African Diaspora Literacy

Lamar L. Johnson is assistant professor of language and literacy for linguistic and racial diversity at Michigan State University.Gloria Boutte is professor of instruction and teacher education at the University of South Carolina.Gwenda R. Greene is associate professor of English at Benedict College.Dywanna E. Smith holds a PhD in language and literacy from the University of South Carolina.

• Preface: What’s Africa to Me, Gwenda GreenePART 1—CURRICULUM APPLICATIONS Chapter 1: Goin’ Back to (Re)Claim What’s Mine: A Call for Diaspora Literacy in P-20 Spaces, Lamar L. JohnsonChapter 2: Revitalization of Indigenous African Knowledges among People in the African Diaspora, Gloria Boutte, George Johnson, and Asangha MukiChapter 3: Exploring African Diaspora Literacy with Elementary Students, Saudah Collins, Martay Monroe, and Gloria BoutteChapter 4: Using African Diaspora Literacy to Teach Middle School Social Studies, Julia Dawson and Antoinette GibsonPART 2—TEACHER EDUCATIONChapter 5: Centering African Diaspora Literacy to Reinvent Educator Preparation, Damara HightowerChapter 6: A Call for “Work Woke” Educators: Actuating Diaspora Literacy to Raise Critical Consciousness, Gwenda GreeneChapter 7: Telling Our Stories; Sharing Our Lives: Storytelling as the Heart of Resistance, Dywanna SmithPART 3—INDIGENOUS AFRICAN KNOWLEDGE AND PERSPECTIVESChapter 8: African Spirituality: Implications for African Diaspora Education, Bonwong Bruno, Lambert Wirdze, Mary LumChapter 9: Cameroon Pidgin English: An Overview and Implications for Instruction in Anglophone Cameroon Education, Rodrick Lando and Ntain Patience ChiaChapter 10: Indigenous Holistic Healing: The Medicine Cabinet of African Diaspora Literacy, Kenric B. Ware and Marcelus U. AjoninaPART 4—INSIGHTS AND REFLECTIONSChapter 11: Insights and Reflections: Thoughts on Transformation, Dywanna SmithAppendicesAbout the Authors

Decades ago Black liberationist Marcus Garvey challenged Black Americans to return to Africa to heal from the ongoing racialized violence and trauma they faced and continue to face in the United States. Johnson, Boutte, Smith, and Greene revive this urgent call through African Diaspora Literacy by challenging P-20 educators to situate Mother Africa as the birthplace of all knowledges and histories, which, they and eleven contributing authors argue, must be reflected in schools, pedagogies and practices, and extant curricula. Centering and drawing on African-centered knowledge bases is the balm so many Black children need to heal their individual and collective wounds and souls from the quotidian anti-Black violence they confront in schools. This book is a must read for ELA and language and literacy scholars, teachers, and teacher educators who believe that #BlackLivesMatter, and who desire to enact pedagogies of healing through African Diaspora literacy.