Where is the Love?: A Systematic Review of Love among Black Teachers

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Sunday 9:45 am - Gold 2
  In Roundtable Session: Of Care and Resistance: Teachers' Voices in Complex Times

Abstract

This systematic literature review, grounded in Washington's (2024) bell hooksian approach, explores love in Black teachers' relationships, critiquing Eurocentric research norms that overlook such humanity. Drawing on four love typologies—active choice, revolutionary self-love, familial, and romantic—the review analyzes 12 articles (2008–2023) via a hooksian lens, revealing five love categories. Preliminary findings show only three articles mention love among teachers, often in affinity programs, with framing correlating to content: traditional approaches exclude love, while explicit love-focused ones amplify it. Centering love resists dehumanization, fostering holistic, humanizing methodologies for Black educators' lives.

Author

• Zariah Nicole, Johns Hopkins University