A Hemispheric Juxtaposition of Research on Black Ethnic Education Across the Americas

• In Event: Minorías y grupos marginalizados en educación

Abstract

Despite calls for a transnational and hemispheric conceptualization of matters pertaining to racial thought, blackness, and anti-black racism (Bowen, Legros, Paschel, Mattos, Cruz, & Hooker, 2017; Hooker, 2017; Marable & Agard-Jones, 2008; Rivera-Rideau, Jones, & Paschel, 2016; Sawyer, 2008), discourses relevant to education remain localized. While we caution against essentialism, a glance at educational research across the Americas reveals a broader educational abjection towards black populations (Givens, 2016). Using black ethnic education as a conceptual wellspring, we juxtapose (Hooker, 2017) two similar yet geographically disparate canons of educational research: etnoeducacíon afrocolombian@ and U.S. black ethnic education. Through a systematic review of the literature in these two areas of knowledge production, we identify the parallels within the research on black ethnic education as well as identify voids within each corpus of research. Our findings guide us to posit two suggestions that align with the 2019 LASA Congress theme of promoting a “hemispheric vision of justice and inclusion”. First, we suggest that scholars transcend the local politics of knowledge production and position black educational research alongside each other in order to broaden the scope of action and exchange ideas. For example, our work highlights the potential for policy orientations in literature on etnoeducacíon afrocolombian@ to bolster the paucity of policy-relevant discourses in U.S. black ethnic educational research. Second, we craft a hemispheric research agenda for black ethnic education that invites educators and researchers to revisit the role of education as a practice of liberation and freedom.
 

Authors

• Nancy Palacios Mena, Universidad de Los Andes Bogotá - Colombia

• Christopher L Busey, University of Florida

• María José Bermeo, Universidad de Los Andes