Freedom to Revise, Permission to Grow

• In Event: You're Invited: Black Women Educators (Re)Membering Ghana and the Complex Realities of Building Community

Abstract

We, Black girls, crafted a circle to sit in and face each other. We had newly jumped from virtual windows into embodied spaces of tasting, touching, listening, smelling, and seeing in Ghana. No longer could we turn off our cameras to break from being seen. It was time for us to breathe, move, offer, listen, and try to see—collectively.

During our first week in Ghana, we visited the James Town community of Accra, the Gold Coast’s capital city. One of our directors, Dr. Esther Ohito, guided our reflection afterwards. With gentle regality, she said to us, “I asked you, ‘What is one thing you are learning?’ But I’m changing the question. Reflect instead on ‘What is one thing you think you are learning about this context we are in?’”

Esther’s evolved prompt empowered me. Like her, I am free to revise my questions and perceptions throughout my lifelong teaching and learning journey. The context of Ghana has also encouraged me to extend greater self-compassion. As a Black woman knowledge holder, I am necessary even when I do not know the answers. I am worthy even when I make mistakes. I am teachable and knowledgeable. I can express what I think I know with orality, silence, and simply being in my body of stories. I can repeat these truths to myself when I need to hear them. I can hear them, too, from Black women who love to see me.

In essence, what do I think I am learning in connection to Ghana? The answers, which may indefinitely be more questions, take time. Yet, I think I am beginning to learn “learning”—its messy, human, and necessary process in myself and community—and honor it.

Author

• Jessica Reed, Michigan State University
  Presenting Author