Dear Lorde : using contemplative letter writing to establish a calling (inside) out communications praxtice in the social justice education classroom (or Black women talking b(l)ack to white women teachers exhibiting anti-Black ms./behaviors and attitudes)
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Kendra Nicole Bryant Aya (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
- Advisor
- Amy Vetter
Abstract: Despite the social justice education’s (SJE) curricular intent to foster a classroom space where everyone is welcome to participate democratically with others to mutually shape social policies and institutions that govern civil life, Black students attending predominantly white institutions (PWIs) often encounter white teachers who, consciously or not, exhibit anti-Black ms./behaviors and attitudes. Therefore, I ideate a calling (inside) out strategy for student use as an accountability measure that aligns the SJE course with its claimed goal, while fostering an environment wherein students and teachers achieve a solidarity enabling democratic relationship. Calling (Inside) Out is an amalgamation of calling out and calling in—movement techniques used to hold same-goal oriented people accountable for wrongful actions by either shaming (calling out) or compassionately communicating (calling in). According to movement organizer Loan Tr?n, who first suggested calling in, calling in, which reflects coalition building, strategic partnership, and solidarity, is an alternative to, but not a replacement for, the public lambasting characteristic of calling out; it is less abrasive than calling out, which has led to a cancel culture mirroring the crime and punishment ideology of America’s carceral system. As a comingtogether of both strategies, I situate calling (inside) out within a contemplative letter writing praxtice as a communications technique Black graduate students attending a PWI employ, particularly those within the social justice education classroom. Because SJE classrooms reflect movement spaces in which such communications would be exchanged, suggesting calling (inside) out be added to SJE classroom praxtices is fitting. Moreover, my thesis centers the work of Black feminist poet warrior Audre Lorde as well as feminist/womanist theories from bell hooks and Alice Walker. It is written in a Black English particular to the 1960s Black Arts Movement (BAM), while adopting the referencing praxtices of Black Studies scholar, Katherine McKittrick. Finally, as an autoethnography (I have termed a herstoriopoiesis) my work pulls from and expresses the actualities of my inspirited queer-lesbian life, which includes the influences of the Black Missionary Baptist church, BAM poets, and my middle-class Black mother.
Additional Information
- Publication
- Thesis
- Language: English
- Date: 2024
- Keywords
- Anti-Black, Calling (inside) out, Contemplative letter writing, Graduate school, Social justice education, Womanism