Educational Psychology—Limitations and Possibilities

640 The Praeger Handbook of Education and Psychology
they would leave with were names, achievements, and dates—decontextualized “useless”
information on Black women. Instead, I informed them that the class was grounded in understanding
the construction of Black womanhood and that we would employ the concepts of
ideology, epistemology, the Other, deconstruction, hegemony, devaluation, dichotomy, binary
opposition, subjugated knowledge, and stereotypes to accomplish this very difficult feat. Through
an understanding of these concepts they would begin to partially open the door in their realization
of Black women. I provided a list of new words and concepts and insisted students struggle to
understand the new. I dared them to whine! In other words, I asked them to use every critical
thinking skill they could find!
I compelled my students to take their knowledge to the next level through a critical analysis
of assigned and suggested readings. We spent time looking at the social constructions of the
other, oppression, domination, the politics of epistemology, dichotomies between Black and
White women, ideology, media representations, etc.
Through readings, documentaries, films, and class discussions we dissected the life/existence
of African American women. This dissection allowed the students (Black and White, male
and female) to understand the various ways ideology has historically attempted to control and
dominate African American women. In addition, an understanding of Black womanist thought
allowed the students to see the ways Black women not only deconstruct the race, class, and
gender oppression, but also the connections between Black female activism and empowerment.
Oshun: That was one thing I loved about your class. You did not just set Black women up as victims.
You told our real story and a large part of that story is activism. I always enjoyed your class
discussions on the archetypes of Black female subjugation. As I said earlier, you know, how
unaware most students are regarding the stereotypes. It was interesting how every semester most
of the students were not aware of the stereotypes, but once they learned of them they begin to
point them out in media today.
Rochelle: When we teach students to stop and really look closely at what surrounds them, they typically
become angry about all the things they never noticed before. We begin this conversation with a
journal entry from one of my students who wrote about the joy and pain of new knowledge. To
this day, I think the best and most creative midterm I have ever given was when I had my students
critically deconstruct the cover from a “gangsta rap” CD. Girl, the cover offended every feminist
piece of my being. It was, in animated form, a modern version of Black women portrayed as
Sapphire. When I close my eyes I can still see it—a street corner scene in the projects, Black
women dressed as hoochies, hanging out of windows, wearing lots of gold, exaggerated features,
big red lips, blonde hair, and huge breasts. The cover was bad enough, but when the Black
fraternities and sororities used a version of it to advertise a party, it truly became a teachable
moment.
Oshun: So what did you do?
Rochelle: Girl, I marched down to the record store, flipped through the rap CDs till I found the right one,
made a color overhead and then started the hard part—the actual test.
Oshun: And ...
Rochelle: For the last hour we have been talking about Black women, critical thinking, critical educational
psychology, and identity—how they all come together. I wanted my students to use their knowledge
to critically deconstruct the picture—how it all came together. The “artist” who created the
picture did not just wake up one morning and say, “Hey, the perfect way to sell this compact
disk is to have Black women dressed like whores.” There is a long, painful history behind their
decision: forces acting in society on that person to make the picture the obvious choice. I needed
the students to understand that and importantly to recognize their place in allowing the picture
to be used as advertisement. I wanted to show the student that we discussed in class was not
something removed from their everyday life but instead constructed that very life. I wanted them
to be aware.
Oshun: The midterm represented the intersection of your critical understanding of Black women and
your pedagogy. But there is so much that went into the class and the picture—how did you
narrow it to a three-hour midterm?