The Power and Freedom of Black Feminist and Womanist Pedagogy

The Power and Freedom of Black Feminist and Womanist Pedagogy explores diverse perspectives on the liberating power of Black feminist and womanist pedagogical practices. The contributors boldly tell groundbreaking stories of their teaching experiences and their evolving relationships to Black feminist and womanist theory and criticism.

The Power and Freedom of Black Feminist and Womanist Pedagogy: Still Woke celebrates and reaffirms the power of Black feminist and womanist pedagogies and practices in university classrooms. Employing autocritography (through personal reflection, research, and critical analysis), the contributors to the volume boldly tell groundbreaking stories of their teaching experiences and their evolving relationships to Black feminist and womanist theory and criticism. From their own unique perspectives, each contributor views teaching as a life-changing collaborative and interactive endeavor with students. Moreover, each of them envisions their pedagogical practice as a strategic vehicle to transport the legacy of struggles for liberating, social justice and transformative change in the U.S. and globally. Firmly grounded in Black feminist and womanist theory and practice, this book honors the herstorical labor of Black women and women of color intellectual activists who have unapologetically held up the banner of freedom in academia.

Preface: Reaffirming the Power and Joy of Black Feminist and Womanist Thought, Gary L. Lemons and Cheryl R. Rodriguez

Introduction: Embracing Transformation: Welcoming Wholeness and Truth into Our Classrooms, Cheryl R. Rodriguez and Gary L. Lemons

Part I: “I Am”—Pedagogies of Resistance, Liberation, and Transformation

Chapter One: The Radical Work of Teaching for Justice: Black Feminist Pedagogy for 21st Century Thought and Activism, Cheryl R. Rodriguez

Chapter Two: Teaching as Liberatory Praxis: Learning to Shed Fear and Transcend Structures of Domination in the Classroom, Hanna Garth

Chapter Three: Teaching Relationality: Pedagogies Across Asymmetries of Racialization and Colonization, Quynh Nhu Le

Chapter Four: I am that, too: Integrating the Black Woman into the First Year Composition Classroom, Kendra N. Bryant

Part II: Education “as the Practice of Freedom”: Holding on to bell hooks’ Pedagogical Legacy

Chapter Five: Still Becoming Me: My Journey through bell hooks’ Vision of “Engaged Pedagogy”, La-Toya Scott

Chapter Six: I Ain't No Damned Pedagogue: Reevaluating my Stance in the Classroom from a Black Feminist Perspective and Reclaiming my Mother Tongue, Maggie Romigh

Chapter Seven: You Poured Your Soul into This Work: A Dialogue in the Spirit of Self-Transformation, Paul T. Corrigan

Chapter Eight: Teaching to Progress: bell hooks, Radical Roots and Branches, Scott Neumeister

Part III: Black Male Radical (His)Stories: Teaching to Survive

Chapter Nine: Remembering Intersectional Interventions Teaching to Reclaim Human Rights Legacies, M. Thandabantu Iverson

Chapter Ten: Working Overtime: My Mother and Black Feminists’ Embodied Narrative Inheritance, Marquese McFerguson

Chapter Eleven: A Pedagogical Awakening: My Pro-Womanist His-Story, Vincent Adejumo

Chapter Twelve: The Past and Future Diversities of HBCUs: Queerness and the Institutional Fulfillment of Black Studies, Roderick A. Ferguson

Chapter Thirteen: Postscript: Professing Our Love for Social Justice “Committed to Survival and Wholeness of Entire People”, Gary L Lemons and Cheryl Rodriguez

About the Contributors