Justice-Oriented Collaborators (JOCs): Working in Solidarity to Do Soul Work to Support and Affirm Black Students

• In Event: Black Teacher Educators Centering Black Intellectualism and Humanity in Their Theory, Pedagogy, and Praxis

Abstract

bell hooks (1994) reminds us that we should “teach in a manner that respects and cares for the souls of our students [which] is essential if we are to provide the necessary conditions where learning can most deeply and intentionally begin” (p. 13). Building from this quote, the author offers a framework which celebrates growing in solidarity (e.g., moving from working in silos to working collectively) and engaging in soul work (e.g., to support students’ Black humanity). By Black humanity, Author 1 builds on Grant’s (2020) conception, which means to highlight Black peoples traditions, narratives, beauty, knowledges, experiences, languages, backgrounds and so forth that encompasses all the nuances and complexities which Blackness represents. Thus, to support Black students’ intellect and lives, this paper highlights the framework Justice-Oriented Solidarity (JOS) (Author 2, 2020; 2022) and some preliminary data (e.g., data from teacher interviews, observations, student work) that derived from it. This Black-centric framework is central to fostering a classroom space where a teacher-researcher and group of eight diverse (e.g., Latina, Black, White) teachers collectively work to design humanizing antiracist curriculum across eight English classrooms, which supports the individual and collective experiences of Black youth within the African diaspora and beyond.

With the support of the NAEd/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship Program for this project, the research will highlight the critical need to center Blackness in ways that support and affirm the lives and literacies of Black youth because, too few, educational spaces do so (Thomas, 2020). Further, the project will explore some of the following questions: (1) How do justice-oriented collaborators and a researcher’s intersectional identities and ethical commitments mediate interpretations, adoptions, and approaches to integrating justice-oriented solidarity with Black students who represent multiple communities that constitute Blackness (e.g., Black American, Haitian, Cape Verdean). (2) How do antiracist, justice-oriented pedagogical approaches, and curricular designs sustain and affirm students’ humanity across eight English classrooms in one high school setting? (3) How does a teacher-researcher JOS partnership cultivate spaces that promote antiracist teaching practices and curriculum and mitigate institutional/structural racism?

In addition, some of the nuances and complexities of working in solidarity with teachers to carve out “intellectually stimulating environments that nurture the minds, souls, and spirits” (Kinloch et al., 2020) of Black students will be explored. Finally, the author will provide some initial implications for working in solidarity where our “shared beliefs in a spirit of intellectual openness that celebrates diversity, welcomes dissent, and rejoices in collective dedication to truth” (hooks, 1994, p.33) is centered.

Author

• Davena Y. Jackson, Boston University