Nwanze, Lillian Ngozi (2024) Un-silencing the silenced: Using Black Migrant Women’s experiences of racism to propose a critical anti-racist pedagogy for Irish Adult Education. PhD thesis, National University of Ireland Maynooth.

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Abstract

This is a study of how an intersection of race, gender, migration status and nation impact the everyday lives of Black women in Ireland. Using a critical qualitative frame and relying on Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Black Feminist Thought (BFT) epistemologies, the research is based on 20 culturally responsive conversations, held with eight Black migrant women over a period of two years. I also include autobiographical reflections and inputs from my own experience as I too identify as a Black migrant woman. The objectives of this research are: to position Black women as agents of knowledge by giving them the opportunity to tell their own story in order to disrupt dominant and majoritarian stories about Black migrant women; to contribute to Black Irish Feminist Thought and to develop a racially sensitive pedagogy for use in Irish adult education. The women’s stories offer an insight into lives, daily inundated with micro and macro racial assaults. The thesis also highlights how Black women experience a pervasive and insidious kind of everyday racism in Ireland, which brings with it a range of psychological and physical trauma. The women report the widespread prevalence of negative stereotypes inputted on Black women and how attempting to debunk these stereotypes, sometimes re-enforces them, leaving the women psychologically drained, or excluding them from active participation in society. The inquiry shows that Black women are constantly devalued and looked upon as ‘less-than’. Educational spaces are not left out of racism as the inquiry highlights how racism permeates schools, churches and even the homes of these women. Drawing on aspects of various critical pedagogies, I use the experiences shared by the women, as a reflective fulcrum to propose a racially appropriate and culturally responsive pedagogy that can be applied in Adult and Further Education in Ireland. In addition to core critical pedagogic tenets, I specifically advocate for pedagogy that will use non-dominant cultures as a vehicle for learning, build community across social identities and teach from a standoint of reparation and love. In keeping with my own Nigerian way of knowing and being, but also modelling some of the epistemological and pedagogical positions that I recommend and advocate for, I present some of the findings in the form of parables and stories which I have included in different parts of the thesis.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Keywords:	Black Migrant Women; experiences; racism; critical; anti-racist pedagogy; Irish Adult Education;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Adult and Community Education
Item ID:	18847
Depositing User:	IR eTheses
Date Deposited:	10 Sep 2024 14:08
URI:
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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