The Paradox of Balancing Well-Being in Predominantly White Informal Learning Spaces: Legitimizing Black/Brown Autoethnographies

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Black and Brown bodies in predominantly white spaces are marginalized, oppressed, silenced and disciplined in a myriad of ways (Anzaldúa, 2015; Boylorn, 2012; Donovan, Galban, Grace, Bennett, & Felicie, 2012; Pittman, 2012; Turner, González, & Wood, 2008). Yet scholars of color persist, restore themselves, find community, and engage in educational practices in formal and informal learning environments. In this symposium four scholars of color engage in a shared experience of being in a predominantly white informal learning environment where they experienced and witnessed racial and gendered oppression and the impact of that experience in their bodies, beings, and spirits, while reflecting on the implications of being social justice educators who have to continuously engage with and neutralize these oppressive forces.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Critical Educators for Social Justice

Chair

• Sandra Lucia Osorio, Illinois State University

Papers

• When the Subaltern Speaks, Who Listens and How? Black/Brown Bodies in Informal Learning Spaces - Kakali Bhattacharya, Kansas State University

• "Whoever Died From a Rough Ride": The Continued Disposability of Black and Brown Bodies - Keisha McIntosh Allen, University of Maryland - Baltimore County

• I Just Stood There: One Woman's Testimonio on Daily Microaggressions and Racial Battle Fatigue - Sandra Lucia Osorio, Illinois State University

• "But I Really Did Fear for My Life": Unpacking "Allyship" in the Aftermath of Compounded Macroaggressions - Sakeena Everett, University of Illinois at Chicago

Discussant

• Jeanine M. Staples, The Pennsylvania State University