This Poem is Liberatory Praxis

ABSTRACT

This poem was written as a final project for the author’s Critical Perspectives in Education course at George Mason University in Fall of 2021. In addition to having students read critical works, Dr. Dodman, the professor, encouraged creative reflections and non-traditional reading responses. The author also engaged in an Extended Communal Engagement (ECE) group with two peers to discuss the readings and make real-world connections. This poem is the author’s final project in which she reflects on her readings and experiences with critical pedagogies. It was her hope that the poem would not only fulfill the course requirements but also be shared with a wider community of critical scholars, thus acting as praxis—practice and action. The poem is set in the context of the post-vaccination time of the COVID-19 global pandemic, in which the course was still taught online, but most businesses had reopened.

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1. Freire (2018). Based on the Marxist perspective, Freire’s dialectical materialism is a framework for understanding how people can be aware of and exist in a world with multiple types of oppression; reflection can lead to political or social change.

2. Freire (2018). Collective consciousness is a group awareness of (and ideally action against) oppression.

3. Cooper (1982). In her essay, Cooper writes, “While there are a fair number of Black women across history who have believed in revolutionary violence, the posture of burning shit down feels decidedly masculist to me.”

4. Gorman (2021) and Patton Davis (2021). “The Hill We Climb” is a spoken word poem written for Joe Biden’s 2021 Presidential Inauguration. Gorman writes of climbing the hill as a metaphorical struggle towards unity and equity in America. In her 2021 AERA Brown Lecture in Education Research, Patton David referenced Amanda Gorman’s “The Hill We Climb” in her lecture entitled, “Still climbing the hill: Intersectional reflections on Brown and beyond.” In the speech, Patton Davis gave voice to many of the Black women of the desegregation movement who had previously received little to no credit for their involvement.

5. Wheatley (2009). In her chapter, “Willing to be Disturbed,” Wheatley writes that one needs to embrace uncertainty and be willing to live in discomfort if one is to truly become more open-minded and collaborate or co-exist with those who think differently.

6. Love (2020). In her essay, Love contends the pandemic allowed for seemingly “impossible” educational changes, such as 1:1 laptops and free breakfast for all students, to become possible, because it was necessary.

7. Ladson-Billings (2021). In her essay, Ladson-Billings writes that instead of a “return to normal,” just like a broken computer, the educational system needs a “hard reset” and re-examination of structures and values so that all students have equitable opportunities for learning.

8. Roy (2020). Roy referred to the pandemic as a “portal of possibilities” for educational reform.

9. Hooks (1994). In Teaching to Transgress, hooks reimagines love of learning as teaching students to critically reimagine democratic participation as a different type of education. In her view, education is the practice of freedom.

10. ECE discussion, 11/11/2021. Extended Communal Engagement (ECE) were small groups formed in Dr. Dodman’s EDUC 855 Critical Perspectives in Education course at George Mason University in the Fall of 2021. The purpose of the ECE was to engage in small group discussion with the readings and make connections to real-world experiences. The author’s ECE group included Chris and Jessica, who inspired thinking for this poem.

11. Freire (2018). Critical consciousness (conscientização in Portuguese) is an awareness of the world, focusing on social and political oppressions, where developing critical consciousness is an act of resistance and can and should also lead to further action for liberation.

12. Anzaldúa (1987). The intentional inclusion of Freire’s phrase in the original Portuguese is an homage to Anzaldúa’s “How to Tame a Wild Tongue.” In her essay, she writes of the necessity of speaking and writing in one’s heritage language, and the challenge of operating in a “borderland” between two (or more) languages.

13. Baldwin (1963). In his 1963 essay, Baldwin writes that once one sees oppression, that person is “at war with society” and cannot go back and un-see inequality.

14. Cooper (1982) and hooks (1994). In her essay, “The Smartest Man I Never Knew,” B.C. Cooper calls out militarism saying, “isn’t just racist. It’s also patriarchal, sexist, and masculinist” (p. 69).

15. King (1957). In “Loving Your Enemies,” King Jr. wrote that, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” This was his response to capital punishment, consistent with his non-violence philosophy.

16. Lorde (1984). Upon receiving her breast cancer diagnosis, Lorde wrote that she realized that whenever she would die, staying silent on her experiences as a Black, lesbian woman would not protect her. Moreover, speaking one’s truth can bridge differences and add meaning to one’s life.

17. Wikipedia (2021, October 19). “Hands up, don’t shoot.” A common refrain in response to police brutality that originated after the murder of unarmed Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

18. Freire (2018). One of Freire’s most famous claims is to “read the word and the world.” This is interpreted to mean that the world, and human interactions in it, can be read and interpreted, just as a text can be. Moreover, the world should be read, and read critically, in order to identify and overcome oppressions.

19. See Note 4.

20. See Note 4.

21. See Note 4.

22. Anzaldúa (1987). Anzaldúa describes the borderlands as a metaphorical space where Latinx (she refers to Chicanos and Mexicans) struggle with language. She writes, “On one side of us, we are constantly exposed to the Spanish of the Mexicans, on the other side we hear the Anglos’ incessant clamoring so that we forget our language” (p. 84).

23. Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (2021). Land acknowledgments are ways in which individuals and institutions are recognizing the space in which they are occupying was once the land of Indigenous Peoples.

24. Cooper (1982). In her essay, Cooper writes, “Every time I hear calls from young radical activists to ‘burn it all down and start again’ I feel more fear and distress than possibility.” Cooper connects burning to masculist and patriarchal behaviors.

25. Roos (2021), https://www.history.com/news/native-american-wildfires. In this article, Professor Stephen Pyne, a fire historian, describes the role of fire in Ingenious practices as, “Fire was a constant companion, a kind of universal catalyst and technology..”

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sara A. Field

Sara A. Field is a Ph.D. Candidate at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. Her dissertation is on culturally sustaining pedagogies in K-8 writing classrooms. This poem was written as a final project in her class, Critical Perspectives in Education.