The world is ours: mapping identity with Black Girl Cartography

ABSTRACT

In this article, we offer Black Girl Cartography as a practice that centers the lives of Black girls and women and the mapping of ‘black girl stories’ as an educative tool. To illustrate the utility of Black girl Cartography in our work, we used an autoethnographic approach to draw upon our experiences in a graduate level English course centered around Black women’s autobiographies and activism (Butler, T. T. 2018b. ENG 826 [Course Syllabus]. Michigan State University). In doing so, we asked the following research question: How can Black Girl Cartography be used as an educative tool for Black girls and Black girl researchers?

KEYWORDS:

• Radical Feminist Leadership
• Black girlhood
• leadership
• Black Girl Cartography

Disclosure statement

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

Notes on contributors

Courtney Mauldin is an Assistant Professor of Teaching & Leadership at Syracuse University. As an interdisciplinary scholar, her research investigates how youth of color voices are engaged in K-12 schools and can inform a more critical and youth centered school leadership practice.

Cierra Presberry received her PhD from Michigan State University's Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education program. She formerly worked as a special education teacher in Detroit, Michigan. Her research interests center issues of equity and include restorative justice, urban education, and supporting Black students and students with disabilities.