When We See Us: An Endarkened Authethnographic Approach Excavating the Extraordinary Literacies of Black Women

• In Event: Resistance as Responsibility

Abstract

The experiential knowledges, literacies, and cultural practices of Black women and girls have long been silenced and marginalized within traditional educational contexts which thrive on the ethos of white supremacy, patriarchy, and anti-Blackness. This marginalization is shaped by dominant ideologies which construct Black women and girls as delinquent, threatening, loud, hypersexual, and overdeveloped (Epstein et al. 2017; Morris, 2016). While there is increasing attention and intervention around the ideologies and systems of power which perpetuate these issues, limited attention has been paid to the intimate worlds of Black women and girls which consist of knowledges, literacies, and practices used to survive and thrive in the face of institutional harm. Autoethnography (Chang, 2016) recognizes the experiences of the self as a valid source for critical social inquiry. Pushing against the notion of objectivity in research within positivist and post-positivist epistemologies and methods, autoethnography creates an opportunity to witness the intimate worlds of Black women and girls as a counter-hegemonic act. Thus, this paper utilizes critical autoethnography (Adams, 2017) and draws on Black Radical Feminism, Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy, and Critical Reflexive Praxis to explore the pedagogies and literacies of healing in the lives of two Black women scholars as they continue to navigate predominantly white systems of education. Playing off of Ava Duvernay’s 2019 film series, When They See Us (Duvernay, 2019), we turn to salient critical teaching moments in our work as two Black women scholars to ask “what is revealed when we see ourselves in a world that insists on silencing, erasing, or trapping us within dominant social narratives rooted in white supremacy, patriarchy and anti-Blackness?” To begin answering this question, the first author explores the uses of extraordinary literacies and spirituality within her time delivering racial equity keynotes across a range of predominantly white institutions. Revealing Black Liberation Theology (Cone, 1986) as an epistemological anchor throughout all of her keynotes, she explores her inner world of spirituality, composite cultures, and complex literacies as central to her praxis. The second author explores critical teaching moments in her time as a teaching assistant, diversity workshop facilitator and graduate student in a social justice education graduate program. Using her outsider-within (Collins P.H, 2002) positionality she explores the connective tissue between autoethnography and vulnerability by embracing emotional exposure, professional risk and pedagogical uncertainty as sites to develop knowledge, literacies, and practices in the face of potential institutional harm.

Authors

• Jamila Lyiscott, University of Massachusetts – Amherst

• Amari Boyd, University of Massachusetts - Amherst