Abolitionist teaching

{{Npov|talk=NPOV lead|date=September 2023}}{{Critical pedagogy}}

'''Abolitionist teaching''', also known as '''abolitionist pedagogy''', is a set of practices and approaches to teaching that emphasize [[Abolitionism|abolishing]] educational practices considered by its proponents to be inherently problematic and oppressive. The term was coined by education professor and [[Critical theory|critical theorist]] [[Bettina L. Love|Bettina Love]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Love |first=Bettina |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DtuEDwAAQBAJ |title=We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom |date=2019 |publisher=Beacon Press |isbn=978-0-8070-6915-8 |language=en}}</ref>

Proponents of the approach have criticized test-taking<ref name=":1" /> and prohibitions on cheating,<ref name=":3" /> as well as deemphasize traditional literacy and math improvement programs.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |date=2024 |title=This Bay Area school district spent $250,000 on Woke Kindergarten program. Test scores fell even further |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/woke-kindergarten-glassbrook-hayward-18635504.php |work=San Francisco Chronicle}}</ref> Private organizations working under the banner of abolitionist teaching have stirred controversy bringing progressive politics and activism into classrooms, which includes promoting anti-police, anti-capitalism and anti-Zionist viewpoints.<ref name=":2" />

== Concept == Abolitionist teaching has its roots in [[critical pedagogy]], [[Intersectionality|intersectional]] [[feminism]] and [[Abolitionism|abolitionist]] action. It is defined as the commitment to pursue educational freedom and fight for an education system where students thrive, rather than just survive.<ref name=":1" /> Love further notes that it is a necessary complement to critical pedagogy, as pedagogy is most effective when paired with teachers who fight for student equality and justice. This teaching method is intended to combat systemic oppression, racial violence, the [[school-to-prison pipeline]], reliance on test taking and all other parts of a system Bettina Love calls the "educational survival complex."<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=LeMaster|first1=Benny|last2=Terminel Iberri|first2=Ana Isabel|date=2021-07-03|title=Critical performative pedagogical encounters, or "Let's try that again. But first, let's breathe"|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03634523.2021.1912791|journal=Communication Education|language=en|volume=70|issue=3|pages=329–332|doi=10.1080/03634523.2021.1912791|s2cid=234800016|issn=0363-4523|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Other parts of the system that the practice is intended to combat is cheating, as Drs. Lore/tta LeMaster and Meggie Mapes note that "Rather than punitive measures, abolitionist pedagogy requires rethinking how narratives of cheating perform and to what and whose ends such narratives serve."<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last1=LeMaster|first1=Benny|last2=Mapes|first2=Meggie|date=2020-10-01|title=Refusing a compulsory want for revenge, or, teaching against retributive justice with liberatory pedagogy|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14791420.2020.1829662|journal=Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies|language=en|volume=17|issue=4|pages=401–409|doi=10.1080/14791420.2020.1829662|s2cid=227275870|issn=1479-1420|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Some scholars, such as Denise Blum, have argued for a neo-abolitionist pedagogy in educational institutions, a "'third space' to process emotional responses and discuss social positionalities to prevent unproductive feelings of guilt or pity that function to further otherize immigrants."<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Blum|first1=Denise|last2=Davis|first2=Erin E.|last3=Gibson|first3=Kari|last4=Phillips|first4=Rexi Lee|last5=Jeyaraj|first5=Annette Sharon Stanly|last6=Winters|first6=Bailey|date=2021-09-14|title="I've never cried with a stranger before": a pedagogy of discomfort, emotion and hope for immigrant justice|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09518398.2021.1962564|journal=International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education|language=en|volume=34|issue=8|pages=763–781|doi=10.1080/09518398.2021.1962564|s2cid=237518014|issn=0951-8398|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

== Theoretical, historical and activist context == Abolitionist teaching is inspired by Black feminist theory, abolitionist theory and direct action. The term can be traced to [[Bettina L. Love]]'s 2019 work ''We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom.''<ref name=":1" /> Love, the William F. Russell Professor at Teachers College, Columbia University, defines abolitionist teaching as teaching with the goal of intersectional social justice for equitable classrooms that love and affirm Black and brown children. She co-founded the Abolitionist Teaching Network (ATN) in 2020, which empowers teachers and parents to fight injustice within their schools.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Network |first=Abolitionist Teaching |title=Abolitionist Teaching Network |url=https://abolitionistteachingnetwork.org/ |access-date=2021-03-05 |website=Abolitionist Teaching Network |language=en-PH}}</ref>

Abolitionist teaching resides at the intersection between education, race, abolition and Black joy. It is heavily influenced by intersectionality, which is a framework that focuses on how the intersection of a person's multiple identities influences the privilege or discrimination they experience. Some of these traits include [[gender]], [[Human sexuality|sexuality]], [[Race (human categorization)|race]], [[Ethnic group|ethnicity]], [[nationality]], [[religion]] and [[disability]]. Intersectionality is a theory coined by [[Kimberlé Crenshaw]] in 1989 in her paper "Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Anti-discrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw|url=https://archive.org/details/DemarginalizingTheIntersectionOfRaceAndSexABlackFeminis|title=Demarginalizing The Intersection Of Race And Sex A Black Feminis|date=2017-08-14}}</ref> Crenshaw has revisited this theme in multiple subsequent papers and discussions.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kimberlé Crenshaw on Intersectionality, More than Two Decades Later|url=https://www.law.columbia.edu/news/archive/kimberle-crenshaw-intersectionality-more-two-decades-later|access-date=2021-03-05|website=www.law.columbia.edu|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Kimberlé Crenshaw on intersectionality: "I wanted to come up with an everyday metaphor that anyone could use"|url=https://www.newstatesman.com/lifestyle/2014/04/kimberl-crenshaw-intersectionality-i-wanted-come-everyday-metaphor-anyone-could|access-date=2021-03-05|website=www.newstatesman.com|date=2 April 2014 |language=en}}</ref>

Abolitionist teachings grows out of the [[prison abolition movement]], which comes from the [[Abolitionism|abolitionist movement]]. The abolitionist movement was the worldwide effort to end the trans-Atlantic slave trade and free enslaved peoples from bondage. There was no leader of this movement, as there were many groups in many different countries that worked to end slavery over a period of over one hundred years. In the [[Abolitionism in the United States|United States]], the abolition movement culminated in the [[American Civil War|Civil War]]. Though the trans-Atlantic slave trade is no more, there are many global movements aimed at abolishing unjust systems that are part of the tradition of abolition.

The prison abolition movement sees the prison system as a new form of slavery that must be abolished in order for oppressed communities to be freed. Political activist and scholar [[Angela Davis]]' is a major figure in the [[prison abolition movement]], which influences abolitionist teaching. She co-founded [[Critical Resistance]], an organization focused on abolishing the prison system.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Freedom Struggle: Angela Davis on Calls to Defund Police, Racism & Capitalism, and the 2020 Election|url=https://www.democracynow.org/2020/9/7/freedom_struggle_angela_davis_on_calls|access-date=2021-03-05|website=Democracy Now!|language=en}}</ref> In 2001 article "Race, Gender, and the Prison Industrial Complex: California and Beyond," Davis and co-author Shaylor launch a strong critique of the US [[Prison–industrial complex|prison-industrial complex]] that includes data on the human rights abuses of women, people of color and the poor in prisons.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Davis|first1=Angela Y.|last2=Shaylor|first2=Cassandra|date=2001|title=Race, Gender, and the Prison Industrial Complex: California and Beyond|journal=Meridians|volume=2|issue=1|pages=1–25|doi=10.1215/15366936-2.1.1|jstor=40338793|s2cid=145609695|issn=1536-6936}}</ref> This framework applies directly to other oppressive systems, like education, that govern members of society. This draws on the [[Michel Foucault|Foucauldian]] notion that discipline evolves over time, both in the penal system and in schools.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Foucault|first=Michel |title=Discipline and punish: the birth of the prison|date=1995|publisher=Vintage Books|isbn=0-679-75255-2|edition=Second Vintage books |location=New York|oclc=32367111}}</ref>

The feminist and scholar [[bell hooks]]' work also influences abolitionist teaching. bell hooks' seminal 1994 book, ''Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom'', encourages educators to teach students to "transgress" racial and class boundaries in order to pursue freedom.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom|url=https://www.routledge.com/Teaching-to-Transgress-Education-as-the-Practice-of-Freedom/hooks/p/book/9780415908085|access-date=2021-03-05|website=Routledge & CRC Press|language=en}}</ref> She also published ''Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope'' in 2004.<ref>{{Cite book|last=hooks|first=bell|url=http://www.123library.org/book_details/?id=106621|title=Teaching community: a pedagogy of hope|date=2003|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-45792-1|language=English|oclc=846494699}}{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> In this book, as in ''Teaching to Transgress'', hooks advises teachers to make the classroom life-sustaining, joyful and expansive. She encourages students and teachers to work in partnership, in order to mutually liberate one another.

bell hooks is deeply influenced by Brazilian educator [[Paulo Freire]], whose novel ''[[Pedagogy of the Oppressed]]'' excoriated the "[[banking model of education]]" and proposed a [[critical pedagogy]] to engage students as co-creators of knowledge. He argues that through education students can awaken [[critical consciousness]], or ''[[conscientização]]'', that will empower them to make change in their communities.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Freire|first=Paulo|title=Pedagogy of the oppressed|date=1972|publisher=Penguin Books|isbn=0-14-080331-9|location=Harmondsworth, Eng.|oclc=4736792}}</ref>

Freire and his legacy are the cornerstone of the field of [[Critical pedagogy|Critical Pedagogy]],{{cn|date=July 2021}} of which abolitionist teaching is a part.

== See also ==

* [[Bettina L. Love]] * [[Abolitionism|Abolition]] * [[Critical pedagogy]] * [[Anti-bias curriculum]] * [[Anti-oppressive education]] * [[Social justice]] * [[Black feminism]] * [[Anti-racism]] * [[Kimberlé Crenshaw]]

== Further reading ==

* {{Cite journal|last=Alexander|first=Patrick Elliot|date=2020-06-04|title=Radical Togetherness: African-American Literature and Abolition Pedagogy at Parchman and Beyond|journal=Humanities|language=en|volume=9|issue=2|page=49|doi=10.3390/h9020049|issn=2076-0787|doi-access=free}} * {{Cite journal|last1=Caraballo|first1=Limarys|last2=Martinez|first2=Danny C.|last3=Paris|first3=Django|last4=Alim|first4=H. Samy|date=May 2020|editor-last=Caraballo|editor-first=Limarys|editor2-last=Martinez|editor2-first=Danny C.|title=Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies in the Current Moment: A Conversation With Django Paris and H. Samy Alim|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jaal.1059|journal=Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy|language=en|volume=63|issue=6|pages=697–701|doi=10.1002/jaal.1059|s2cid=219017236|issn=1081-3004|url-access=subscription}} * {{Cite journal|last1=Del Prete|first1=Antonio|last2=Lea|first2=Babatunde|last3=Ware|first3=Molly|last4=Lea|first4=Mayana|last5=Srikantahrajah|first5=Janani S.|date=2014|title=CHAPTER EIGHT: Alternative, Critical Multicultural, Abolitionist Pedagogies That Facilitate Critical Literacies|journal=Counterpoints|volume=414|pages=141–169|jstor=45184514|issn=1058-1634}} *{{Cite journal|last1=Dunn|first1=Damaris C.|last2=Chisholm|first2=Alex|last3=Spaulding|first3=Elizabeth|last4=Love|first4=Bettina L.|date=2021-05-04|title=A Radical Doctrine: Abolitionist Education in Hard Times|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00131946.2021.1892684|journal=Educational Studies|language=en|volume=57|issue=3|pages=211–223|doi=10.1080/00131946.2021.1892684|s2cid=235204403|issn=0013-1946|url-access=subscription}} * {{Cite journal|last1=Faison|first1=Morgan Z.|last2=McArthur|first2=Sherell A.|date=2020-08-08|title=Building Black worlds: revisioning cultural justice for Black teacher education students at PWIs|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09518398.2020.1754489|journal=International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education|language=en|volume=33|issue=7|pages=745–758|doi=10.1080/09518398.2020.1754489|s2cid=219049948|issn=0951-8398|url-access=subscription}} * {{Cite journal|last1=Gardner|first1=Roberta Price|last2=Osorio|first2=Sandra L.|last3=McCormack|first3=Shashray|date=2021-07-03|title=Creating spaces for emotional justice in culturally sustaining literacy education: Implications for policy & practice|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00405841.2021.1911578|journal=Theory into Practice|language=en|volume=60|issue=3|pages=301–311|doi=10.1080/00405841.2021.1911578|s2cid=233593518|issn=0040-5841|url-access=subscription}} * {{Cite journal|last1=Hoffman|first1=Julie Wasmund|last2=Martin|first2=Jennifer L.|date=2020-08-08|title=Abolitionist Teaching in an Urban District: A Literacy Coup|url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0042085920943937|journal=Urban Education|volume=58 |issue=9 |language=en|page=004208592094393|doi=10.1177/0042085920943937|s2cid=225434587|issn=0042-0859|url-access=subscription}} * {{Cite journal|last1=Hytten|first1=Kathy|last2=Stemhagen|first2=Kurt|date=April 2021|title=Democratic Theory's Evasion of Race|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/edth.12472|journal=Educational Theory|language=en|volume=71|issue=2|pages=177–202|doi=10.1111/edth.12472|s2cid=238952271|issn=0013-2004|url-access=subscription}} *{{Cite journal|last1=Jones|first1=Stephanie P|last2=Osler|first2=John S III|date=March 2021|title=Disrupting the Teacher Character in Young Adult Literature|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2501513034|journal=English Journal, High School Edition|volume=110|pages=111–114|id={{ProQuest|2501513034}} }} * {{Cite journal|last=Lawrence|first=Charles R.|date=2015|title=The Fire This Time: Black Lives Matter, Abolitionist Pedagogy and the Law|journal=Journal of Legal Education|volume=65|issue=2|pages=381–404|jstor=26453467|issn=0022-2208}} *{{Cite journal|last=Navarro|first=Oscar|date=2020|title=Centering Wellness and Fostering Interconnectedness with Future Educators of Color during a Global Pandemic and Racial Justice Uprising|url=https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1281855|journal=Issues in Teacher Education|language=en|volume=29|pages=54–64|issn=1536-3031}} * {{Cite journal|last=Rodríguez|first=Dylan|date=2010|title=The Disorientation of the Teaching Act: Abolition as Pedagogical Position|journal=The Radical Teacher|volume=<!----> |issue=88|pages=7–19|doi=10.1353/rdt.2010.0006 |jstor=10.5406/radicalteacher.1.88.0007|s2cid=145080505 |issn=0191-4847}} *{{Cite thesis|last=Shaw|first=Shelby A.|date=2017|title=Gender's Role in Abolitionist Pedagogy: A Fictionalized Autoethnography|url=https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/oa_diss/540/|type=PhD Dissertation |publisher=University of Rhode Island|doi=10.23860/diss-shaw-shelby-2017 |doi-access=free}} * {{Cite journal|last1=Whynacht|first1=Ardath|author-link1=Ardath Whynacht|last2=Arsenault|first2=Emily|last3=Cooney|first3=Rachael|date=2018|title=Abolitionist Pedagogy in the Neoliberal University: Notes on Trauma-Informed Practice, Collaboration, and Confronting the Impossible|journal=Social Justice|volume=45|issue=4 (154)|pages=141–162|jstor=26873828|issn=1043-1578}}

== References == {{Reflist}}

[[Category:Learning theory (education)]] [[Category:Critical pedagogy]]