Critical Race, Feminism, and Education: A Social Justice Model

211 Pages·2010·21.79 MB·English

by  Menah A. E. Pratt-Clarke (auth.)

Critical Race, Feminism, and Education
Palgrave Macmillan's
Postcolonial Studies in Education
Studies utilising the perspectives of postcolonial theory have become established and
increasingly widespread in the last few decades. This series embraces and broadly
employs the postcolonial approach. As a site of struggle, education has constituted a
key vehicle for the 'colonization of the mind'. The 'post' in postcolonialism is both
temporal, in the sense of emphasizing the processes of decolonization, and analytical
in the sense of probing and contesting the aftermath of colonialism and the imperial
ism which succeeded it, utilising materialist and discourse analysis. Postcolonial
theory is particularly apt for exploring the implications of educational colonialism,
decolonization, experimentation, revisioning, contradiction and ambiguity not only
for the former colonies, but also for the former colonial powers. This series views
education as an important vehicle for both the inculcation and unlearning of colonial
ideologies. It complements the diversity that exists in postcolonial studies of political
economy, literature, sociology and the interdisciplinary domain of cultural studies.
Education is here being viewed in its broadest contexts, and is not confined to institu
tionalized learning. The aim of this series is to identify and help establish new areas
of educational inquiry in postcolonial studies.
Series Editors:
Peter Mayo is Professor and Head of the Department of Education Studies at the
University of Malta where he teaches in the areas of Sociology of Education and Adult
Continuing Education, as well as in Comparative and International Education and
Sociology more generally.
Anne Hickling-Hudson is Associate Professor of Education at Australia's Queensland
University of Technology (QUT) where she specializes in cross-cultural and interna
tional education.
Antonia Darder is a Distinguished Professor of Educational Policy Studies and
Latina/a Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Editorial Advisory Board
Carmel Borg (University of Malta)
John Baldacchino (Teachers College, Columbia University)
Jennifer Chan (University of British Columbia)
Christine Fox (University of Wollongong, Australia)
Zelia Gregoriou (University of Cyprus)
Leon Tikly (University of Bristol, UK)
Birgit Brock-Utne (Emeritus, University of Oslo, Norway)
Titles:
A New Social Contract in a Latin American Education Context
Danilo R. Streck; Foreword by Vitor Westhelle
Education and Gendered Citizenship in Pakistan
M. Ayaz Naseem
Critical Race, Feminism, and Education: A Social Justice Model
Menah A.E. Pratt-Clarke
Critical Race, Feminism, and Education
A Social Justice Model
By Menah A.£. Pratt-Clarke
palgrave
macmillan
CRITICAL RACE, FEMINISM, AND EDUCATION
Copyright © Menah A.E. Pratt-Clarke, 2010.
All rights reserved.
First published in 2010 by
PAlGRAVE MACMillAN<~>
in the United States-a division of St. Martin's Press llC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave<~> and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-29227-1 ISBN 978-0-230-11537-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230115378
library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Pratt-Clarke, Menah A.E.
Critical race, feminism, and education : a social justice model/ by
Menah A.E. Pratt-Clarke.
p. cm.-(Postcolonial studies in education)
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Critical pedagogy-United States. 2. Education-Social
aspects-United States. 3. Social justice-United States. 4. Feminism
and education-United States. 5. Racism in education-United States.
6. African American students-Education. 7. African American
boys-Michigan-Detroit-Social conditions. 8. African American
girls-Michigan-Detroit-Social conditions. 9. Single-sex
schools-Michigan-Detroit. 10. Educational equalization
Michigan-Detroit. I. Pratt-Clarke, Menah A.E. II. Title.
lC196.5.U6P73 2010
370.11'5-dc22 2010018509
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British library.
Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) ltd., Chennai, India.
First edition: December 2010
D 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3
Transferred to Digital Printing 2013
Contents
List of Figures VII
Acknowledgments IX
Introduction: A Black Girl's Story 1
1.1 Overview 11
Part I Social Justice in Theory: Framework
and Foundation
1 Transdisciplinarity 17
1.1 Academic Disciplines 19
1.2 A Social Justice Model 27
1.3 A Case Study 41
Part II Social Justice in Action: Analysis
and Application
2 The Problem Defined 53
2.1 The Urban Male 54
2.2 Education Civil Rights Law 63
2.3 Patriarchy and Black Masculinity 72
3 The Cause Attributed 81
3.1 Females 82
3.2 Matriarchy and Feminism 89
3.3 Racism and Class Privilege 101
4 The Solution Proposed 107
4.1 The Settlement Agreement 108
4.2 "For Black Boys Only" 110
4.3 Black Nationalism 115
Contents
VI
5 The Outcome Achieved 121
5.1 The Academies 121
5.2 Single-Sex Schools 132
5.3 Remembering Our Black Girls 155
Appendix A: List of Major Social Actors in Garrett 165
Bibliography 167
Index 191
Figures
1 Transdisciplinary Applied Social Justice Model 39
2 Detroit Male Academy Collective Action Frame 131
Acknowledgments
I am indebted to the Spencer Foundation for its support of my work
through a $15,000 Dissertation Grant and to Vanderbilt University for
its financial assistance through the Dorothy Danforth Compton
Fellowship. I gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the Detroit
School System; the Detroit law firm of Lewis, White & Clay; the
American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan; the National Organization
of Women Legal Defense Fund; Detroit Free Press library staff and
reporters; and the University of Illinois College of Law and Law Library
staff.
Introduction
A Black Girl's Story
I am writing because what I wanted to read was not written. I wanted
to read about how to simultaneously work in different academic dis
ciplines and blend the strengths from each discipline to produce a
revolutionary and transformative approach to understanding society.
I wanted to read about the intersection of academic disciplines and
their role in helping to explain the relationship among the interwo
ven identities of race, class, and gender and the interlocking social
institutions of the education system, the legal system, and the media.
I wanted to read about how to help transform institutions that per
petuated oppression and injustice. I decided to write because one day
I realized I could write what was not yet written. Like Toni Morrison,
"I wanted to read that book that I wrote, and couldn't find it any
where" (quoted in Paul, 2003, p. 25).
There is another reason that I am writing. I am writing this book
because I am a Black woman and I have five degrees: a Bachelor's
degree, two Master's degrees, a law degree, and a doctorate. I have
quietly carried these degrees around trying to find the appropriate
use for the responsibility they entail. For almost fifteen years, I have
not been able to fully actualize the potential associated with these
degrees. Until now, they were unfulfilled potential. But now, I am
writing because I must honor the sacrifices of my family, of other
African-Americans, and especially of Black women.
My father was born in Freetown, Sierra Leone, in West Africa and
became the first citizen of his country to obtain a Ph.D. in nuclear
physics. His education quest was pursued on three continents: Africa,
Europe, and America. Education was a way for him to move beyond the
confines of colonialism. His desire was to improve his country, which
was founded as a sanctuary for former enslaved African-Americans.