“As conservatives ban the teaching of Black history and critical under–standings of race across the country, Black teachers are turning again to fugitive pedagogies, or subversive ways of teaching, to counter anti-blackness and imagine the world anew. This study drew on data from interviews, classroom observations, and student focus groups to demonstrate how a Black teacher fugitive professional learning space helped to motivate and inform the pedagogies of a Black secondary school teacher. Using the theoretical framing of BlackCrit and the concept of fugitivity, I share how one teacher reflected on and made sense of how his participation in this professional learning space impacted his pedagogical practice. The research provides insight into how Black teachers learn to use fugitive pedagogies to create Black-affirming collective learning spaces for their students.”
In her recent article, Cycles of Fugitivity: How Black Teacher Fugitive Space Shapes Black Teacher Pedagogies, African American Studies Department fellow Jessica Lee Stovall writes: “Fugitive teaching becomes necessary in anti-Black climates, particularly when there is surveil–lance and control over the curriculum. As states across the United States attack Black Studies, it is becoming increasingly necessary for Black teachers, and any teacher who wishes to push against the anti-blackness embedded in schools, to teach fugitively.” Stovall both theorizes how educators may utilize fugitive teaching in the classroom but also warns that there is danger “in considering fugitivity as a normative project”.
Read Jessica Lee Stovall’s entire piece here.
Equity & Excellence in Education, published on behalf of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, publishes research articles and scholarly essays that address issues of equity and social justice in education.
