(Too) Close to Home: Black Children's (Re)imagining of Community, Environmental Justice, and Agency

• In Event: 58.082 - Roundtable Session 25
  In Roundtable Session: 58.082-20 - Lessons From Flint: Engaging Learners With Environmental Crises

Abstract

The purpose of this presentation is to share select findings from a larger project which explored the relationship between liberatory pedagogical models and Black student agency in one urban elementary school in a city near Flint. Specifically, I hone in on the themes of water and water justice, which served as inspiration for an interdisciplinary unit taking place over several months. The timing of this unit coincided with the highly publicized crisis in Flint, Michigan. Thus, an exploration of Flint became the first of many learning modules in two 4th/5th grade classrooms.

In this paper, I argue that students’ engagement with the issues most pertinent to Flint, coupled with later analyses of water concerns in their own city, prompted children to think deeply about what constitutes “community.” Students demonstrated a heightened sense of compassion for and connection to their Flint neighbors, and in the process, began to consider the role of coalition-building and direct action in the movement towards justice. I report on these findings with the intent of sparking subsequent dialogue about the ways in which schools can (and should) work to develop critical civic capacity in children. Finally, I conclude with a discussion of the implications of this pedagogical case, particularly as it relates to broader environmental and human rights issues.

Critical emancipatory pedagogues hold that learning should “facilitate or encourage human action and agency,” such that students begin to see themselves as efficacious intellectuals who can lead the charge in solving the problems afflicting their communities (Ball, 2000). Similarly, Watts, Williams & Jagers (2003) offer a theory of sociopolitical development that “emphasizes an understanding of the cultural and political forces that shape one’s status in society.” While there is substantive theoretical scholarship endorsing critical pedagogy as one viable approach to educating (and empowering) African American children, empirical research on this topic is quite limited. This study was designed to investigate the promise of liberatory models at the elementary level. For this project, I treat the “Flint crisis” module as one illustrative case of critical liberatory education in action and analyze students’ evolving conceptions, convictions and curiosities.

I employ critical qualitative methodology and use data collected over the course of an entire academic year. Field notes and photos document aspects of the unit. Students composed “message signs” to educate passersby about the conditions in Flint and gross negligence of city officials. In this paper, I also highlight themes derived from 38 ethnographic interviews conducted with participating 9-11 years olds.

Findings suggest that the Flint module spurred nuanced thinking about the importance of water and larger systems of power and oppression. An issue that initially seemed peripheral became one passionately taken up by Black students and inextricably linked to environmental justice in their own neighborhoods. These children’s insights and conundrums, while developing, are not inconsequential. Indeed, they may ultimately contribute to a more equitable world. Meanwhile, this research should prompt more questions about pedagogies that help students transcend the boundaries of their immediate contexts.

Author

• Natalie Renee Davis, Northwestern University- SESP