The Origins and (In)stability of Black Joy for Secondary Students in Mathematics Education

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 1:30 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: STEM in Black Education to Challenge Inequity (Table 8)

Abstract

This paper explores the concept of Black joy with the aim of forwarding a definition contextually specific to Black learners’ mathematics learning and identity development. By examining the earliest math memories of 10 Black youth matriculating from middle school to high school, we bring light to the (in)stability of Black joy in mathematics spaces, which is often threatened by the sociopolitical realities of learning mathematics as an individualistic, competitive discipline.

Authors

• Erin Nicole Cox, University of Michigan

• Maisie L. Gholson, University of Michigan