Black educatorhood possibilities: its precarity, the nation's collective stagnation
Description
TitleBlack educatorhood possibilities: its precarity, the nation's collective stagnation
Date Created2020
Other Date2020-01 (degree)
Extent1 online resource (x, 354 pages) : illustrations
DescriptionWith the historical decline in the presence of Black teachers in the United States’ public schools and the recent calls for the increase in Black educators in the nation, this dissertation will explore the precarious state of six New Jersey K-12 public school Black educators as they attempt to advocate for their profession and organize for racial and social justice within their schools/district communities. Using an African-diasporic onto-axiological centered de/colonial --constructivist grounded theory (Charmaz, 1995), while drawing on Black Feminisms (Hills-Collins, 1986; 1990/2000) and Critical Race Theory (Bell, 1980; 1987; Crenshaw, 2011; Delgado & Stefancic, 2006) as lenses to explore, I conduct one on one interviews, focus groups, and document analyses to research the study's six participants. The questions foregrounding the research are: 1)What collective/individual narrative emerge as six Black educators advocate and attempt to organizer for racial and social justice with their organizing school/district communities; 2) What are their individual/collective experiences in schools; and 3) What are the individual, group, and systemic barriers/principles that hinder/elevate progress?
The study reveals the precarity (Sharpe, 2016) of Black Educatorhood as experienced by these six Black educators working within a system of anti-blackness and white supremacy. Also illuminated on is Black Educatorhood’s shared linkage to a genealogy of Black educators who preceded them. Most significant are several other common themes examined across participants. These findings were narrowed down to their collective experiences with 1) integration, as experienced through Black Studenthood and Black Educatorhood, 2) their barriers to organizing, as manifested through the internalization of patriarchalism and racism, and 3) their desires to rehumanize for the future of Black Educatorhood possibilities. The study closes with a brief autoethnographic account to help wed together the themes within my narrative--situating it in the spirit of Black womxn educators who preceded us such as Septima P. Clark, and Anna Julia Cooper. Consequently, I draw on the imagery of the Akan “dilemma bird,” Santrofi Anoma, to help wrap up the framing of our collective stories as what I posit as “dilemma” and precarious, while also providing recommendations, and implications for future policy, practice, and further research.
NoteEd.D.
NoteIncludes bibliographical references
Genretheses, ETD doctoral
LanguageEnglish
CollectionGraduate School of Education Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Organization NameRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
RightsThe author owns the copyright to this work.
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