If Not Us, Then Who? Parentscholars Creating the Educational Spaces They Desire

• In Event: Interrogating How We Teach Now: Parentscholars Co-Constructing Knowledge Alongside Our Children

Abstract

In the second presentation, two co-authors begin with an assertion. In Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates (2015) said, “Black people love their children with a kind of obsession. You are all we have, and you come to us endangered” (p.82). To be a Black parent and educational scholar and to know intimately the landmines that await one’s children in the system of education, creates a sense of urgency and panic that leads to activist scholarship and praxis within and beyond the academy. The motherscholar and fatherscholar co-authors of this paper, respond to their previous research on Black parental educational desires (and the lack of access to what is desired) by creating or co-constructing institutions and educational spaces to protect their own children and the children in the broader community. Engaging in critical autoethnography, exploring their methods and motivations for creating alternative educational spaces, two parentscholars share stories and critiques of their journey.
Undergirded by critical race theory and the acknowledgement of the pervasiveness of white supremacy within all aspects of schooling, the parentscholars’ intentions aligned with the aspirations of “educational protectionists” and “racial protectionsits” (Muzama & Lundy, 2015, p. 170). Since 2018, collectively, the parentscholars have designed or co-constructed a homeschool, summer institute, afterschool program, and annual festival to cultivate genius and joy amongst their children and children in the community. Embodying the Nguzo Saba principle Ujima (Lomotey, 1992), and standing in direct opposition to opportunity hoarding (Diamond & Lewis, 2022), the Black parentscholars view their responsibility beyond their own children. Guided by equity and asset-based pedagogies (Ladson-Billings, 1995; McGee Banks & Banks, 1995; Muhammad, 2020; Paris & Alim, 2014), their work to counter narratives of deficiency and anti-blackness is not distinct from Black parents of the 1970s who lead the proliferation of Independent Black Institutions (Lomotey, 1992). Finally, as parentscholars they discuss the (uncounted) labor necessary to support such creations (specifically grant writing, planning, organizing, and community collaboration) and how such labor is not always celebrated or valued through the traditional academic merit system (Matias, 2022). They conclude by explaining their allegiance and first priority must be their children and the community, not the academy.

Authors

• Brandi N. Hinnant-Crawford, Clemson University
  Presenting Author

• Vincent D. Willis, University of Alabama
  Presenting Author