ERIC Number: EJ723554
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2005
Pages: 10
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0022-4871
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Womanist Lessons for Reinventing Teaching
Beauboeuf-Lafontant, Tamara
Journal of Teacher Education, v56 n5 p436-445 2005
Although teaching is regarded as "women's work," few calls for change in the multicultural and social justice literature focus attention on the teaching self as a socially constructed gendered identity. Given Black women's prominence in this literature as successful educators of students underserved in contemporary schools, the author suggests connections between their pedagogy and an empowered female self that transgresses many historical and contemporary mainstream feminine beliefs and ways of being. Drawing on the work of womanist scholars explicating Black women's epistemological standpoint, the author analyzes data from a life history interview study with six Black teachers committed to social justice. Findings suggest three womanist stances shaping the teachers' acknowledgment of social ills, resistance to complicity within educational systems, and belief in the possibility of social change. The author concludes the article by raising gender-related questions to guide the reinvention and unlearning called for by the educational social justice literature.
Descriptors: Justice, Social Change, Teaching (Occupation), Females, Educational Practices, Teacher Empowerment, African American Teachers, Gender Issues, Feminism, Personal Narratives
SAGE Publications, 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243 (Toll Free); Fax: 800-583-2665 (Toll Free).
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A