MS. JANELLE BRADY

Othermothering, community-parenting and change: Black mothering approaches to racial injustice in education

​

This paper explores Black mothering approaches to racial injustices in the Kindergarten to Grade 12 (K-12) education system through an examination of multicultural education in the Canadian context. The paper is anchored in Black feminism and describes the role of Black mothers/othermothers (Rodriguez, 2016) in community parenting. The theoretical framework re-introduces the concept of intersectionality, though now often used to merely describe multiple impression sites, it instead highlights Black women raced and gendered realities which are interconnected (Crenshaw, 1991). Often studies which describe race and education describe the “push out” (Dei et al, 1997) of Black students from the education system through systemic racism leading to: over-discipline of Black students, leading to higher rates of suspension and expulsion resulting ultimately to the school-to-prison pipeline, lower expectations of Black students, a lack of reflection of Black identity and history in the curriculum (Dei, 2017; James & Turner, 2017; Villegas & Brady, 2019), and other forms of anti-Black racism. A central question is how does the current climate of racial justice implicate the racial socialization of students in the K-12 education system in the Canadian landscape? Further, what are the impacts of multicultural education, reconciliation, and other equity policies on Black students and their families in a Post-Floyd era? The paper addresses the possibilities and limitations of multicultural education through the praxis and resistance of Black mothers who work to realize racial justice for Black students, their families, and communities.

​

Janelle Brady (she/her) is a doctoral candidate at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto in the department of Social Justice Education. Her community-based research explores Black mothers, intersectionality, Black feminism, decolonial and anti-racist education. She is also a post-secondary lecturer in the Greater Toronto Area, and enjoys taking long walks through trails and parks.

 

Full bio found here (home page of website):

Janellebrady.ca