Resisting Antiblackness in Education: A Pedagogy of Black Youth Aesthetics

This book offers a tangible antiracist pedagogical framework for engaging with Black youth in educational and community settings.

Resisting Antiblackness in Education refuses the logics of antiblackness that permeate societal and educational structures and, instead, offers an antiracist counter-logic rooted in the aesthetics of Black youth--a historical and ongoing form of cultural expression and perception.

Blending Black studies with critical educational theory, the author offers both a reflective and practical guide to help educators, researchers, community workers, families, and activists engage with Black youth aesthetics in ontologically restorative ways. Through memoir, aesthetic history, cultural critique, and case studies from a decade of research, readers are reoriented toward a pedagogy born from the social, psychic, and material lives of Black urban youth. Going beyond theory, this book includes actions, activities, and reflection questions that can be implemented directly in K-12 classrooms and other educational contexts.

Resisting Antiblackness in Education is a call to embrace an educational approach that is both intellectually stimulating and practically grounded, a critical and creative catalyst in the fight for Black youth and communities everywhere.

Book Features:

• Offers a tangible antiracist pedagogical framework for engaging with Black youth in educational and community settings, including content unit designs, lesson plans, projects, school or community initiatives, family activities, and more.
• Blends research with personal narrative, along with aesthetic artifacts of youth (e.g., collages, poetry, paintings, clay sculptures, art, public service announcements) to contextualize the pedagogical theory.
• Connects to Black aesthetic history to give readers an immersive experience so they are better prepared to execute the pedagogy, including many prompts to engage in self-reflection throughout the text.
• Focuses on youth voice to empower students, and all those committed to uplifting students, by recognizing their agency and cultural contributions and challenging traditional models of education that prioritize one-directional knowledge dissemination.
• Provides a broad context of anti-Black oppression that highlights the United States but also discussing antiblackness globally, inviting readers to engage with the text from their unique vantage points.