On the Fascination With Flowers: An Eco-Social Examination of Resilience and Black Girl Schooling

• In Event: Pedagogies of Love to End Black Girls’ Suffering in Schools

Abstract

Education theory that focuses on the role of environment is often merely concerned with high test scores, grade point average and college matriculation rates as desirable outcomes. (Fraser and Fisher, 1992; Lackney, 1994; Gurin et al., 2002) However, within the U.S. educated and wealthy black women still experience poorer health relative to their white counterparts. These findings demonstrate that while education is a powerful indicator of health, it does not benefit all groups equally (Satcher, 2000; Williams, 2005; Pearson, 2008). This paper begins by questioning the value of a pedagogy that promotes upward mobility for black girls if they might not live (or live well enough) to experience the results of their labor.

Hence, it makes a call for educators to also show concern for educational environments that influence positive health outcomes for black girls. These concerns extend beyond promoting mastery of academic content toward health-based educational practices. Overall, there is a need for health-based educational practices that lead to culturally connected, caring relationships with black girls, while increasing academic achievement; there is a need for environments that promote the entire well-being of black girls and attenuate the harmful impacts of social toxins, which studies show has met with great success (Howard, 2002; Akom, 2003; Tan, 2009; Perry, 2010; Camangian, 2013; Longhi, 2015).

Using a three-dimensional approach, this paper engages the symbolism of succulents—a particularly resilient plant—as a metaphor for understanding the impacts of exposure to one’s environment, embodiment of one’s environment, and the ways in which educational settings can serve as positive, or eu-stressful, environments that promote students’ overall well-being. I use the analogy of succulents to illuminate the immense care and attention required to cultivate healthy young black girls and examine the role that schooling environments can play in cultivating healthier societies.

Author

• Tiffani Marie, University of California - Berkeley