None but Oursleves: An Afrocentric Case Study Examining Emancipatory Practices Within Three African-Centered Schools

• In Event: International Lens on Culturally Responsive Teaching

Abstract

Research about African American students often focuses on problems situated in deficit viewpoints steeped in Eurocentric ideologies that ignore systematic miseducation. Using an Afrocentric case study methodology, I examined how school leaders and mental health professionals use emancipatory practices in African-centered schools to address miseducation. This study aimed to investigate emancipatory practices, actions that help students become liberated from oppression, from an Afrocentric epistemological lens to provide foundational information about possible solutions to miseducation. Findings from interviews, and school document data from three African-centered schools detail specific emancipatory practices concerning: positive identity development, mental and emotional freedom, Ubuntu, discipline, and overcoming oppression. I conclude with a discussion of implications for school leaders and mental health professionals interested in dismantling miseducation.

Author

• Lashia Bowers, Clemson University