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If You're Dissin' the Sistas, You Ain't Fightin' the Power: Engaging a Politicized Ethic of Care

Tue, April 12, 8:15 to 9:45am, Convention Center, Floor: Level One, Room 149 B

Abstract

We were the lost generation. I really felt like they expected the Black girls at our school
to be okay. They felt like, “We don’t have to worry about the Black girls.” They can do
all the gang intervention and all the male intervention. And they can bring in males from
other places to come in and help with the boys. And there was nothing for the girls to do.
Because it was like, “The girls are gonna make it.” You know, they felt like they don’t
have to worry about us. The Black girls. They don’t have to make any special programs
for us. We can either cheerlead, play softball, run track, and that’s it! (Nia, former Black
Girls United member)

In recent years, the examination of the relationship between identity and academic achievement has had powerful implications for improving the schooling experiences and postsecondary educational outcomes of African American students. Regrettably, few K-12 reform efforts have focused specifically on African American girls, whose unique struggles are often conflated with the experiences of Black males or White female youth (Muhammad & Dixson, 2008). In the opening excerpt above, Nia describes how African American girls regularly feel neglected by education stakeholders because the unique race-gender stigmatization these students encounter in K-12 institutions is frequently disregarded (Akom, 2003; Fordham, 1993; Morris, 2007). As education research fails to provide a comprehensive investigation of the barriers to academic achievement for these young women, Black female youth are increasingly embattled within and disengaged from traditional schooling contexts (Brown, 2009; Evans-Winters, 2011; Love, 2012). Statistics maintained from The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc. & The National Women’s Law Center (2014) indicated that compared to women from other racial groups, Black female high school students have the lowest graduation rates (with the exception of Native Americans) and are more likely to graduate after the 4-year mark. Moreover, it has been confirmed that nationwide, African American women are overrepresented in community colleges and less likely to register and matriculate from four-year institutions, thus contributing to limited advanced degree attainment (The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc. & The National Women’s Law Center, 2014).

This presentation involves analyzing Black feminist pedagogical practices employed for two years during the author’s research with a girls’ empowerment program that she established at an urban public high school. Through an analysis of curricula, in-class video footage, student artifacts, and interviews with former participants, the author argues that espousing a politicized ethic of care is central to liberatory educational praxis that seeks to promote the development of positive social and academic identities among African American female youth. In keeping with the tradition of Black womanist educators, a politicized ethic of care infuses “love, humility, passion, and power” and is demonstrated by unrelenting displays of personal accountability and collective responsibility (Roseboro & Ross, 2009, p. 36). The critical and candid insight of one former student panelist is weaved throughout this presentation to offer concrete, research-based guidelines for developing culturally responsive pedagogical interventions.

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