Book chapter
Learning to Love: An Ode to Black Women Educators
All About Black Girl Love in Education, pp 145-158
2024
Abstract
We do not speak enough about the resurrecting love of Black women educators. So often we are inundated with capitalism-induced images of pain, loss, and deprivation in education that we forget about the women who labored and continue to labor in love, despite suffocating conditions. In the spirit of our feminist foremother bell hooks (1999), we believe that love is multidimensional and necessitates a commitment to "care ... trust, responsibility, respect, and knowledge" (p. 94). While it is rare to find demonstrations of this type of love in the project of schooling,
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which predicates itself on the harsh discipline of students (Meiners, 2011) and the mistreatment of teachers, Black women teachers continue to embody a pedagogical love.
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The presence, wisdom, and love of Black women educators, although seldom recognized as "scholarly," offer life-giving and generative insights into how to see and love Black children more fully. We praise the love of Black women educators by remembering those who showed us what it looks like to embody what hooks (2006) called a "love ethic." Although the educators mentioned in this chapter may not use the term "love ethic" to describe how they approach their work, given the way they show up for their students and mentees despite being subjected to a "culture of domination" (hooks, 2006), it is fitting to suggest that they express an ethic of love. We present a constellation of Black methods (McKittrick, 2020) including a chant, reflections, and love stories not to romanticize the labor of Black women educators but to offer a nuanced perspective that recognizes the humanity of Black women educators and their distinct way of embodying love.
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Details
- Title
- Learning to Love
- Creators
- Jaminque L. AdamsDamaris C. DunnBettina L. Love
- Contributors
- Autumn A. Griffin (Editor)Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz (Editor)
- Publication Details
- All About Black Girl Love in Education, pp 145-158
- Publisher
- Routledge
- Edition
- 1
- Resource Type
- Book chapter
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- School of Education
- Other Identifier
- 991022004636004721