We Can Speak for Ourselves: Parent Involvement and Ideologies of Black Mothers in Chicago (Breakthroughs in the Sociology of Education, 5)

This work is an intervention of self-representation that explores experiences of five Black mothers of the same Chicago elementary school with respect to their relationship with the author – a qualitative researcher – over a period of two years. Black feminist epistemology is the framework that directed this project, fieldwork, and interpretation of the findings. Additionally, this work employs tools of poetry, counternarratives, and critical ethnography. Billye Sankofa Waters reiterates the plaintive lament of the mothers of 1970s Boston when they said, ‘When we fight about education we’re fighting for our lives.’ This story of parents in Chicago is powerful, poignant, and oh so familiar. This is a must read!” – Gloria Ladson-Billings, Kellner Family Distinguished Chair in Urban Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison the ways that Black mothers come to know and participate in their children’s education. We Can Speak for Ourselves plumbs Black feminist epistemology and critical theory to create a new model that reimagines the critical terrain of both public and private African American female ‘motherwork.’ It is intersectionally deft in how it attends to both structural issues of inequality and intragroup negotiation of identity. This book is bold, well-researched and an important contribution to the fields of Education, Sociology, Women’s and Gender Studies and Public Policy.” – Michele T. Berger, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; author of Workable Sisterhood: The Political Journey of Stigmatized Women with HIV/AIDS and co-author of Transforming Scholarship: Why Women’s and Gender Studies Students Are Changing Themselves and the World We Can Speak for Ourselves is a necessary read for everyone, especially Black mothers, who are on the front lines of the Black Lives Matter Movement. After all, the movement at its core is about resisting the anti-Black society in which Black mothers are forced to raise their children. Sankofa Waters beautifully blends personal writings, counternarratives, and the voices of five Black mothers to create a book that gives us new language to address the issues impacting Black families and Black survival. Through this work, Sankofa Waters expertly depicts the struggles of Black mothers as organic intellectuals deconstructing, critiquing, and navigating the power structures that oppress their sons, daughters, and Black communities at large.” – Bettina L. Love, University of Georgia; Board Chair of The Kindezi School in Atlanta, Georgia; 2016 Nasir Jones Fellow at the W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute at Harvard University; and author of Hip Hop’s Li’l Sistas Speak: Negotiating Hip Hop Identities and Politics in the New South This work is an intervention of self-representation that explores experiences of five Black mothers of the same Chicago elementary school with respect to their relationship with the author ĺl a qualitative researcher ĺl over a period of two years. Black feminist epistemology is the framework that directed this project, fieldwork, and interpretation of the findings. Additionally, this work employs tools of poetry, counternarratives, and critical ethnography. Billye Sankofa Waters reiterates the plaintive lament of the mothers of 1970s Boston when they said, ĺlWhen we fight about education weĺlre fighting for our lives.ĺl This story of parents in Chicago is powerful, poignant, and oh so familiar. This is a must read!ĺl ĺl Gloria Ladson-Billings, Kellner Family Distinguished Chair in Urban Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison the ways that Black mothers come to know and participate in their childrenĺls education. We Can Speak for Ourselves plumbs Black feminist epistemology and critical theory to create a new model that reimagines the critical terrain of both public and private African American female ĺlmotherwork.ĺl It is intersectionally deft in how it attends to both structural issues of inequality and intragroup negotiation of identity. This book is bold, well-researched and an important contribution to the fields of Education, Sociology, Womenĺls and Gender Studies and Public Policy.ĺl ĺl Michele T. Berger, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; author of Workable Sisterhood: The Political Journey of Stigmatized Women with HIV/AIDS and co-author of Transforming Scholarship: Why Womenĺls and Gender Studies Students Are Changing Themselves and the World We Can Speak for Ourselves is a necessary read for everyone, especially Black mothers, who are on the front lines of the Black Lives Matter Movement. After all, the movement at its core is about resisting the anti-Black society in which Black mothers are forced to raise their children. Sankofa Waters beautifully blends personal writings, counternarratives, and the voices of five Black mothers to create a book that gives us new language to address the issues impacting Black families and Black survival. Through this work, Sankofa Waters expertly depicts the struggles of Black mothers as organic intellectuals deconstructing, critiquing, and navigating the power structures that oppress their sons, daughters, and Black communities at large.ĺl ĺl Bettina L. Love, University of Georgia; Board Chair of The Kindezi School in Atlanta, Georgia; 2016 Nasir Jones Fellow at the W.E.B. Du Bois Research Institute at Harvard University; and author of Hip Hopĺls Liĺll Sistas Speak: Negotiating Hip Hop Identities and Politics in the New South ADVANCE PRAISE FOR WE CAN SPEAK FOR OURSELVES 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS 10 FOREWORD 12 PREFACE 14 FOUNDATION FOR THIS BOOK 14 RATIONALE FOR THIS BOOK 16 AUDIENCES FOR THIS BOOK 17 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 20 ABOUT THE COVER ARTIST 23 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 24 RESEARCH PROBLEM 24 POSITIONALITY 25 SIGNIFICANCE AND AUDIENCE 26 CONTEXT 27 SSCES AND THE JOURNEY OF THIS PROJECT 28 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 31 METHODS 32 BLACK FEMINIST THEORY 32 MOTHERWORK 36 FORWARD 37 NOTES 38 CHAPTER 2: WHO SAYS WHAT ABOUT BLACK WOMEN: Review of Discourses 40 OUR FIRST STAGE: SCIENTIFIC DISCOURSE 41 GOVERNMENT DISCOURSE 42 EDUCATION DISCOURSE 43 MOTHERING DISCOURSE 46 CONTROLING IMAGES: MEDIA DISCOURSE 47 LEGAL INTERVENTIONS 48 WE SPEAK 49 NOTES 50 CHAPTER 3: METHODS 51 “I KNOW WHO YOU ARE BUT ...”: EPISTEMOLOGY 51 QUALITATIVE METHODS 55 ETHICAL RESEARCH 56 INTERVIEWS 57 CODING 58 NARRATIVES 59 POETRY 60 VALIDITY 61 RECIPROCITY 61 REFLEXIVE JOURNAL 62 GIVING VOICE 64 LIMITATIONS 64 MAYA, NIKKI, CAROLYN, JILL, SONIA 65 NOTES 65 CHAPTER 4: THE MOTHERS 66 MAYA 66 NIKKI 74 CAROLYN 81 JILL 85 SONIA 91 THE PRESENT OF PRESENCE: SUMMATION 96 NOTES 98 CHAPTER 5: COMING TOGETHER: Analysis and Interpretations 99 DEFINING MOT HER 99 PREPARING CHILDREN 101 NAVIGATING INSTITUTION 104 OTHER 105 RETURNING TO THE JOURNAL 109 NOTE 110 CHAPTER 6: OPENINGS 112 BROADER MEANINGS 112 GREATEST CONTRIBUTIONS 114 WE 115 NOTES 116 “IF I COULD WRITE THIS IN FIRE, I WOULD WRITE THIS IN FIRE”: Epilogue 118 CIVIL RIGHTS 118 2015 BATTLE LINES 119 DOCUMENTING THE STREETS AND SOCIAL MEDIA QUALITY 122 MAPS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH: IDEOLOGIES THAT CONTINUE TO IMPACT BLACK FAMILIES 125 CHALLENGE 131 NOTES 132 APPENDIX I: PARTICIPANTS: (at time of initial meeting through the course of interviews) 134 APPENDIX II: INITIAL INTERVIEW GUIDE 135 APPENDIX III: SECOND INTERVIEW GUIDE 137 APPENDIX IV: GLOSSARY OF PSEUDONYMS 139 REFERENCES 143 ABOUT THE AUTHOR 152 NAME INDEX 153 SUBJECT INDEX 157 This work is an intervention of self-representation that explores experiences of five Black mothers of the same Chicago elementary school with respect to their relationship with the author - a qualitative researcher - over a period of two years. Black feminist epistemology is the framework that directed this project, fieldwork, and interpretation of the findings. Additionally, this work employs tools of poetry, counternarratives, and critical ethnography. "This book is a multi-generation chronicle of resistance work, which challenges the dominant understandings of Black mothers in American society. We Can Speak for Ourselves is rooted in the everyday lives of Black mothers and contributions to their communities that include children, partners, cousins, stepparents, godparents, Big Mama, neighbors, and teachers. This book asserts their narratives as empirical data and is critical in nature because it is a call to action." Foreword excerpt by Dr. Kristal Moore Clemons This Work Is An Intervention Of Self-representation That Explores Experiences Of Five Black Mothers Of The Same Chicago Elementary School With Respect To Their Relationships With The Author-- A Qualitative Researcher-- Over A Period Of Two Years. Black Feminist Epistemology Is The Framework That Directed This Project, Fieldwork, And Interpretation Of The Findings--back Cover. Billye Sankofa Waters. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 125-133) And Indexes. Front Matter....Pages i-xxii Introduction....Pages 1-16 Who Says What About Black Women....Pages 17-27 Methods....Pages 29-43 The Mothers....Pages 45-77 Coming Together....Pages 79-91 Openings....Pages 93-98 “If I Could Write This in Fire, I Would Write This in Fire”....Pages 99-114 Back Matter....Pages 115-145