Antiracism Approaches Through an Outsider-Within Positionality: Making Black Women’s Lives Matter in Art Education

Abstract

This study investigated the narratives and racial experiences of Black women K–12 art educators navigating the White field of art education. Drawing from a Black feminist outsider-within positionality framework, their shared stories reveal how Black women art educators are unprivileged insiders within their schools and outsiders to a social system that privileges White people as the dominant group in art education. Outsider-within positionality is foundational in providing a platform for revealing the exclusion of Black women’s identities in White spaces. A Black feminist approach to narrative inquiry is a crucial methodology in identifying why Black women matter in art education. Their interviews expose the experiences of racist obstacles that hinder their progress as art educators. As a result, approaches to implementing gender equity with antiracist strategies are presented for an inclusive and safe environment for Black women art educators and create a critical dialogue in art education at large.

Author Note

This article derives from the author’s dissertation: Bailey, I. (2020). A Black Feminist Narrative Inquiry of the Outsider-Within Positionality of Black Women K–12 Art Educators. The Pennsylvania State University. Information regarding the participants, unless otherwise indicated, originates from the author’s dissertation.

Acknowledgments

A special thank-you to the Black women K–12 art educators who shared their invaluable stories and made this research possible. I would also like to thank my committee members, Karen Keifer-Boyd; Wanda Knight; B. Stephen Carpenter, II; and Crystal Sanders.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The study reveals the ages of the participants when the study was conducted in 2018.

2 The names of the participants were changed to protect their anonymity.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the American Association University of Women American Dissertation Fellowship.