Fragile Pedagogies Make Fragile People
2023, Mixed Media Painting & Collage on Canvas
5ft by 5ft
This body of work explores the relationship between white fragility and rejections of socially-conscious and equity-focused curriculums in all realms of academic discourse. Critical Race Theory, and its relationship to how we understand systems of oppression in this country, is both essential in the present and vital to our future.
The suggestion that socially-conscious and equity-focused curriculums present conversations around justice, equity and oppression as problematic is rooted in white supremacy and a perceived loss of power.
When young people learn about the world and its foundations - its histories, and our often challenging relationships to each other, they grow. They develop empathy for their neighbor. They understand that the concept of fairness is often a rigged proposition. They learn that their families bootstraps have been built on other people's backs… and that that is wrong.
When we hide our histories….When we pretend that oppression does not exist… When we ignore our own complicity as white people, and suppress access to this knowledge for our children, we do them a disservice. We make fragile people that believe they have no connections to systems of power and that change is not necessary now or in the future. That belief - is dange