What do we have to lose: toward disruption, agitation, and abolition in Black education

Abstract

This issue is filled with moving articles that give us a road map as educators serve to disrupt, agitate, and abolish systems, policies, and instruction, taking up Love’s Abolitionist Teaching and Muhammad’s notion of Agitation Literacies. Abolitionist Teaching is built on the creativity, imagination, boldness, ingenuity, and rebellious spirit and methods of abolitionists to demand and fight for an educational system where all students are thriving, not simply surviving. Agitation Literacies are practices of reading, writing, thinking, and speaking and being that is connected to the intention and action to upset, disturb, disquiet, and unhinge multiple types of systemic oppressions.

Keywords:

• Abolitionist teaching
• agitation literacies
• Black education
• disruption

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Bettina L. Love

Dr. Bettina L. Love is an award-winning author and the Athletic Association Professor at the University of Georgia. She is one of the field's most esteemed educational researchers. She is the author of the book We Want To Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom.

Gholnecsar E. Muhammad

Gholnecsar (Gholdy) Muhammad is an Associate Professor of Language and Literacy at Georgia State University. She also serves as the Executive Director of the Urban Literacy Collaborative and Clinic. Dr. Muhammad is author of the book, Cultivating Genius: An Equity Framework for Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy.