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

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Curriculum theorist and Black feminist scholar, Denise Taliaferro Baszile, Ph.D., has described narrative as the bones in which theory is built upon (Basizele, 2023). As such, the embodied knowing of Black women and girls, can yield ways of knowing and imagining, beyond that of dominant discourses. The five papers in this session present work from emerging scholars centering the theoretical and epistemological brilliance of Black women and girls. The authors leverage onto-epistemologies (Nxumalo & Cedillo,2017) to highlight how scholars may consider the theoretical prowess of Black women and girls within the context of education research. In doing so, they demonstrate the ongoing need to re-imagine theory as they pertain to Black girls and Black women.

Sub Unit

• Division B - Curriculum Studies / Division B - Section 3: Theories, Methodologies, and Philosophies of Curriculum Studies

Chair

• ReAnna S. Roby, University of Minnesota

Papers

• Supporting Black Feminist Knowledge-Making in Science - Natalie Annabelle Rae, Pennsylvania State University

• Beats of Endurance: A Womanist Spatial Examination of Black Women’s Academic Refusal Through Hip Hop Testimonios - Monet Harbison, Drexel University

• Theorizing ‘Radical Openness’ in Science Education: (Re)centering the Margins for Black Women Science Teachers - Alexis Riley, New York University

• “Black women create… that’s what we do”: Intra-Black girlhood epistemologies as organic subversion - Gabrielle Kubi, Boston College

• Speculative Liberation: Black Girls’ Joy as Antifascist Pedagogy through Photovoice - A Onuoha, Suffolk University

Session Organizer

• ReAnna S. Roby, University of Minnesota

Discussant

• Tamara Butler, College of Charleston