Reimagining Critical Civic Praxis With the Black Lives Matter at School Curriculum

• In Event: Critical Perspectives on Democratic Education

Abstract

This presentation highlights the results of a qualitative narrative inquiry of seven teachers engaged in the Black Lives Matter at School (BLMAS) movement. The BLMAS curriculum is aligned with 13 guiding principles (13GPs) espoused by the Global Black Lives Matter Movement in 2016. This study explores how the 13GPs can expand our understanding of citizenship and civic engagement through teachers’ narratives of their instructional practices. Teachers describe a culture-affirming curriculum that facilitates Black cultural citizenship and critical civic praxis. This presentation will focus on stories of three guiding principles - empathy, loving engagement, and restorative justice – and describe how developing these concepts can challenge Anglo-centric notions of citizenship and civic engagement, thus fostering Black cultural citizenship.

Authors

• Denisha Jones, Sarah Lawrence College
  Presenting Author

• Sarah A. Mathews, Florida International University
  Presenting Author