Toward radical belonging: envisioning antiracist learning communities

ABSTRACT

In this conceptual essay, the authors draw on their partnerships with schools to articulate radical belonging as a guiding vision for antiracist learning communities, centering students of color in particular. They distinguish radical belonging from common conceptions of school belonging in several ways. First, they emphasize that radical belonging requires transformative change to root out the racism endemic to schooling in the United States. Second, they focus on the school community as a key unit of change, highlighting that radical belonging is a communal experience that stems from collective action. Third, they delineate three essential, interconnected aspects of radical belonging: social belonging, or an ethos of critical care; academic belonging, involving learning that is agentic, culturally and linguistically responsive, collaborative, and anti-hierarchical; and democratic belonging, which engages students, families, and educators in collaboratively developing shared understandings of, and resistance to, white supremacy and interlocking systems of oppression.

KEYWORDS:

• Antiracist education
• transformative schooling
• school belonging
• teaching and learning

Acknowledgement

The authors wish to acknowledge their partners at Eastwood Elementary School; graduate students Jalessa Bryant and Ana Mireya Diaz de la Guardia; and the Madison Education Partnership for supporting this work.

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1. We, the authors, are five faculty and one graduate student at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. All school and teacher names are pseudonyms.

2. Desmond knew Kat because they both work with preservice teachers in one of the university’s teacher preparation programs (as do all the authors). He asked for her support in addressing Eastwood’s racial climate, and she asked Carl and Leema to get involved. Two graduate students, Laura and Jalessa, joined the partnership that summer, and Mariana and Nicole joined that fall.