The American Promise and the Curriculum of Crazy
Abstract
In James McBride’s recently published novel The Good Lord Bird, there is a scene in which a woman Libby, who was enslaved and held behind her owner’s house in a pen filled with dozens of other “dark-skinned, pure Negroes,” tells her sister protectively, to “sit by me, Sibonia.” A community leader, Sibona dons what I call in this project a “crazy costume” in her first interaction with Onion, our pre-adolescent, mixed-race protagonist. McBride introduces Sibonia fully clad in the costume; through Onion’s eyes we see “a wild woman cackling and babbling like a chicken. She sounded like her mind was a little soft, babbling like she was, but I couldn’t make out no words” (p. 160). In an attempt to explore my own battle with mental illness, I have come to realize that I am not alone. Drawing on W.E.B. DuBois’ concept of psychic disequilibrium and Franz Fanon’s articulations of metal illness among colonized populations, I have been able to understand my struggles within a larger social context. Pushing back against White patriarchal “research methods,” I use collage to help me illustrate the ways in which I see multiple layers of most stories. Collage is helping me organize and articulate my thoughts.
Presentation Description
This paper explores the crazy-making entities that characterize schooling in the United States against the backdrop of The American Promise. Using collage as methodology, I explore my own descent into mental illness in my attempt to resist the US apartheid schooling structures. I also discuss possible routes to self-liberation.
Keywords
curriculum, arts-based methodology, mental illness, decolonization, craziness
Location
Magnolia Room B
Publication Type and Release Option
Presentation (Open Access)
Recommended Citation
Ford, Jillian, "The American Promise and the Curriculum of Crazy" (2015). Curriculum Studies Summer Collaborative. 20.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/cssc/2015/2015/20
The American Promise and the Curriculum of Crazy
Magnolia Room B
In James McBride’s recently published novel The Good Lord Bird, there is a scene in which a woman Libby, who was enslaved and held behind her owner’s house in a pen filled with dozens of other “dark-skinned, pure Negroes,” tells her sister protectively, to “sit by me, Sibonia.” A community leader, Sibona dons what I call in this project a “crazy costume” in her first interaction with Onion, our pre-adolescent, mixed-race protagonist. McBride introduces Sibonia fully clad in the costume; through Onion’s eyes we see “a wild woman cackling and babbling like a chicken. She sounded like her mind was a little soft, babbling like she was, but I couldn’t make out no words” (p. 160). In an attempt to explore my own battle with mental illness, I have come to realize that I am not alone. Drawing on W.E.B. DuBois’ concept of psychic disequilibrium and Franz Fanon’s articulations of metal illness among colonized populations, I have been able to understand my struggles within a larger social context. Pushing back against White patriarchal “research methods,” I use collage to help me illustrate the ways in which I see multiple layers of most stories. Collage is helping me organize and articulate my thoughts.
