As Bracher states, “a strong identity is a valuable and even
essential basis for the development of intelligence and the capacity and
motivation to learn.” (Radical Pedagogy) In
contrast, a negative view of one’s own identity can in turn affect ones social
and educational progress. In the follow blog I would like to examine how Bracher’s
notions about the influence of a strong identity on educational progress and
goals, is defeating for the Black learner for many reasons. Firstly, because
identity is largely influenced by the external ideas of society, which are
often misinformed and portray a negative image of people of African
descent. Secondly, because of the
omission of our true history from classrooms, textbooks, and most human
understanding, Black learner’s as a whole do not have a strong or accurate
sense of identity.
Identity formation is twofold; it encompasses a personal
understanding of self as well as the societal understanding of self. A person’s
identity is formed by their own idea of who they are, and, maybe even more so,
societal ideas of who they are. At times, societal identity views can
misconstrue or even replace internal ideological views (becoming the
norm). Often times, identity is
constructed and internalized through the outsiders view, whether positive or
negativity, thus replacing a peoples identity with the outsiders ideological
concept of their identity. Cooley
(1902)’s concept of the “looking glass self” highlights the influential role
that the external environment plays in the development of identity. (Identity developmentacross the lifespan: a biracial model)
When I think about societal views of people of African
descent, the following portrayals come to mind, lazy, unmotivated, criminal,
uneducated, athletic, musical, hypersexual, unreliable, aggressive, and
intimidating. When I think about
characteristics that are never used to describe people of African descent the
following depictions come to mind; highly educated, professional, intelligent,
motivated and reliable. If these are the images of Black people that are
bombarding our youth as they are constructing their identities, than, these are
the images our black youth will, at least in part, have of themselves. These
images become part of our youth’s fractured and inaccurate sense of self. Under
these circumstances, African Nova Scotian youth will not construct a strong
sense of identity. And the identity that they do construct will not include
signifiers such as intellengent, which as Bracher implies “is a valuable and
even essential basis for the development of intelligence and the capacity and
motivation to learn.” (Radical Pedagogy)
Another factor that is impeding the development of a strong
identity in our black youth is actually the education system that is
responsible to educate them. Akbar highlights the idea that “the first function
of education is to provide identity” (Radical Pedagogy). Akbar contends that
African-Americans have been “miseducated” as we have not received adequate
knowledge of ourselves. Bracher supports this statement when he asserts
that “learning can threaten student’s identities in numerous ways, most of
which are invisible to educators and students alike” (Radical Pedagogy).
In the past and even today, students are confronted with the
predicament of finding themselves left out and devalued in the textbooks and
furthermore, left out of the curriculum that they are being taught. This
conjugates the feelings of disconnect and disinterest with what is being
taught. Even more importantly, it leads to the feeling of low self-worth, low
self-esteem and a negative self-identity.
As the BLAC Report states, “the suppression, destruction, distortion of
a group’s history and culture by others, and the surrender of one’s culture
results in low self-esteem" (BLAC Report).
African Nova Scotian students have long been excluded from
the textbooks and from the curriculum that is exposed to them. Even today many classrooms around the
province exclude and undermine African Nova Scotian identity and only present a
Eurocentric perspective of our culture and history. This cultural and historical distortion, or
worse, omission of identity connectors leaves African Nova Scotian students
oblivious of their past. This distortion, in turn, may lead them on a path of
identity confusion, not knowing the difference between the societal concept of
their identity and their true self. In turn creating, what Bracher terms a
“vulnerable identity” (Radical Pedagogy).
As I have hoped to illuminate in this blog, the combination
of negative societal views of African descent people, combined with the
misinterpretation and omission of African Nova scotia history in our
classrooms, make it a difficult task for our black youth to construct a strong
identity, which Bracher views as an essential piece in the development of
intelligence and motivation for learning. It is vital for us as educators to
provide our students with an Afrocentric education, which will place them at
the center of all learning about themselves and the world around them. This
would be the first and most important step for us as educators and an education
system to take to begin to counteract the damage that has been done to our
youth in terms of identity construction. If education can play a pivotal role
in aiding our youth in their construction of a strong identity, than according
to Bracher it will also have a positive impact on their development of
intelligence as well.
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