Toward being nobody's darling: a womanist reframing of school climate

Abstract

This article demonstrates how (bad) girl performances rupture the inherently violent logic undergirding exclusionary discipline through the schooling experiences of five Black girls on probation. In so doing, it reveals a clear need for the abolition of suspension, expulsion and school-based arrest and relays a new focus on freedom dreaming for harmonious, womanist, healing-informed school climates. In so doing, it calls educators to nurture the liberatory promise in Black girls who experience school conflict by affirming their resistance, rejection, or indifference to white femininity and Black respectability. Such a move takes us away from perceptions, policies, and practices reinscribing Black girlhood as problematic and brings us toward schooling experiences that invite and honor the fullness of their being.

Keywords:

• Black girls
• school climate
• womanism
• racial discipline gap
• school/prison nexus

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Erica B. Edwards

Dr. Erica B. Edwards is an assistant professor of educational leadership and policy studies at Wayne State University. Her research focuses on racial and gender disparities in school discipline – with a particular emphasis on Black girls' educational experiences in the Midwest. Considering the central ideological role of popular culture in Black girls' experiences, Erica also writes about the educative value of television, film, and music from an intersectional perspective.