Black Lives Matter: Storying, Identities, and Counternarratives

Abstract

In this academic counternarrative, we examine how Black students and adults get positioned by, and come to resist, discourses that favor dominant linguistic and cultural practices. We ask, How do Black youth and adults resist the gaze of whiteness, or dominant discourses, in schools and communities, and what are pedagogical implications of such resistances? We address these questions by discussing three contemporary examples of injustices experienced by Rachel Jeantel, Amariyanna Copeny, and Black youth who continue the activism of Colin Kaepernik. Thereafter, we analyze data from three research vignettes of Black teachers and Youth of Color who produce counternarratives through storying. In our conclusion, we advocate for a pedagogical agenda in literacy studies grounded in cultural equality and linguistic, racial, and social justice for Black people and other People of Color. We situate this work as an academic counternarrative—an analysis of young people’s unapologetic affirmation of Black humanity, brilliance, and power.

Coaching Using Racial Literacy in Preservice Teacher Education

“…In the remaining two segments of the post-conference, Francine continues to try to engage Heather in both deconstructing classroom disruptions and enacting reconstructive discourse analysis (Rogers & Mosley Wetzel, 2014), asking Heather to reconsider her teaching and imagine new possibilities. Francine sustains the idea that students were acting, rather than reacting-what Kinloch et al (2020) described as "resist[ing] linguistic and racial injustices" (p. 383). Very quickly, Francine is called to retrieve her students.…”

“…White ways of knowing and viewpoints are posed as more established than the viewpoints of people of color (Guinier, 2004). Certainly, there are race discourses that lead to empowerment, curriculum revision, and anti-racist ways of knowing and being relating to people of color (e.g., Kinloch et al, 2020), but those are less common in White-dominated spaces. Anti-racism requires the ability to unpack race discourses through the color blindness that characterizes White-dominated spaces (Bonilla-Silva, 2010).…”

“…Anti-racism requires the ability to unpack race discourses through the color blindness that characterizes White-dominated spaces (Bonilla-Silva, 2010). To identify inequalities related to race and take an active stance toward disrupting them, CRT scholars use tools such as counter-storytelling, which illuminates how race operates within institutions from the perspective of people of color (e.g., Kinloch et al, 2020;Sólorzano & Yosso, 2002).…”

Considering the role of social media: #BlackLivesMatter as a pedagogical intervention to decolonise curriculum

“…A significant number of studies have examined the benefits of integrating social justice in the classroom (Dover, 2015;Guthrie, 2018;Howell et al, 2019;Ladson-Billings and Tate, 1995), as well as teacher capacity in this regard (Agarwal et al, 2010;de los Ríos et al, 2015;Kumi-Yeboah and Smith, 2016;Kelly and Brandes, 2010), or student engagement in informal learning contexts (Carney, 2016;Chun, 2018;Greenhow and Lewin, 2016;Bowyer, 2018, 2019). Others have explored governance and policy limitations (Burke and Collier, 2017;Harber, 2004;Williamson, 2017), and the role of curriculum and policy in addressing wider social justice and equity issues (Kinloch et al, 2020;Liou and Cutler, 2021;McMahon and Portelli, 2012;Skinner and Bromley, 2019).…”

African American Women in Non-Managerial Roles: Sense of Belonging and Career Advancement

“…Additionally, existing literature highlights the experiences of African American/Black women seeking career advancement from non-managerial job positions and how their sense of belonging and working at respective public PWIs are affected. Last, the literature also specifies how African American/Black women rely on their faith and religious practices as coping mechanisms for survival and as counter-narratives (Kinloch et al, 2020;Whitaker & Grollman, 2019;Zhu, 2020) as they navigate their career journey in higher education (Burley & Thurman, 2019;Edwards, 2015;Linnabery et al, 2014).…”