Socially Just Open Education and Black Feminist Pedagogy
Feb 6, 2025
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Jasmine Roberts-Crews, a lecturer at The Ohio State University and a doctoral student, dives into the intersection of socially just open education and Black feminist pedagogy. She challenges mainstream feminism's narrative, emphasizing Black women's experiences are crucial for inclusivity. The discussion highlights the importance of agency and renewable assignments that foster meaningful engagement. Roberts-Crews also explores the emotional connections through nurturing plants and how digital tools can enhance learning environments, advocating for the humanization of classrooms.
Black feminism emphasizes the unique intersections of gender, race, and class, challenging dominant narratives that often ignore Black women's experiences.
Socially just open education requires actively interrogating educational narratives to ensure marginalized voices are included and celebrated in learning resources.
Deep dives
The Importance of Black Feminism
Being a Black feminist involves a nuanced understanding of how gender, race, and class intersect and shape experiences. Black feminism challenges the dominant narratives often led by white feminism, which may overlook the unique struggles faced by Black women. Historical figures like Ida B. Wells exemplify the critical contributions of Black women in advocacy and journalism, emphasizing that their experiences provide essential insights into the broader systems of oppression. This perspective allows Black feminists to advocate not only for gender equality but also for racial and social justice within an intersectional framework.
Socially Just Open Education
Socially just open education expands beyond merely providing free educational resources to actively interrogating the narratives contained within those resources. For true equity, it is essential to examine whose histories and perspectives are represented, ensuring that marginalized voices are included and celebrated. Sarah Lambert's framework of redistributive, recognitive, and representational justice serves as a guide for implementing these ideals in education systems. This approach challenges institutions to dismantle existing barriers while promoting diverse knowledge creation and access.
Renewable Assignments in Education
Renewable assignments shift the focus from traditional assessments, which often serve only academic purposes, to more meaningful tasks that contribute to the broader community. By engaging students in projects like editing Wikipedia pages or contributing to open textbooks, educators can increase student investment and show the real-world impact of their work. This creates a culture where students feel their contributions matter beyond the classroom and nurture a sense of belonging in knowledge creation. Such assignments encourage students to view their education as a collaborative and dynamic process rather than a transactional one.
Decentering as a Pedagogical Practice
Decentering involves redirecting focus away from dominant narratives and encouraging curiosity about diverse human experiences, especially those of marginalized communities. This requires educators to acknowledge the limits of their own knowledge and actively seek out voices and texts that have historically been excluded from traditional curricula. By fostering an environment where questioning is encouraged, educators can lead discussions that reveal systemic biases and encourage deeper understanding. Embracing vulnerability and prioritizing humanity in the classroom establishes a more inclusive learning environment that empowers all students.
Jasmine Roberts-Crews shares about socially just open education and Black feminist pedagogy on episode 556 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast.
Quotes from the episode
I’m focusing on Black women in particular here because there is a history among some Black women with rejecting the term feminism because there is this idea that feminism is for white women.
-Jasmine Roberts-Crews
What can we learn from the critical work of Black women through their lived experiences?
-Jasmine Roberts-Crews
We’re kind of going away from or rejecting this idea that assignments are transactional.
-Jasmine Roberts-Crews
Agency, autonomy, that’s at the center of it.
-Jasmine Roberts-Crews