She Get It From Her (Other) Momma: Exploring Generational Exchanges of Self-Love and Literacy Practices Between Black Women and Girls

• In Event: Cultivating Homeplace: Centering Feminized Knowledge in Educational Spaces With Girls of Color

Abstract

As our world becomes more digital and adolescents have greater access to digital tools and media literature, it is important to understand how Black girls - who have historically been negatively impacted by disparaging and controlling stereotypical images (Collins, 2000) - not only interpret, but resist those images. This resistance does not come by happenstance, but rather is one that is taught and passed down by our foremothers and elders (Muhammad, 2015). Thus, this study explores the ways nine Black girls and the researcher educator sought to educate themselves about the varied self love practices of Black women that are useful for digital media resistance through community learning.

Beginning from the notion that Black girls carry with them a wealth of knowledge and wisdom and instinctively know what they need and desire to thrive in a world that does not value them as fully human, participants worked collaboratively to create a curriculum that would teach us about the varied contemporary self love practices of Black women. Topics included civic engagement, body positivity, food health, financial literacy, communication and relationships with others, and music as a healing practice. Each week, girls engaged with a Black woman from the community who was an expert on the given topic to understand how their particular practice of self love was tied to notions of intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1991) and Black girlhood (Brown, 2013).

Data that informed this project include video recordings and transcripts, weekly reflections, researcher memos, and student artifacts. Grounded in notions of Black girlhood as communal (Brown, 2013) and learning as both iterative and multidirectional, I explore the interactions and transfer of both knowledge and wisdom throughout the duration of the study. In doing so, this study has implications for the benefits of community-based learning practices for both students and educators.

Author

• Autumn Griffin, University of Maryland - College Park