Africanizing the U.S. Secondary English Language Arts Curriculum

• In Event: African Diasporic Theory and Practice for Educational Equity in the 21st Century

Abstract

Senegal, an African nation spanning about 80,000 miles, has the silhouette of a loin’s head with the neighboring country, The Gambia as its mouth. The two countries are located in West Africa, referred to as SeneGambia, share a deep and distinctive history and culture whose origin dates back to ancient empires of West Africa, has been regarded as the “Gateway to Africa.” This westernmost part of Africa served as major ports for enslaved Africans to the Americas and the Caribbean. The prevailing narrative around the continent of Africa is drenched in deficit and marred in marginality, which stems directly from white supremacy, racist ideologies and the legacy of colonization. It is this narrative that proliferates the United States and the American school system.
I am interested in talking about Africanizing the English Language Arts curriculum by spotlighting Senegal. Senegal is the epicenter of arts, culture and sciences in Africa. Internationalizing the curriculum is cocooned in humanizing pedagogies (Salazar, 2013), culturally and historically responsive literacy (Muhammad, 2020), culturally sustaining pedagogies (Paris, 2012), decolonizing pedagogies (Zembylas, 2018), culturally relevant teaching (Gay, 2013; Ladson-Billings, 1995), and critically reading the text and world for liberation and agency (Freire, 1985). As an English methods teacher educator, my students and I discussed ways to incorporate Senegal into the curriculum. I would like to discuss how debunking ontologies that ahistorizes Africa and peoples of African descent is critical in building accurate global literacy and awareness. In my work with students, we explored literary works, music, poetry and art from creative minds like Mariama Bâ, Léopold Sédar Senghor, David Diop, and Baaba Maal. My talk would include how an aperture for Africa, specifically Senegal can accurately and adroitly be incorporated into the secondary ELA classroom drawing parallels between the African and African American experiences, and the importance in building cultural “mirrors” in the classroom for students of African descent. The cultural narratives of Senegal, which include its land, people, culture, politics, language, and customs, can be explored through multi-genre literature and sociocultural literary movements like the Negritude and Harlem Renaissance to promote “civic and social engagement…and expand [students’] understanding of the larger world…” (Mickelson, 2018, p. 3).

Author

• Darlene V. Russell, William Paterson University