“Until Justice Rolls Down Like Water” Revisiting Emancipatory Schooling for African Americans – a Theoretical Exploration of Concepts for Liberation Citation El-Amin, Aaliyah. 2015. “Until Justice Rolls Down Like Water” Revisiting Emancipatory Schooling for African Americans – a Theoretical Exploration of Concepts for Liberation. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard Graduate School of Education. Permanent link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:16461053 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of-use#LAA Share Your Story The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Submit a story . Accessibility “Until Justice Rolls Down Like Water” Revisiting Emancipatory Schooling for African Americans – A Theoretical Exploration of Concepts for Liberation Aaliyah El-Amin Meira Levinson – Chair Rick Weissbourd Daren Graves A Thesis (or Analytic Paper) Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Education of Harvard University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education 2015 ! ii! ! © 2015% Aaliyah%El-Amin% All%Rights%Reserved ! iii! ! Dedication To Maureen, Who lives on, in my commitment to give to others, as much as she did. To the 24 young people who I had the privilege to meet, be challenged by and love as a first year teacher. Your beauty complicated by our racist world is the reason I do this work. Your courage to strive anyway is the reason I will make sure it is heard. ! iv! ! Acknowledgements My parents taught me from an early age that African Americans have to demand to be heard in the United States. To this day, I am not sure if that was deliberate or if it just happened as a result of the way they naturally lead their lives. I just know that I became obsessed with racial justice because my parents were intent on racial justice. This dissertation and many of the convictions within it, begin with them. My doctorate work specifically, was made possible by my advisor, Meira Levinson. She overturned traditional advising relationships and offered me friendship as soon as I arrived at Harvard. I understand now how rare a gift that is in the academy. The ability to speak freely, suffer openly and struggle constantly helped me find myself. I do not think I would have finished without her interest in me personally, her deep intellectual insights, her consideration of my professional opportunities and her example of how to passionately bridge practice and scholarship. I also want to thank my other dissertation committee members, Rick Weissbourd, a great friend and personal mentor and Daren Graves who introduced me to the language drawn on in this work. There have been many others who provided insight and support along the way: Scott Seider, Amy Black, Irene Leifshitz, Chris Buttimer, Karin Liiv, Mara Teiken, Godfrey Plata, Terry Costello, Emma Doggett, Melinda Spooner and Benin Ford. A special thanks to Amy for sharing her house with me when I needed it, pushing me to speak my truth and challenging me to consider diverse ideas. I am also deeply grateful for Karin Liiv who is my sister, my friend and my writing group. Thank you for cuddles on the Cape, semicolon lessons, good food and most importantly loving care. I must also acknowledge and thank my siblings who all had the unfortunate responsibility of reading various sections of this work and listening to my occasional rants about racial equality. Thank you Saleem El-Amin, Nadirah El-Amin and Na’imah El-Amin for your time, faith and interest. A special thanks also to my Kirkland crew: Allison Goff, Caitlin Henningsen, Scott Poulson-Bryant and Pamela Park; new friends who cheered me on in the final stretch. And the sincerest and deepest thank you to CWM Lang, without whom this dissertation would literally not have been written. When I came to Harvard, I had pieces of a vision and the hearts of kids, but I was missing so many other things – and almost all of those things I found in his friendship. I did not know that by sitting next to the strange ! v! ! white man with a straw hat during Orientation, I was unearthing a great gift from the universe. For seven years, I went to him with incomprehensible babble and he managed to help me turn it into strategic and defensible ideas. For seven years, he read the same stories, fixed the same comma splices, re-wrote passive voice and adjusted margins. For seven years, he picked up late night panicked calls, tolerated early morning freak-outs (sort of) and afternoon whining sessions on his office couch. Overall, for seven years, he worked to ensure I was strong enough to find my voice. And I did. Thank you CL for staying the course. I know it wasn’t easy. Finally and most importantly, thank you to all the beautiful brown kids of Paul Laurence Dunbar Elementary School whose voices line this dissertation and whose potential and possibility carried me through my doctoral career. ! ! vi! ! Table of Contents Dedication iii Acknowledgements iv Abstract viii I. Introduction 1 Introduction 1 Why Just African Americans 4 Theorizing an Education Intervention – Moving from Navigation 6 Interventions to Transformation Efforts Existing Educational Theories that Embrace Transformation 9 Critical Theory 9 Critical Race Theory 10 Critical Pedagogy 10 Emancipatory Education as a Whole School Model 12 Deconstructing Afrocentric Schools as Emancipatory 15 Leveraging Existing Concepts for (Re)Newed Innovation 18 Method & Argument 23 Dissertation Significance 26 II. Racial Identity 28 Introduction 28 Understanding Racial Identity 32 How does Racial Identity Impact African Americans? 35 Racial Identity as One Tool – Necessary but not Sufficient 43 III. Critical Consciousness 49 Critical Consciousness Defined 50 The Impact of Critical Consciousness – Clarifying how Critical Consciousness 54 Works Addressing Concerns about “Harmful Impacts” of Critical Consciousness 58 Critical Consciousness as a Part of the Whole 63 Is Critical Consciousness Enough for Transformation? 65 Conclusion 67 IV. Collective Obligation 70 Defining Collective Obligation 74 Unpacking Collective Obligation as a Concept in Political Science 76 Clarifying how Collective Obligation “Works” 80 The Impact of Collective Obligation on African Americans 81 Situating Collective Obligation in the Broader Framework 83 A Necessary Inclusion V. Liberation Centered Achievement Ideology 89 Introduction 89 What is an Academic Identity? 93 A. An Embedded Achievement Philosophy 96 Complicating Factors for African Americans in building a Positive Academic 97 Self-Concept The Need for a Contextualized and Deliberate Academic Self- Concept 100 For African Americans What is an Embedded Achievement Philosophy? 101 ! vii! ! The Impact of an Embedded Achievement Philosophy in a Racist Society 103 Moderating Existing Messages – An Internal Source of Resistance 104 An Embedded Achievement Philosophy as Motivation to Achieve 105 How is an Embedded Achievement Philosophy Related to Other Pillars in 108 this Framework? Necessary Yet Insufficient 109 B. An Achievement For Freedom Philosophy 110 Examining Our Current Value Proposition for Achievement for African 111 Americans An Alternative Narrative – Defining An Achievement For Freedom 115 Philosophy Replacing Myth with Truth – From Navigation to Transformation 117 Truth One – Racism matters for African American Achievement 118 Truth Two – Achievement doesn’t necessarily change African 121 Americans lives The Reproduction of “Hokey Hope” 123 Truth Three – Academic Achievement does not on its own change 125 society Why we need an Achievement For Freedom Philosophy for 127 Transformation – The Value of Truth Telling A Pedagogical Point – Building a Context of Achievement & Collective 129 Struggle VI. Activism Skills 133 Introduction 133 What Activism Skills should be taught in an Emancipatory Whole School 137 Model? Defining Categories for Activist Skills Development 140 A Review of the Three Domains of Skill Development for Racial Liberation 140 Activism Strategies & Techniques 140 Technical Activism Skills 142 Socio-Emotional Capacities for Activism 143 How is Activism Skills connected to other Pillars? 144 Conclusion 148 VII. Synthesis and Discussion 149 Schools as a Platform for Change – Is it Feasible? 149 The Unique Value of a Whole-School Model 153 Pillars as Interwoven and Value 154 Critical Considerations 157 Concluding Thoughts 159 Appendices 163 Appendix A: Racial Identity Dimensions 163 Appendix B: Interconnections Between the Pillars 164 Appendix C: Overview of the First Four Pillars 165 Appendix D: Activism Skills Overview 166 ! viii! ! Abstract African Americans have a long history in the United States of being asked to live within, and flourish in spite of, a racist society. Throughout this history, African Americans built education institutions – often referred to as emancipatory schools – with the primary goals of (1) “freeing” African Americans psychologically and (2) equipping African Americans with tools to fight for their economic, political and social freedom. As racism persists, disseminating these tools to African Americans remains necessary today. Yet, there is currently no emancipatory, comprehensive school model for African Americans outside of the limited offerings of Afrocentric schooling. In fact, recent educational interventions we have chosen to focus on diligently prepare African Americans to succeed in spite of their racially unjust world. This dissertation builds on historical efforts and offers a theoretical model for African American education that re-prioritizes cultivating the skill and will for enacting social change (transformation) in addition to the capacity to thrive within existing constraints (navigation). Revisiting emancipatory schools as a viable pathway for educating might shift this landscape and prepare more African Americans to forge radical change. Drawing on cross-disciplinary scholarship, including psychology, sociology, political science and education, this dissertation suggests that five pillars must serve as the cornerstone of new emancipatory practice. These pillars are: a) a sound racial identity, b) critical consciousness, c) collective obligation, d) a liberation centered academic achievement identity and e) activism skills. Many of these pillars are staples of critical education but they are not always fully explained as a set of liberation tools and traditionally do not serve as the cornerstone of whole-school comprehensive practice. Using both theoretical and empirical literature, this work describes each of the asserted pillars, outlines their demonstrated impact on the lives of African Americans and ! ix! ! explains how all five pillars are interconnected and should be cultivated together in a whole- school setting to achieve the intended outcome of preparing African Americans to fight for their racial liberation.