In Spirit and in Truth: Liberatory Christianity in the Struggle for Racial Justice in Education

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

This symposium brings together Black and Brown educators, leaders, and researchers to grapple with what it means to be Christians committed to racial justice in education. This work disrupts traditional onto-epistemologies in educational research where theoretical, pedagogical, methodological and disciplinary concerns ignore the potential of spirituality even though it plays a central role in the lives of many educators of color. Thus, we (re)turn to our spiritual ground and religious lives as legitimate sources of inquiry that challenge the boundaries of what counts as knowledge, truth, and research. We consider how our faith operates powerfully in our lives, shaping our decision-making, research, pedagogies, and why we engage in the consequential work toward racial justice in education.

Sub Unit

• Division G - Social Context of Education / Division G - Section 2: Differences and Intersectionalities

Chair

• Jamila Lyiscott, University of Massachusetts - Amherst

Papers

• “Do This in Remembrance of Me”: (Re)Membering as Liberatory Christian Praxis in Education - Amber Neal-Stanley, Purdue University; Derron Wallace, Brandeis University; Brooke Harris Garad, Butler University; Jasmine Hoskins, Urban Dove

• Faith as Fugitivity: Space/Sense Making in the Academy - Jamila Lyiscott, University of Massachusetts - Amherst; Limarys Caraballo, Teachers College, Columbia University; Phillip A Smith, Fordham University; Keisha L. Green, University of Massachusetts - Amherst

• Jesus the Teacher: A Pedagogy of Love - Terrelle B. Sales, Pepperdine University

• Spiritual Grounding: Information Grounds and Leadership in Crisis - Noelle W. Arnold, The Ohio State University

Discussant

• Cynthia B. Dillard, Seattle University