Is It Our Culture to Create? Transforming Spaces Into Homeplaces or Something Not So Plain

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session Seven
  In Roundtable Session: Educators and Graduate Students: Simultaneous Education and Academic Work in Whiteness Environments (Table 11)

Abstract

Context & Purpose
The fight for access to and the vitality of education for Black people within the U.S. is a battle as old as emancipation (Anderson, 2010) from the first colonizers to set foot on the shores of North America. Simultaneously, the degradation and dismantling of Black culture(s) is persistent throughout U.S. history. Despite these threats and attacks, guardians and conveyors of culture have maintained, reimagined, (re)membered, and created Black culture(s) in spaces where Black people can come to know thyself. In formalized systems of education, from K-12 to graduate school, scholars have demonstrated that culturally sustaining pedagogy (Paris, 2012) and a commitment to one’s racial identity (Marshall, 1994) can work to mitigate the harms caused in these spaces. Yet, a student's commitment and capacity to engage in these pedagogies is not initiated in school. This capacity is initiated in the homplaces, or spaces curated by Black maternal figures and families to protect Black youth while they cultivate their racialized self (hooks, 1999). As a creator, educator, and graduate student, I have grappled with whether it is possible to extend the ways of knowing and being within homeplaces into learning environments of all types for Black people. Personally, I have only been able to do something similar through arts-based practices and methodologies. The act of creating and cultivating imagination has allowed for these white spaces to be transformed into places not so plain, despite the challenges that come with engaging in these practices and methodologies within education.

Theoretical Framing and Analysis
My identity as a creator and educator is rooted in my cultural identity and experiences as a Black/ADOS male who has primarily learned and taught within predominantly white institutions. As I navigate the doctoral process, I have found a place within the the theoretical frameworks and understandings of bell hooks’ homeplace (1999), Patricia Banks’ (2010) analysis of Black identity and arts engagement, Dillard’s (re)membering (2021), Arts-Based Research (Leavy, 2009), and my own creative practice. Like a color palette, these multiple ways of knowing and expressing blend and contrast to allow me to visualize a healthy and sustainable educational environment for Black-identified people as I navigate different spaces within the system of education.

Scholarly Significance
To combat Anti-Blackness in education and add to the work of carving out Arts-based research and practices in education, I will converse with my fellow panelists and audience about how I have attempted to use arts-based practices to extend or create homeplaces (hooks, 1999) into a variety of educational environments. Specifically, I will illustrate my experience as a graduate student breaking from norms within graduate studies, teaching an identity-centered design course, and facilitating educational experiences in community and hired trainer settings. Providing a window into the process and results allows for further ideation and possibilities for improving educational environments for Black-identified people.

Author

• Jordan W. Brooks, Iowa State University
  Presenting Author