Pre-Conference Seminar: Laboring for Love, Toward Justice, With Joy: Wellness Work for Curriculum Scholars in the Wake of “45”

Session Type: Invited Speaker Session

Abstract

To be alive and well in the current era of facism, racism, and the 45 th presidency, it
seems to us—two Black|female|mother|critical|scholars—that curricula of healing is
absolutely essential. Having personally experienced the heaviness of the political
moment and engaged in casual and more formal conversations among justice-oriented
comrades in the field, we know that healing, especially through the work of radical
self-care and wellness, are deemed important to many other educational scholars and
the production and dissemination of their scholarship, too. Yet, we ask you—dear
colleague—as Toni Cade Bambara did in her seminal novel The Salt Eaters (1980): “Are
you sure, sweetheart, that you want to be well? Just so’s you’re sure, sweetheart, and
ready to be healed, cause wholeness is no trifling matter. A lot of weight when you’re
well.” Wellness—or the achievement of a balanced life through consistent attention to
our occupational, intellectual, spiritual, social, physical, and emotional state—requires
that you take seriously, among other components, love .
Academics have a hard time talking about the role of “love” in social research and in the
lives of researchers themselves, and the lack of a working definition for its meaning
only partly explains our difficulty. The more substantial barrier is our tendency to think
about “research” not as a careful exploration of specific social, intellectual, or
methodological problems that bear on the everyday circumstances of real people, but
as the product of observable and replicable processes, of science. Love, many would
argue, has nothing to do with this. We beg to differ. As we understand it, love—the
material and conceptual pursuit of our own or someone else’s humanity—is as sorely
needed in the field of education as it is in New York City streets. Together with seminar
participants, we will openly explore what it means for educational researchers to do
their work from a place of love.
Drawing upon themes introduced in Black feminist bell hooks’ book, All About Love
(2000), each day of this pre-conference seminar will include seven components:
intention-setting; visualization; breath work; discussion; creative writing; meditation; and
movement. Participants should have a journal and a pen; come dressed comfortably;
and bring a blanket or yoga mat. The immediate goal of the seminar is to help
participants center and ground in a bustling city before a busy conference. The greater
goal is to teach and learn concrete strategies of a healing curriculum that can be
practiced daily within and beyond academic spaces.
Facilitators
Marcelle Haddix (Ph.D., Boston College) is a Dean’s Associate Professor and chair of
the Reading and Language Arts department in the Syracuse University School of
Education and a nationally-recognized literacy scholar committed to centering Black
literacies in educational practices and spaces. She directs two literacy programs for
adolescent youth: the Writing Our Lives project that supports the writing practices of
urban middle and high school students within and beyond school contexts, and the Dark
Girls afterschool program for Black middle school girls aimed at celebrating Black girl
literacies. Marcelle’s work is featured in Research in the Teaching of English, English
Education, Linguistics and Education, and Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy and
in her book, Cultivating Racial and Linguistic Diversity in Literacy Teacher Education.
Her recognitions include the AERA Division K Early Career Award; the National Council
for Teachers of English Promising Researcher Award; and the NCTE Janet Emig Award.
She is the President-elect of the Literacy Research Association. For Marcelle, yoga,
wellness, and healthy living are deeply personal and political. Known as The ZenG, she
is a practicing vegan and 200-hour registered yoga instructor who specializes in yoga
for underrepresented groups and for community-based organizations.
Crystal T. Laura (Ph.D.,University of Illinois-Chicago) is Associate Professor of
Educational Leadership and Co-Director of the Center for Urban Research and Education
at Chicago State University (CSU). Crystal’s work has focused on the social foundations
of education, diversity and equity in schools, and building the capacity of school-based
educational leaders to promote social justice. Crystal’s scholarship on the
“school-to-prison pipeline” is informed by her dissertation project, for which she won an
Outstanding Dissertation Award from the Qualitative Research Special Interest Group of
AERA and has appeared in Race, Ethnicity and Education , Cultural Studies-Critical
Methodologies , Gender and Education , Critical Questions in Education , and also in her
award-winning book, Being Bad: My Baby Brother and the School-to-Prison Pipeline . She
lectures across the U.S. and is a frequent presenter at the annual meeting of the AERA,
to which she has belonged since 2006, currently serving as Chair of the Equity and
Inclusion Council. Crystal is a practicing vegan and 200-hour registered yoga instructor
who specializes in yoga for mothers of color. She is also a member of the Yoga for
Black Lives collective of teachers who lead pop-up yoga classes to generate donations
in support of Black-affirming activism in Chicago.

Where to Send Applications:
Crystal T. Laura (claura@csu.edu), Chicago State University

Sub Unit

• Division B - Curriculum Studies

Participants

• Marcelle M. Haddix, Syracuse University

• Crystal T. Laura, Chicago State University