Joy as (R)evolutionary Praxis: Centering Young Women of Color in Curriculum Transformation

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Abstract

This paper examines how young women of color (YWOC) in a predominantly white, elite independent school employ joy as a metamorphic curricular praxis to navigate and transform their school environment. Grounded in theories of Joy as conceived by Asouzu (2005) and Muhammad (2023), Currere (Pinar, 2012) and Currere towards Decolonization (Knox, 2022), Black and Transatlantic Feminisms, this study explores how participants used joy and spatial reclamation to resist dominant discourses and (re)frame belonging. The paper contributes to curriculum studies by theorizing joy as an epistemological force capable of disrupting deficit negatives about young women of color and cultivating more humanizing school communities.

Author

• Chinyere Ngozi Harris, Teachers College, Columbia University