, we sought to understand how Black lives matter (BLM) epistemology, as displayed through six months of social media content from official accounts, can inform a racially liberatory pedagogy in higher education for Black and other racially minoritized students. We found BLM, through Facebook and Twitter, situated intersectional Black culture in the contemporary struggle for liberation. BLM also offered information that can raise its followers’ intersectional critical consciousness. Additionally, BLM content highlighted actions that can support Black liberation. Lastly, BLM content supported the building of relationships and naming of emotions as Black people work toward their liberation. In this sense, BLM connected with elements of a racially liberatory pedagogy and offered nuances that advanced the framework. We discuss the implications of this framework for teaching in higher education.     

Talking back in cyberspace: self-love,hair care,and counter narratives in Black adolescent girls’ YouTube vlogs

ABSTRACT

While the ‘natural hair movement’ has grown in popularity and criticism, educational researchers have not attended to how Black adolescent girls with all textures of natural hair are navigating the implications of foregoing chemical alterations to their curl patterns. This article reports on an investigation of self-talk in 56 internet video logs constructed by Black adolescent girls with natural hair, describing the messages of self-love, hair care, and counter narratives to dominant discourse that emerged from an in-depth ethnographic content analysis. Hair politics may seem irrelevant to the field of education, but findings suggest that the topic should matter to anyone who cares deeply about the social and academic worlds of Black adolescent girls.     

Reimagining the historically Black college and university (HBCU) environment: exposing race secrets and the binding chains of respectability and othermothering

Abstract

This article investigates how the intersections of gender, race, policy, and student differences at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) can impact student experience. Such an environment can displace and penalize those who do not adhere to the uniformity of heteronormative gender roles or respectability politics. Using intersecting themes that have emerged from press coverage of HBCUs as a departure, this article illustrates the ways Black respectability and conservatism are maintained through campus policy and creates an exclusionary environment for students on the margins. Through the conceptual lenses of respectability and othermothering we deconstruct this environment and opine that HBCUs, in these specific cases, stand in opposition to their founding mission of inclusion by perpetuating heteronormativity, stringent gender roles, and reinforce White supremacy. Ultimately, we call for HBCUs to reimagine the capability of campus environments to embrace variations of Blackness and disrupt marginalizing practices rooted in politics of respectability.     

‘Shaping the Future’, Black History and diversity: teacher perceptions and implications for curriculum development

ABSTRACT

This study provides an evaluation of history subject leader's perceptions of a project called ‘Shaping the Future’, together with their attitudes towards Black History and diversity. It found that primary subject leaders were less likely to attach importance to these dimensions than their counterparts in secondary schools, whilst only a small minority of subject leaders made use of the project. Nevertheless, the findings provided insights into how some subject leaders used them as threads or within topics in their curriculum. The study argues that this provides a model for developing Black History as a means of understanding the past which is applicable to meeting the needs of all children.     

Making moral migrants? Exploring the educational aspirations of Black African and Caribbean boys in a New York City public school

ABSTRACT

Drawing on 48 in-depth interviews with Black immigrant and second-generation boys at Bridgewood secondary school in New York City, this article points out how the high educational aspirations expressed by Black African and Caribbean boys are strategically deployed as features of an ethnic project to counter anti-immigrant sentiments and anti-Black racism in US society. The findings indicate that in a context of rising xenophobia along with the historical and continual stereotypes of Black people in the US, participants’ aspirations for elite higher education function as strategies to enhance their individual and ethnic reputations. High educational aspirations were also used to justify emigration to and worth within the US. At its core, this article illustrates how participants mobilized aspirations to represent themselves as moral migrants and ‘worthy’ ethnic minorities. Moral claims and ethnicity-based campaigns associated with aspirations are problematized because they reinforce the hierarchical racial order that informs US society.     

A snapchat story: how black girls develop strategies for critical resistance in school

ABSTRACT

Drawing from Black, feminist epistemologies as well as theories of critical consciousness, and adolescent digital literacies, this paper analyzes the narratives of 7 Black, female high school students who experience oppressive practices, including racial microaggressions, silencing, harsh discipline, and marginalization within a predominately White school environment. At this juncture in which race, politics, and activism intersect with school, media, and identity, this study discusses how Black, female students resist oppression and use digital and social media as well as other available tools to speak out against injustice and heighten the racial awareness of their school community. This qualitative case study uses individual and focus group interviews to examine the ways in which Black female students develop critical resistance strategies, working individually and collectively within existing structures to fight for their humanity and liberation.     

Curriculum homeplacing as complicated conversation: (re)narrating the mentoring of Black women doctoral students

ABSTRACT

Through personal and dialogical narratives, we explore the ways Black women mentors (do not) reveal to their mentees their lived-experiences and the personal pain associated with the pursuit of careers in higher education; how and why their narratives of pain and pursuit are negotiated, sanctioned, and/or strategically altered; and the impact these decisions have on the development of Black women graduate students. Drawing on hooks’ notions of ‘imperialist white supremacist capitalist patriarchy’ (2015), ‘radical honesty’ (2004), and ‘homeplace’ (1990), we deploy the concept of curriculum homeplacing to more critically examine Black women’s mentoring relationships.     

Black Women’s Sex Lives Matter: Tips for Talking with Your Healthcare Provider

Abstract

This lesson plan is designed to help participants learn how to partner with their healthcare providers to improve their sexual health. This lesson plan describes how to achieve this goal with cis-gender Black adolescent girls and adult women (ages 16 and older).     

A loophole of retreat? Predominately White institutions as paradoxical spaces for high achieving African American women

Abstract

High achieving Black female students attending predominately-White institutions (PWIs) are stereotyped as being strong willed and celebrated for their resilience. On the surface, these narratives seem to compliment African American students for doing well. However, strong-Black-woman depictions trivialize the racism and sexism these women experience. Utilizing Black feminist geographic theory, I argue that colleges and universities can be “paradoxical spaces” for academically successful Black women: The sense of accomplishment that comes from performing at peak levels often gets undercut by the marginalization these women face on campus. Qualitative, open-ended interviews of 20 participants attending a large Midwestern PWI demonstrate that high achieving African American women relish the intellectual challenges of their academic pursuits, yet they also deal with intense feelings of isolation and frustration.     

Surviving Being Dark: A Pedagogy of the Sacred for Survival in a Divided Society

Abstract

Historically, Blacks have out of necessity prioritized survival in educating their younger generations for existence in the racially hostile and divided context of the U.S. This education and religious education has occurred formally and informally in homes, schools, community organizations, and in congregations. This paper examines three aspects of survival: survival and emancipatory education, survival and justice, and survival with emerging Black generations. Three examples will be offered that highlight each aspect of survival. The examples will demonstrate how education generally and religious education in particular have undergirded pedagogies of the sacred for the survival of Black life.     

Black on black education 2.0: critical race perspectives on personally engaged pedagogy for/by black pre-service teachers

ABSTRACT

Public schools have increasing numbers of its teachers fitting into one demographic, white and female, while the numbers of Black/African American teachers decrease. This trend has not changed since the publication of Black on Black Education: Personally Engaged Pedagogy for/by African American Pre-Service Teachers. Furthermore, African American collegiate students who decide to enter teaching may face a chilly climate because of their cultural and educational experiences as they encounter devaluation in the classroom. This work provides a critical race reflective examination into the teaching and learning experiences and dilemmasI using personally engaged pedagogy as a means of enhancing the quality of the learning experiences for African American pre-service teachers. Critical race theory (CRT) and Critical Race Feminism (CRF) will be used as the theoretical framework for understanding the role of race and gender in teacher education. Critical autoethnography is the methodological approach used to examine the subject phenomenon. Field notes, research journaling, and student memoirs provide data for this critical autoethnography. This work highlights the significance of CRT/CRF’s unique voice of color and CRF’s multidimensionality to engaged pedagogy, creating a personally engaged pedagogy.     

Let’s Really Talk About It: A Lesson Plan for Teaching About Black Women and Sexuality

Abstract

This lesson plan is designed to help students understand and debunk myths and stereotypes about African American/Black women and their sexual lives. This lesson plan is intended for adult learners.     

Student resistance movements in higher education: an analysis of the depiction of Black Lives Matter student protests in news media

Abstract

Popular media shapes societal perceptions and discourse. The growing use of news media in higher education practices (outreach, admissions, and campus communication) have heightened the need for institutional leadership to not only understand the general impact of popular media but also to comprehend students’ representation, as well as the acquisition and dissemination of media content. In this study, authors present a media content analysis of newspaper coverage of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement in the well-known periodical, the Chronicle of Higher Education. Ultimately, this study demonstrates (1) organizational leadership can be influenced and disrupted to promote racial justice and (2) the discursive treatment of the BLM in popular media and, and by extension, in the United States’ public imagination. Overall, this study suggests that in situations where institutional policies perpetuate racial inequity, BLM student movements have the capacity to complicate existing discourse about Blackness in higher education and catalyze substantial social change.     

Teaching a transnational ethic of Black Lives Matter: an AfroCubana Americana’s theory of Calle

ABSTRACT

The material conditions of populations in the Global South are interconnected with the material conditions of Black working-class urban communities in the U.S. Through this multi-scalar construction, I put forward a theory of Calle – a transnational ethic of ethno-racial-spatial solidarity. Set within stages of dual geographies, my AfroCuban American cultural and familial history are paramount to understanding the landscapes that shaped my scholarly identity and pedagogy. As a researcher of the Ferguson movement while at the University of Missouri, I learned that Ferguson student-activists led several campus movements: Occupy SLU at St. Louis University (fall 2014), University of Missouri (MU) for Mike Brown (fall 2014), and Concerned Student 1950 (fall 2015) both at the University of Missouri. This residential foundation served as a site of liberation, inquiry, and pedagogy. In this article, I aim to disrupt the binaries of community/classroom, teacher/student, and engage in dialectics centered on the literal and figurative streets of Ferguson, Missouri. This rooting of a racial bone memory aligns with Black Lives Matter (BLM)'s tenet of globalism, which elevates a solidarity between all people of African descent on the continent of Africa and in the diaspora.