Locating a pedagogy of love: (re)framing pedagogies of loss in popular-media narratives of African immigrant communities

Abstract

Recent contexts of migration for immigrant communities from African countries have comprised what sociologist April Gordon discussed as a “new diaspora of black Africans to the U.S.” (p. 84). Yet amid contemporary contexts of migration, popularized narratives of African immigrant youth consistently linger on deficit framings and “emphasize what a particular student, family, or community is lacking”. As the ongoing work of rendering visible narratives of possibility, we analyzed how the cultural and linguistic strengths of African immigrant communities are named (or not named) in popular-media narratives of African immigrant communities. We utilized King and Swartz frameworks for “Afrocentric praxis,” as discussed by Johnson et al. in evoking a “pedagogy of love” (p. 47), together with the theoretical lens of BlackCrit to examine popular-media narratives. In particular, we examine complex meanings of locating a pedagogy of love in popular-media narratives of African immigrant communities in the interplay of three themes: “eldering and communal responsibility,” “language as a colonial modality of loss,” and “envisioning a pedagogy of love as speculative seeing.” We conclude with productive implications for teaching, teacher education, and educational research.

Keywords:

• African immigrant youth
• popular-media narratives
• pedagogy of love
• BlackCrit

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge Michelle G. Knight-Manuel for her ongoing research, teaching, and learning with African immigrant youth and young adult communities; and Matthew R. Deroo for brainstorming conversations preceding data collection, analysis, and writing.

Disclosure statement

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

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 Future references to “eldering,” “locating students (where they are), “multiple ways of knowing,” and “communal responsibility” are in conversation with King and Swartz (2016, pp. 15–17) and Johnson et al. (2019, p. 57), as Johnson and colleagues extended King and Swartz’s six principles to involve a discussion of “fake love” (Johnson et al., 2019, p. 55).

2 Future references to “fake love” are to Johnson et al. (2019, p. 55).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Academy of Education / Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship and Michigan State University College of Education Global Curriculum Fellows.

Notes on contributors

Vaughn W. M. Watson

Vaughn W. M. Watson, Associate Professor of English Education, Michigan State University, engages qualitative participatory methodologies to render visible African immigrant youth's literacy learning and civic engagement across schools and communities. Vaughn has published research in journals including American Educational Research Journal, Review of Research in Education, Teachers College Record.

Lauren Elizabeth Reine Johnson

Lauren Elizabeth Reine Johnson, Bridge to Faculty Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of English, University of Illinois at Chicago, is committed to liberatory projects centering Blackgirls and Black youth, their literacies, and their communities.

Romina S. Peña-Pincheira

Romina S. Peña-Pincheira, is a Ph.D. candidate at Michigan State University. Her research interests are in language teaching and learning, and the intersections of identity, social justice, civic engagement, and sociopolitical contexts. Currently, her research focuses on the teaching of English as a foreign language considering the Chilean sociopolitical context.

Joel E. Berends

Joel Berends is a graduate assistant at Michigan State University where he works with secondary teaching interns and teaches courses on professional practice, justice, and equity. He is interested in decolonizing and anti-racist teaching practices as well as participatory and arts-based approaches to research.

Sisi Chen

Sisi Chen, Graduate Teaching Assistant, Michigan State University, engages in physical activity and health research. Sisi has published research in journals including Sustainability and Measurement in Physical Education and Exercise Science.