Pedagogies of Care: Teaching and Learning Toward Decolonial Love

• In Event: What’s Love Got to Do With It? Shifting Womanist Pedagogies and Praxes

Abstract

When we define love in Tagalog, love translates to mahal. Mahal means love and expensive. When something is expensive it holds value, therefore when one loves something or someone, she places value on that thing or person. Within the colonial context, the native places value on the settler and everything he owns as opposed to finding value in the native way of life, creating a social hierarchy that justifies means for oppression and dehumanization (Fanon, 1963; Memmi, 1991). In US schools, urban classrooms have been deemed an internal colony (Blauner, 1972; Barrera, Muñoz, & Ornelas, 1972; Tejeda, Espinoza, & Gutierrez, 2003), where American educational ideals are informed by a Eurocentric colonial narrative that creates, reproduces, and maintains social inequity (Apple, 2004; Bowles & Gintis, 1976; Brayboy, Castagno, & Maughan, 2007). Consequently, students learn a colonial love, where they place value on a white racial narrative that humanizes whites (Bonilla-Silva, 2006; Leonardo, 2009; Rafael, 2000).

In response to oppressive forms of love, I take on Chela Sandoval’s (2000) call to complicate the revolutionary subject, where she asserts that the oppositional consciousness of women of color can be an innovative source for informing social change, particularly in the practices and policies of educational institutions. The process of decolonization begins when one realizes her humanity (Fanon, 1963), which is witnessed through the writings of womanist and radical women of color writers (Walker, 1983; Anzaldua & Moraga, 1983). In this paper, I survey literature on the teaching and learning experiences of Black women and Chicana/Latina educators, where womanist caring and cariño have informed various approaches to critical pedagogy. The role of the maternal, political clarity, and the ethic of risk are key components that frame the discourse of a womanist form of caring (Beauboeuf-Lafontant, 2002) . Similarly, recognition of cultural dissonance, consciousness with commitment, and cariño through various tools such as testimonio and reciprocal relationship building informs a Chicana/Latina pedagogy (Ochoa, 2007; Prieto & Villenas, 2012; Valenzuela, 1999). These pedagogies were born from the flesh of women of color educators, yet I argue can be made accessible to all teachers and students. From these teachings, I offer pedagogies of care, ways in which teaching and learning challenge white notions of caring that are colorblind and fail to consider the experiences, history, and culture of women of color, and students of color in general (Thompson, 1998; Valenzuela, 1999). Working towards a decolonial love, these pedagogies bridge students with one another and bridge schools with communities and families, which ultimately redirects how students and teachers redistribute value in their lives and lived realities.

Author

• Jocyl Sacramento, California State University - East Bay