Black Mothers' Pedagogy for Living: Mothering in the Homeplace – Part 1

• In Event: Radical Acts of Parenting and Kinship

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic and the longstanding virus of racism have illuminated the structural and systemic inequities that are pervasive in the schooling experiences of communities of color. With schools abruptly moving towards a virtual and remote format, Black mothers (re)imagined and (re)enacted pedagogical practices that interrogated the inherent biases in the school curriculum – those that have continued to reinforce dominant structures, systems, and ways of knowing. Black mothers disrupted biases that continued to perceive them as just mothers, not educators. This presentation examines the role of education as a practice of freedom for Black mothers, and how the homeplace disrupts traditional pedagogical practices. A Black mother’s pedagogy for living encompases critical thinking, questioning world histories, and celebrating and affirming their children.

Mothering in the Homeplace (Part I)
Building on bell hooks’ (1994) theorizing of homeplace, the presenters problematize normative and traditional models of education by (re)envisioning a Black feminist pedagogical framework (Brown, 2009; Omolade, 1987) that takes into account cultural and ancestral ways of knowing and being. Furthermore, a Black mothers’ pedagogy for living draws from feminist and Womanist practices that hold the sacred practices of homeplace, a site of respite, refuge and resistance for their children. In the height of the crisis, the Black mothers’ home became the epicenter for best practices that advance their children’s humanity, worthiness and sense of belonging. Thus, the concept of mothering in the homeplace creates a transformative moment to pause, reflect, and seize the opportunity to ask: What does education as a practice of freedom mean for Black mothers? And, in what ways does homeplace disrupt hegemonic school-based practices? Drawing attention to how mothering (re)shapes the production of knowledge during times of crisis, we conceptualize homeplace as a site for education as freedom and possibility with the hope that mothering can be framed within the discourse of essential work. Black mothers are essential workers. In part I, the presenter illuminates education as a liberatory practice and emphasizes educational freedom as a process of becoming where new and (re)imagined possibilities, individual and collective agency. and historical and cultural literacies are embedded in the education and learning process.

Author

• Alisha Smith, University of Massachusetts - Amherst