(Re)Claiming Critical (Other)Mothering and Motherscholaring: A Building of Legacy

• In Event: "We Were Bound Before We Were Shackled": (Re)Membering Our Lives in Ghana, West Africa

Abstract

Purpose
We reflect on the concept of critical (other)mothering (Hill Collins, 2016) and motherscholaring (Matias, 2016) of family and students through our critical reflection of our Ghanian trip. Specifically, we explore ideas of ancestral healing and legacy building through representations of poetry and journal entries.

Epistemological Perspectives
Dillard’s (2000; 2012) endarkened feminist epistemology and (re)membering center Black women’s ways of knowing, teaching, and researching and emphasize connecting to ones authentic self to heal trauma resulting from colonization’s disruptions of the cultural histories and experiences of African ascendants and other people of color.

Hillard’s (1998) African identity and education perspectives are noted in his argument, “we have a basic decision to make, ‘To be African or not to be?’” (p. 51) and question “What do African teachers owe African people?” (p. 8). If we, as educators, agree that there is a diasporic African ethnic family, which we belong, then we must acknowledge our roles and responsibilities as educators, women, and mothers. We must (re)member and “become whole, productive, and conscious beings” (p. 107).

We draw on both endarkened feminist epistemology along with African identity and education perpsectives to contextualize the (re)claiming of our place as educational matriarcs leading us not only as educators in the classroom, but also as (other)mothers and in motherscholaring.

Methods
We utilize duoethnography (Sawyer & Norris, 2013) to provide counternarratives through stories to theorize (Tuhiwai Smith, 1999) and contextualize our experience (Nash & Vijay, 2013). Black women have, for generations, used stories to “instruct, direct, protect, and survive” (Edwards, 2018, p. 86). Duoethnography allows for an exploration by more than one individual engaging around our experiences in the (re)claimation and practice of (other)mothering and motherscholaring. We explore our experiences including, but not limited to visiting Ghanan sites of the Cape Coast Slave Dungeon, Assin Manso Slave River, Cynthia B. Dillard School, and the Full Circle Research Center.

Results and Scholarly Significance
Several results are presented: (1) (Re)membering and (re)minding is crucial to identity and transformation; (2) (other)mothering practice and development within Mother Africa; and (3) (re)turning home – through studying the literature, engaging in reflection and introspection, and spending time with those who engage in critical (other)mothering and motherscholaring.

Authors

• Kim McAloney
  Presenting Author

• Tehia Starker Glass, University of North Carolina - Charlotte
  Presenting Author

• Lynnette K. Mawhinney, Rutgers University - Newark
  Presenting Author