For Women of Color Who Have Considered Social Theories: When Dominant Narratives Are Not Enough

• In Event: 41.034 - College Curriculum at the Crossroads: Women of Color Reflect and Resist

Abstract

This essay presents the radical possibilities of generating and sustaining critical hope for transformative social justice in a course on critical social theories in education, through the eyes of five women of color. Critical perspectives can empower students to challenge hegemonic systems of oppression, but they are not commonly found to be central in courses in the field of higher education. Through class discussions, in dialogue with the texts, and engaging in a Freirean approach to critical pedagogy, the class has produced brave spaces for transformative teaching and learning. Additionally, the course contributes toward advancing critical perspectives in education scholarship and praxis by opening an epistemological space for women of color to make sense of their experiences of resisting and navigating hegemonic systems of the academy. Following a brief descriptive summary of the course, we present our narratives and reflections as students-teachers and teacher-student in the course. Each of us will discuss the evolution of our critical consciousness, and how our development through the classroom community has allowed us to grow as scholars and educators.

Authors

• Devita Bishundat

• Briellen Elizabeth Griffin, Loyola University Chicago

• OiYan A. Poon, Colorado State University

• Ester Sihite, Loyola University Chicago

• Natasha Turman