The Impact of Black Women Teachers' Adornment and Aesthetic Stylizations on Black Girls' Classroom Experiences

• In Event: Thinking Spatially About Black Schoolgirls' Geographies

Abstract

Objectives/purposes
When education researchers discuss Black women teachers in the literature, the focus typically revolves around our pedagogical practices (Delpit, 1995; Dixson, 2003; Pierre, 2018; Watson, 2018) and experiences with racism and sexism (Carter Andrews, 2015; Stanley, 2020). While these topics are important points of study, research has yet to examine the ways in which Black women teachers represent important stylized aesthetic representations and inspirations for Black girls in the classroom context. More specifically, we believe that: 1) Black women teachers’ aesthetic adornments (e.g. tattoos, piercings, jewelry, and clothing) shapes how Black girls perceive Black womanhood in classroom settings and 2) Black women teachers’ presence normalizes Black aesthetics within historically oppressive spaces, such as classrooms/schools and disrupts anti-Black girl policies, practices, and mindsets.

Theoretical Framework
Our analysis builds upon the foundational work of theories on Black geographies and body (McKittrick, 2000; McKittrick, 2011) that affirm and bring Black experiences, agency, and ways of understanding and knowing to the forefront.

Methods and Data
In this paper, we use the concept of memory-work (Haug, 1987; Onyx & Small, 2001; Thomas, 2021) to: 1) recall instances of Black girls noticing and reacting to how we, as Black women K-12 teachers, show up and out in classrooms and 2) recount classroom dialogues between our Black girl students that centered around our appearance. For instance, we discuss the specific language Black girl students used to describe our clothing, hair, and jewelry stylizations.


Results
In our findings, we argue that the presence of Black women teachers plays a significant role in how Black girls perceive themselves and Black womanhood through a mutual exchange of “seeing”, embracing, and elevating our aesthetics as Black women, which, in essence, shape their girlhood experiences in schools.

Significance
This paper illuminates the impact of Black women teachers’ presence, adornment, and aesthetic stylizations on Black girls’ classroom experiences, which remains under-explored, but may disrupt anti-Black girl policies, practices, and mindsets in schools and classrooms.

(References removed due to word count.)

Authors

• Asia Thomas

• Danielle Lorraine Apugo