Honoring Black and Indigenous People’s Place and Land Relations: Educational Engagement in and Beyond Schools

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

This symposium reflects on the importance of place, land, and spatial relations to contextualizing and honoring Black and Indigenous people’s diverse forms of educational engagement within and outside of schools. We draw from theories on Black placemaking (Hunter et al., 2016) and Indigenous land relations (Calderon, 2014; Simpson, 2014; Tuck et al., 2014) and offer vignettes from our work to illuminate the role of place and land in Black and Indigenous families’, educators’, students’ and community members’ educational engagement and advocacy. This session will honor the significance of place and land as a source of identity, deep relationality, and learning that remains critical to more relationally and equitably engaging Black and Indigenous communities.

Sub Unit

• Division A - Administration / Division A - Section 4: School Contexts and Communities

Chair

• Shanee A. Washington, University of Washington

Participants

• Dana Gabrielle Nickson, University of Washington

• Shanee A. Washington, University of Washington

• Sefanit Habtom, University of Washington

• Kiana Smith, University of Washington

Papers

• Indigenous Struggle “to Keep Land Under Our Feet”: Revitalizing Language and Culture through Land Relations - Shanee A. Washington, University of Washington

• Centering Land: Designing Culturally Sustaining/Revitalizing Spaces With and for Native Educators - Kiana Smith, University of Washington

• Rooted In and Across Place: Black Families’ Geographies of Communal and Educational Care - Dana Gabrielle Nickson, University of Washington

• Land and Place in Black Student Organizing - Sefanit Habtom, University of Washington

Discussant

• Fikile Nxumalo, University of Toronto - OISE