Educational cultural visionaries: how BlackQueer adults mentor, embrace, and love on BlackQueer youth

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 1:45 pm - Gold 2
  In Roundtable Session: Mentorship, Antiracism, and Fugitive Literacies in Youth Justice Work

Abstract

Research on how BlackQueer youth are being mentored, who does the mentoring, and various ways that BlackQueer adults’ mentor BlackQueer youth in schools and the community is missing. To fill this gap, this study examines BlackQueer adults’ who work with BlackQueer youth and have done their own self-work to embrace their Queerness. Through examination, this study introduces the concept of Educational Cultural Visionaries (ECV) and uses a life history methodology to show that ECV intentionally work from a Black Feminist Lens while utilizing cultural competency to make sure that those who want and crave community are not alone. Moreover, ECVs envision healthy liberatory spaces through mentoring and educational programs inside and outside of K-12 school systems.

Author

• Javania Michelle Webb, Independent Scholar