Womanish Ways: Monologues at the Intersections of Race, Gender and Curriculum Studies

Abstract

From the slave woman quoted in Gerda Lerner’s Black Women in White America to the likes of Anna Julia Cooper, Ella Baker, Barbara Christian, bell hooks, Alice Walker, Katie Cannon, Cynthia Dillard, and Patricia Hill Collins among many others, Black women’s theorizing has contributed in significant ways to struggles over power, knowledge and difference. And although their voices are sometimes whispered into curricular conversations, the depth and breadth of Black women’s contributions has yet to be represented as a significant and collective body of work in the field of Curriculum Studies. In an effort to address this absence and to incite a serious conversation along these lines, we propose a performative presentation of Womanish Ways: Monologues at the Intersections of Race, Gender and Curriculum Theorizing as a long overdue intervention on the “complicated conversation” (Pinar et al ) that is Curriculum Studies. The performance includes 7 monologues written and performed by 7 Black feminist/womanist scholars in the field of curriculum studies. The monologues represent a collection of stories, memories, meditations, confrontations sometimes tossed with a little imagination that bring to the fore each performer’s relationship with a classic Black feminist/womanist text or idea and how it has been a critical inspiration for the work she does a curriculum scholar.

Presentation Description

The performance includes 7 monologues written and performed by 7 Black feminist/womanist scholars in the field of curriculum studies. The monologues represent a collection of stories, memories, meditations, confrontations sometimes tossed with a little imagination that bring to the fore each performer’s relationship with a classic Black feminist/womanist text or idea and how it has been a critical inspiration for the work she does a curriculum scholar.

Keywords

Black feminist theory, Womanism, Curriculum theory

Location

Five Oaks Dining Room

Publication Type and Release Option

Presentation (Open Access)

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Jun 9th, 12:30 PM Jun 9th, 2:00 PM

Womanish Ways: Monologues at the Intersections of Race, Gender and Curriculum Studies

Five Oaks Dining Room

From the slave woman quoted in Gerda Lerner’s Black Women in White America to the likes of Anna Julia Cooper, Ella Baker, Barbara Christian, bell hooks, Alice Walker, Katie Cannon, Cynthia Dillard, and Patricia Hill Collins among many others, Black women’s theorizing has contributed in significant ways to struggles over power, knowledge and difference. And although their voices are sometimes whispered into curricular conversations, the depth and breadth of Black women’s contributions has yet to be represented as a significant and collective body of work in the field of Curriculum Studies. In an effort to address this absence and to incite a serious conversation along these lines, we propose a performative presentation of Womanish Ways: Monologues at the Intersections of Race, Gender and Curriculum Theorizing as a long overdue intervention on the “complicated conversation” (Pinar et al ) that is Curriculum Studies. The performance includes 7 monologues written and performed by 7 Black feminist/womanist scholars in the field of curriculum studies. The monologues represent a collection of stories, memories, meditations, confrontations sometimes tossed with a little imagination that bring to the fore each performer’s relationship with a classic Black feminist/womanist text or idea and how it has been a critical inspiration for the work she does a curriculum scholar.