Speculative Liberation: Black Girls’ Joy as Antifascist Pedagogy through Photovoice

• In Event: It’s in My Bones: Advancing the Embodiment of Theory for and by Blackgirls and Women

Abstract

Purpose
Far-right threats have targeted Black women in education and in digital spaces (Author et al., 2023), causing them to cultivate their own support networks to organize against gendered racism and fascism rooted in white male supremacy (Coghill and Krishnasamy, 2020;Miller-Idriss, 2020). In response, Black antifascism is both the theories and actions of Black individuals who oppose fascism and understand it to be inextricably linked to racial oppression (i.e., anti-Black racism). We assert that joy is a defining feature of Black antifascist theory. This study uses Black antifascist traditions to consider how Black girls mobilize joy to promote thriving amid fascist threats.

Perspectives
Employing both Black antifascist radical traditions (Hope, 2022) and positive youth development theories (Clonan-Roy et al., 2016; Lerner et al., 2015) 14 Black girls (ages 12-14) participated in a photovoice project in which they captured what joy means to them. Our analysis examined how Black girls used joy as resistance in school and out of school contexts in addition to exploring the connections between Black girls’ joy and Black antifascist tradition.

Discussion
Engaging with Black cultural understandings of joy, the findings demonstrate a necessary shift toward strengths-based research to center Black girls' knowledge creation and positive emotional well-being. The findings can inform school programs that support Black girls’ resistance to gendered racism. Further, the study can be used to offer opportunities for educators to integrate antifascist principles within teaching to best move youth toward world building and away from fascist recruitment and violence.

Author

• A Onuoha, Suffolk University