Positioning Afrofuturism as a Counternarrative to Colonialist Logics to Build Critical Community in the K-12 Classroom

• In Event: Countering Coloniality

Abstract

As critical educators, we posit that teaching Black Lives Matter and Afrofuturism in an intermediate grade classroom decolonizes the traditional Black History Month curricula so that children contemporize Black history and imagine an inclusive future for all. We do this by helping students examine the ways in which colonization has developed the dominant American identity and culture, which has contributed to an over policing and oppression of Black and Brown bodies. Therefore, young students can then analyze current examples of Afrofuturistic artwork and develop their own creations that provide solutions to present issues and thereby imagining hopeful futures. This presentation will share practical examples of the various ways in which we as can work against “reproducing colonialist logics, neoliberal ideologies, and supremist ideals in our community building and social justice work” in K-12 classroom settings.

Authors

• Dara Nix-Stevenson, The Experiential School of Greensboro

• Laura Shelton, The Experiential School of Greensboro