Access Type
Open Access Dissertation
Date of Award
January 2024
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Department
Curriculum and Instruction
First Advisor
Sandra M. Gonzales
Abstract
This qualitative study uses the first person, “I” to explore the Black Storytelling Tradition as method and methodology. As a Black scholar I centered my grandfather’s empirical knowledge of haints (a metaphor for demoralizing, oppressive, colonizing, and assimilating societal and educational practices upheld by the dominant class) and my empirical teacher knowledge as an American Descendant of Slavery (ADOS) as the site of inquiry. In utilizing the Black Storytelling Tradition, I share interconnected stories, poems, dreams, “memorys”, “rememorys”, stream of consciousness, and sketches that demonstrate how haints shaped the navigation of my heritage language (African American Language, AAL) and my Black cultural identity. Subsequently, I used a Theatre of the Oppressed (TOTO) theoretical framework (Boal, 1979/1984) to process my inner dialogue as a resistance movement to expel haints and reclaim/recover my linguistic and cultural identity. The findings revealed how ancestral knowledge and stories can inform Black teacher thought yielding an introspective process that guides how we survive and perform in white educational spaces. These tools of liberation include Black Storytelling Tradition, Black teachers’ reflective practice, and Theatre of the Oppressed. The findings further suggest that these tools can be effective for Black teachers to release racial trauma, and work in solidarity to dispel haints. I conclude with a series of letters to my fellow Black teachers which outline the full implications of this work.
Recommended Citation
Westbrooks, Lisa Marie, "Recovering And Reclaiming Linguistic And Cultural Identities: Revealing Skoo Haints Through The Black Storytelling Tradition" (2024). Wayne State University Dissertations. 3983.
https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_dissertations/3983
