On "Mothering: A possible Black feminist link to social transformation?" by Stanlie M. James in "Theorizing Black Feminisms"

Daisy Bates

Summary:

Many lessons are not taught inside school walls while students sit militaristically in lines of desks. Instead, some of the most important lessons that we learn take place in our homes, on porches, at kitchen tables, or in the basement of churches. These lessons move beyond the square root of 100 or the process of photosynthesis of plant-life. Instead, women like Daisy Bates and Ella Baker, both women who were part of the American Civil Rights Movement toward racial justice, held meeting spaces in their homes for children to discuss "the day's events, develop coping strategies, do their homework, and eat a snack" (James, 1993, p. 48). These spaces became spaces where empowerment and political activism took place.

In her essay, James (1993) explores the role of mothering and othermothing in African and African American families and communities. James as well as other authors share that mothering and othermothering is needed to nurture the community and future community members. James focuses more so on the role of other mothers than on actual biological mothers, and defines othermothers, which originates in West Africa and continues through slavery, as "those who assist blood mothers in the responsibilities of child care for short- to long-term periods, in informal or formal arrangements" (p. 45).

According to James (1993), othermothering plays a large role in African American communities today. However, it seems that it is not as common as it was previously as American society becomes less close knit and as African Americans become more indivisualistic and less community centered because of Western cultures heightened focus on modernistic approaches to living.

.Despite the obvious benefits of othermothering in various communities; the woman's ability to "provide analyses and/or critiques of conditions or situations that may affect the well-being of her community" as well as the "catalyst in the development and implementation of strategies" to eliminate or minimize harm in the Black community, Stanley (1993) identifies challenges faced by women who serve as othermothers within their very own communities (p. 50). These challenges, a lack of recognition and a linear and patriarchal notion of power, often attempt to minimize the role of women in African American communities, but the work of Stanley demonstrates that othermothers were powerful in their own right.

Ella Baker

Reflection:

James' work is central to my research on the intergenerational learning that takes place in hip-hop communities in Detroit because the relationships that I have chosen to examine are those had by adults in the movement and their younger female mentees. Some of the questions that seem relevant are as follows: How do mentors of female youth activists act as other mothers; are they nurtures? How do these adult women empower and teach younger women who are part of Detroit's hip-hop community? Where did these adult women learn to take on this nurturing role? Are there any tensions within the community and among the women (young and old) surrounding this role?

On "Intergenerational Learning and Social Capital" by Sandra Kerka

Summary:

Kerka's (2003) presents an overview of the direction that research on intergenerational learning is headed. Unlike before, Kerka suggests that more formal intergenerational programs have developed whose main purpose as opposed to informal/organic intergenerational networks. Kerka explores the relationship between social capital and intergenerational relationships by seeking to answer the question: how doe intergenerational programs contribute to learning and the development of social capital. Kerka stresses that social capital is important because it requires the transmission of social and cultural norms as well the ability to develop relationships with those throughout society (2003). Social capital becomes even more significant in a world that minimizes the importance of the "mutual acceptance of obligations, exchange of ideas and information, and action for the common good" (Kerka, 2003, p. 3). Therefore, intergenerational knowledge relationships are central to developing and maintaining social capital.

Kerka (2003) briefly explains the three types of intergenerational learning. These types are as follows: programs that require that children and older youth serve those older than them, programs that require that adults serve and teach children and older youth, and programs that are based on a collaborative relationship between children, older youth, and older adults (2003). Kerka points out that these programs are usually based on a relationship between two generations, and when multiple generations were included it became difficult to work together at first due to mistrust and dissatisfaction (2003). Kerka provides actual examples of the three main types of intergenerational programs, and from these examples is able to establish the four characteristics of effective intergenerational programs. Specifically, effective programs should be "intentional, reciprocal, sustained, and asset or strength-based;" should "provide training for young and old to prepare them for participation;" "involve the targeted age groups in the planning;" and finally, should "use the strengths of one generation to meet the needs of the other" (p. 6).

Reflection:

The work of Kerka (2003) provides an overview that will be useful when researching formal and informal intergenerational learning spaces. However, it is important to point out that what Kerka, and other researchers, deem as effective intergenerational programs can be modified. For example, in many of the informal networks I am part of, the learning that takes place is often organic, and not necessarily intentional. Likewise, the strengths of all generations should be employed to meet the needs of the collective. Besides this, Kerka's work is useful for creating general guidelines in identifying intergenerational networks in Detroit's hip-hop community.

Kerka, S. (2003). Intergenerational learning and social capital. ERIC Digest, Retrieved from www.eric.ed.gov

On "talking back" in "Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black" by bell hooks

Summary/Reflection:

As a child, I often remained silent because I was always taught that children were only supposed to speak when spoken to. There were no women or men around me who encouraged me to speak. It was not until my father started to tell me stories of my mother's sharp tongue and defiant attitude that I started to "talk back" as a response to comments made to me that I did not agree with. Then, while completing a graduate program in English Literature, I was introduced to the work of bell hooks who often spoke about coming to voice and "talking back."  I immediately felt a connection. hooks (1989) speaks about growing up in spaces where black women "spoke a language so rich, so poetic, that it felt to [her] like being shut off from life, smothered to death if one were not allowed to participate" (p.5). The connection that I felt came when I realized that my grandmother (my father's mother), like my mother, actually spoke in this way. Her stories of childhood were mesmerizing, but her stories of survival in the southern United States were even more significant.

Learning to defy patriarchal and racialized silence is the subject of hooks' (1989) "talking back;" a practice she learned from the other women in her family although speaking up was often seen as problematic for young girls. hooks took pride in following in the foot steps of her name sake and grandmother, bell hooks, because she was a "woman who spoke her mind, a woman who was not afraid to talk back," and a woman who hooks would come to cherish because of her "legacy of defiance, or will, of courage" (p. 7).

This essay is central to my research on the relationship between intergenerational learning and female youth activism in Detroit's hip-hop movement because part of learning is coming to voice; learning to speak when others would rather you be silent. Part of learning about activism from our ancestors is learning about their journey to political consciousness, and as many feminists would iterate, the personal is political. Therefore, what we consider to be a political act often begins at home as that which is personal.

hooks, b. (1989). Talking back: Talking feminist, talking black. Cambridge, MA: South End Press.

©Nicole Carter

  

On "In Search of Our Mother's Gardens" by Alice Walker

Summary:

What is more important than simply chronicling intergenerational or multigenerational learning is the actual learning that takes place between women and their female children. Alice Walker (1983) speaks of both the conscious and unconscious sharing of creative knowledge throughout the African American female's history in the United States. Walker insists that all of our mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers were artists whose overwhelming maltreatment by those who sought power over her fed her creative drive.

And so our mothers and grandmothers have, more often than not anonymously, handed on the creative spark, the seed of the flower they themselves never hoped to see: or like a sealed letter they could not plainly read...She has handed down respect for the possibilities-and the will to grasp them. (Walker, 1983, p. 408)

By looking at the past and present lives of the women who came before us, Walker suggests that we can blossom into creative beings as well. This can be applied to the ability to share knowledge about survival, resistance, and liberation through artistic expression.

Walker ends her essay by demonstrating her own creative genius when she shares:

They were women then
My mama's generation...
How they battered down
Doors
And ironed
Starched white
Shirts
How they led
Armies...
To discover books
Desks
A place for us
How they knew what we
Must know
Without knowing a page
Of it
Themselves. (Walker, 1983, p. 709)

 

This art was/is activism because it was driven by dreams of multigenerational survival and liberation.  

These women, our foremothers, worked tirelessly ironing and starching white shirts and cooking food while simultaneously learning and sharing knowledge to carry on for generations.

 

 

Reflection:

 

Alice Walker's (1983) "In Search for Our Mother's Gardens" provides an opportunity to reflect on the relationship between the creative, knowledge production and dissemination, and activism. In what ways were our foremothers resisting through artistic expression and teaching by leaving a record of that expression? The research that I am planning to do on the relationship between intergenerational learning and female activism in Detroit's hip-hop communities speaks to this very subject. How much of the teaching/learning that is necessary for survival and liberation actually take place in academic spaces? And, how much is  disseminated through the five elements of hip-hop (emceeing, dancing, visual artistry, deejaying, or self actualization)? These are two questions that I hope will guide my research.

 

 

Citation:

Walker, A. (1983). In search of our mother's gardens. Orlando, Florida: Harcourt Books.

©Nicole Carter

On "The Dimensions of Black Women's Learning in the Environmental Justice Movement in the Southeastern U.S."

Summary:

Bowles (2007) writes about the role of intergenerational learning in a Black woman's environmental justice movement. She bases the background research on the idea that education is a central component of social change, and while many authors have written on this very subject such as Dewey and Lindeman, she suggests that more research is needed on the relationship between intergenerational learning and civic capacity building in women. Bowles goes on to establish that social movements are a significant producer of knowledge because it creates opportunities for collective knowledge.

Using semi-structured, face-to-face in-depth interviews, Bowles found that those who were part of these movements gained knowledge from three main sources: mentors, others in the movement, and experts. Specifically, mentors contributed to capacity building through "technical expertise, guiding activist work, and/or generally coaching" as it related to the movement itself (p. 2). Others who were not necessarily mentors provided opportunities to learn together along the way. Finally, those deemed as experts such as grassroots activist, professional activists, and academic activists also helped when a "mentor" was not present (Bowles, 2007).

Personal Reflection:

The work of Bowles is important because it is one of the few actual studies that speaks to the learning processes of Black women in activist movements in the United States. The authors discussion of the three main sources of intergenerational learning can provide a framework for the study that I will do as part of my own research on the intergenerational learning processes of female youth in activist movements in Detroit. Bowles could have; however, provided more verbatim on the intergenerational learning opportunities of the women in the study.

Citation:

Bowles, T. (2007). The dimensions of black women's learning in the environmental justice movement in the southeastern u.s. AERC Conference , 1-5. Retrieved from http://www.adulterc.org/applications/ClassifiedListingsManager/inc_classifiedlistingsmanager.asp?ParentCategoryID=146&offset=30

©Nicole Carter