Village Pedagogy: Empowering African American Students to be Activist

Abstract

The Critical Black Studies Reader is a ground-breaking volume whose aim is to criticalize and reenvision Black Studies through a critical lens. The book not only stretches the boundaries of knowledge and understanding of issues critical to the Black experience, it creates a theoretical grounding that is intersectional in its approach. Our notion of Black Studies is neither singularly grounded in African American Studies nor on traditional notions of the Black experience. Though situated work in this field has historically grappled with the question of «where are we?» in Black Studies, this volume offers the reader a type of criticalization that has not occurred to this point. While the volume includes seminal works by authors in the field, as a critical endeavor, the editors have also included pieces that address the political issues that intersect with – among others – power, race, class, gender, sexuality, religion, place, and economics.