2025 Social Justice in Education Award Lecture: Beyond Learned Powerlessness to Educational Liberation

Session Type: Invited Speaker Session

Abstract

Echoing Alice Walker’s reflections on learned powerlessness, this lecture invites educators and researchers to reclaim the agency that has always been ours. At a moment when oppressive forces continue their attempts to diminish the human spirit, this session calls us to not only do no harm but to unapologetically do good and get into “good trouble”—nod to Ancestor John Lewis. Guided by an African diasporic vision for educational justice, the lecture draws upon the Akan principle Fawohodie, symbolizing freedom, independence, emancipation—and the profound responsibilities that accompany them. Through this lens, the session traces how systemic silencing has been strategically cultivated, and why, in the words of Audre Lorde, “our silence will not protect us.” Rather than accepting narratives of powerlessness, participants will be invited to imagine and enact collective agency. Concrete strategies rooted in community, culture, and resistance are highlighted.

Sub Unit

• AERA Sessions

Chair

• Denise M. Taliaferro Baszile, Wayne State University

Presenter

• Gloria S. Boutte, University of South Carolina