“I didn’t know hip hop was in Africa” and other musings on African-Centered Pedagogy

The quote in this post’s title comes directly from a student in the 11th grade Humanities and Social Sciences major seminar. Our lesson, which engaged a range of topics–globalization, economic imperialism, diaspora–centered on two readings. One, an ESPN.com article from February 2008, discussed the NBA-sponsored Sports For Education and Economic Development Foundation (SEEDS)–which established numerous [...]

Fieldnotes, Part 1

10/24/2009 http://www.megavideo.com/?v=EINA9FOK – Clip starts ~49:30 mark. Today marked the first meeting of the 11th grade major seminars, and thus our first collective attempt to link theory to practice. Prior to the first class meeting, we prepared a complete course syllabus and bulkpack for the fall semester, providing a survey of the required readings and [...]

What is this “Culture” in Culturally Relevant Pedagogy?

Stuart Hall – Race, the Floating Signifier So what does “culture” mean anyway? In light of our recent discussions on culturally relevant pedagogy (and critical pedagogy more broadly), I ask this question to revisit the Ase philosophy and ultimately determine how Ase’s students can be best served by our educational approach. The title of this [...]

Upcoming Event: 10/27 @ the International House

Week One: Toward a Du Boisian Pedagogy

After reading the selected chapter from Derrick Alridge’s The Educational Thought of W.E.B. Du Bois, I began reflecting on the notion of a Du Boisian pedagogy, and the significance of “cultural relevance” to any discussion of the “purpose(s)” of education. With a background in Africana Studies, a discipline borne from the Black Studies activist movements [...]