Anatomy Of A Black Mother The Education Of Our Children Our Responsibility Our Right PDF Download

Ontario's Parent Engagement Policy (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2010) compels school officials to identify and remove discriminatory practices and structures to ensure the full participation of all parents in their children's schooling. Yet Canadian literature and media highlight ongoing challenges faced by Black mothers in their relationships with their children's schools. This arts-informed study uses storytelling to investigate the relationships between Black mothers and school officials. The study presents insights obtained from 10 in-depth interviews with African Caribbean mothers living in Toronto. Participants shared personal stories to articulate their understanding of Black motherwork and its impact on their relationships with school officials. Data collected from these oral recounts, along with the review of the literature, addressed the questions: What is Black women's motherwork? How does Black women's motherwork shape their relationships with school officials? How do Black mothers draw on communities of support to respond to challenges and successes encountered in their relationships with school officials? This research draws on African Indigenous, Black feminist and Black maternal theories to investigate Black women's motherwork and their relationships with one another and school officials. Using a comprehensive analytic process, participants' oral accounts are compiled into interconnected creative non-fiction stories. These stories are informed by African storytelling traditions like call-and-response, improvisation and audience participation. This structure prioritizes Black mothers' voices and honours arts-informed methodologies, all while illustrating links to previous scholarship. The personal/self-stories, cultural stories, and metanarratives presented in this arts-informed study uphold Black mothers as educational leaders in their homes, communities and schools. The study revealed Black Canadian motherwork as a form of activism that is integral to the health and wellbeing of Black women and children. Black mothers understand their motherwork as collective action involving community parents. For Black mothers, school officials do not always fulfill their roles as community parents. Black mothers work with members in their women-centred networks to affirm their leadership and safeguard their children's rights to safe, inclusive schooling spaces. This arts-informed study contributes to a deeper understanding of the ways that Black mothers practice educational leadership amongst themselves and with school officials.