“I Worry about My Community”: African American Women Utilizing Communal Notions of Citizenship in the Social Studies Classroom

Authors

  • Amanda Elizabeth Vickery Arizona State University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18251/ijme.v18i1.1061

Keywords:

cultural citizenship, Black feminism, ethic of caring, African American teachers, cultural community

Abstract

This qualitative multiple case study utilizes a Black feminist ethic of caring (Collins, 2009; Thompson, 1998) to explore how three African American women social studies teachers draw on their personal and community knowledge to conceptualize and teach the construct of citizenship to their students of color. Instead of conveying traditional notions of citizenship that value blind patriotism to the nation-state and individualism, they instead chose to teach citizenship as relational and centered on uplifting their cultural community. This study hopes to shed light on how critical notions of citizenship may be presented and utilized in classrooms.

Author Biography

Amanda Elizabeth Vickery, Arizona State University

Amanda E. Vickery is an Assistant Professor of Elementary Social Studies Education at the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State Univeristy and a former middle school social studies teacher. Her research work in the social studies includes how African American women social studies teachers draw on their multiple identities to conceptualize and teach citizenship to diverse student populations. Additionally, her work utilizes a Black Feminist framework to explore the silences of African American women in the social studies curriculum, in particular during the struggle for civil rights, and how teachers can integrate these extraordinary narratives into the curriculum

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Published

2016-02-29

How to Cite

Vickery, A. E. (2016). “I Worry about My Community”: African American Women Utilizing Communal Notions of Citizenship in the Social Studies Classroom. International Journal of Multicultural Education, 18(1), 28–44. https://doi.org/10.18251/ijme.v18i1.1061

Issue

Section

2016 Special Issue Articles (Peer-reviewed)