Beyond the Numbers: Centering Black Joy in Mathematics Education

• In Event: Sunday Roundtable Session
  In Paper Session: (re)defining Masculinities: Race, Disability, and Visibility in Higher Education

Abstract

Discourse about Black students in the context of mathematics education is often framed around deficits and inequities. Yet, such discourses rarely acknowledge the possibility of joy as a mighty transformer in mathematics classrooms. This article shifts the narrative by centering Black joy as a key component of a liberatory mathematics education. In this autoethnographic case story, I use my experience as a Black educator to examine the construct of Black joy in mathematics education by arguing that leading with joy through culturally affirming/sustaining practices can create healthy relationships with mathematics and improve academic outcomes and emotional well-being. Drawing on Critical Race Theory and Black Feminist Pedagogies(Collins,2000;Delgado & Stefancic,2012; Krenshaw,2013;Joseph, 2021)and putting this scholarship in conversation with empirical research, student voice, and my experiences as a mathematics teacher, and, this article provides insights and considerations for educators to create classroom spaces that affirm, give power to, and uplift the experiences of Black students.

Author

• Natasha Fortes, PhD Student