Womanist Pedagogical Love as Justice Work on College Campuses: Reflections from Faithful Black Women Academics

Abstract

In this chapter, the authors decenter soulless curricular and administrative practices in collegiate settings and re‐conceptualize justice work through faith as a labor of love.

Toward an Understanding of Intersectionality Methodology: A 30-Year Literature Synthesis of Black Women’s Experiences in Higher Education

“…Centering Black women as the subject helped scholars in our narrowed sample to address representational intersectionality and place the research problem under study in its appropriate sociopolitical context. Edwards and Thompson (2016, pp. 39–40), for example, critiqued the extant literature on ally work, arguing that much of the literature situates “over privileged individuals” as saviors who engage sacrificially in the dismantling of hegemonic structures that benefit them and exploit the labor of Black women faculty in the academy.…”

“…These scholars’ use of critical/intersectional lenses proved to be a research tool that inspired methodological innovations, underscoring the contributions of intersectionality research. For example, Edwards and Thompson’s (2016) use of womanist theology inspired their creation of an approach to qualitative research they called Scholarly Rearing: Methodological Deliverance. According to Edwards and Thompson, womanist theology attends to structural intersectionality by taking up “faith, religious practice, scholarship, resistance, justice, and Black womanhood integratively” (p. 43).…”

“…According to Edwards and Thompson, womanist theology attends to structural intersectionality by taking up “faith, religious practice, scholarship, resistance, justice, and Black womanhood integratively” (p. 43). Scholarly Rearing is a spirit-filled methodology that challenges researchers to place less emphasis on “speaking to a disciplinary audience—one that is disinclined to appreciate a Black feminized spiritual perspective—and more concerned with the survival of the oppressed” (Edwards & Thompson, 2016, p. 44).…”

“…Scholars in our narrowed sample politicized the research process to dismantle research traditions that reproduce whiteness (Harding, 1991), encourage single-axis analyses, and contribute to epistemic erasure of Black women. Edwards and Thompson (2016) argued that Scholarly Rearing helped them to “decenter the sterile (soulless) . .…”

Enseñar como un “acto de amor” con métodos de enseñanza-aprendizaje no tradicionales en los entornos virtuales

“…Para este tipo de docente, la enseñanza-aprendizaje es vista como un proceso que implica mucho más que una simple transmisión de conocimiento (Freire, 1973). Para este tipo, el proceso de enseñanzaaprendizaje conlleva una reflexión constante sobre las diferencias y necesidades individuales, sociales y políticas, lo que demuestra un compromiso genuino para ayudar a sus estudiantes a construir o a desarrollar maneras propias de entender las lecciones partiendo de sus experiencias de vida (Edwards y Thompson, 2016).…”