Black Joy as a Neo-Emotion: A Systematic Literature Review of Black Joy in Educational Contexts

• In Event: Studying Black Students in Context

Abstract

To counter the masternarrative of harm Black scholars experience in educational spaces misaligned with their funds of knowledge, this paper explores how the concept of ‘Black joy’ has been conceptualized in educational contexts throughout previous education literature and its adjacent fields. With aims to inform the development of a framework of Black joy that can be practically used in mathematics educational spaces, I conducted a systematic literature review of defining features of Black joy in educational contexts using Thomas and Harden’s (2008) thematic synthesis model. Represented through several case studies, findings indicate a definition of Black joy as a cultural practice where various forms of agency as justice, Black being, recognition of Black brilliance, and relationality are heavily interconnected.

Author

• Erin Nicole Cox, University of Michigan