"I Do This for Every Reason America Doesn't Want Me To": African American Male Instructors' Organic Pedagogies of Love and Resistance

• In Event: 29.091 - Poster Session 4
  In Poster Session: 29.091-1 - Division K Section 3 Poster Session 2

Abstract

This paper examines the teaching philosophies of Black male teachers of Black male students in manhood development classes in a district-wide program in Oakland, California. Drawing on observations and instructor interview data, we explore the teachers’ histories, teaching philosophies, and the trajectory of their racial-educational understandings. We utilize Gramsci’s (1971) theory of the organic intellectual, Mills’ (1997) and Leonardo’s (2013) theories of the subperson and substudent, and Dumas’ (2007) notion of the Black Educational Imagination to theorize the ways that race comes into play in the teaching of African American male students. We find that racialization and rehumanization are key to instructors’ teaching, and we identify three key aspects of their teaching philosophies: 1) Humanization/Love, 2) Urgency, and 3) Reciprocity.

Authors

• kihana miraya ross, University of California - Berkeley

• Nailah Suad Nasir, University of California - Berkeley

• Jarvis Ray Givens, University of California - Berkeley

• Sepehr Vakil, University of California - Berkeley

• David Philoxene, University of California - Berkeley

• Maxine Ramona McKinney de Royston, University of Pittsburgh

• Tia C. Madkins, The University of Texas at Austin