Matters of Life and Love: Some Preliminary Mappings of Womanist Pedagogical Futures

Abstract

This article takes as its starting point the mattering of Black women’s lives and builds upon connections between cultural representations of Black women and their social devaluation. The goal of this article is to explore the revolutionary possibilities that can emerge when social constructions of Black womanhood that affirm Black women’s agency and full humanity are centered in justice conversations instead of social constructions that emphasize the services that Black women provide. Recognizing the integral link between education and social justice, this conceptual project focuses specifically on Womanist pedagogy, the culturally-derived forms of politicized caring engaged by Black women in their social justice work, and explores ways in which social constructions of Black womanhood associated with Womanist pedagogy are connected to past and present realities as well as future possibilities for understanding the mattering of Black women’s lives.