“I Don’t Be Joyous in School”: Examining Black Girls’ Relationship With Joy in School

• In Event: Disaster Schooling to Joyous Schooling for BIPOC Students

Abstract

Centering joy is one way to support students’ well-being (Cunningham, 2019; Muhammad, 2023). However, for Black girls, joy can often be restricted rather than enabled (Okello, 2024). Using qualitative case study, we examined how five Black high school girls described their relationship with joy, and the aspects of school that shaped their descriptions. We found that the girls described largely experiencing repressed and fragmented joy in school, and that their experiences were shaped by school policies, the quality of their relationships, as well as the amount of autonomy and recreation they were afforded. Our work centers the perspectives of Black girls as a means of providing insights regarding how schools might become more joyous spaces.

Authors

• Sophia Sunshine Vilceus, University of Delaware

• Latrice Marianno, Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville