2018 NNER Annual Conference

On the need for strength and power in the struggle for justice, Frederick Douglass wrote, "It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake." In developing this workshop, we adopt the language of Frederick Douglass to disrupt schooling as it acts an arm of the state that denies justice, enforces poverty, is built on prevailed ignorance and is organized toward oppression. We (school personnel, university partners, and community partners) have come together in commitment to engage in a radical imaginary toward "creating the impossible": a just and equitable school and society (Greene & Dantley, 2015). Douglass Elementary has adopted a vision of Contemplative Arts & Sciences as a means to enrich the education of the children, families, and communities that are served by the school. The school partners, representing the Resident Scientist program, the Dance Program, illustration and visual arts opportunities, the local historical society, and the university partners, join with elementary school teachers and administration to share through presentation and interactive experiences, the undeniable and ongoing struggles inherent in collaborative critically conscious curriculum-making in the context of school(ed) spaces in which "curriculum" has already been pre-determined, commodified, and packaged for easy consumption. We embrace the struggle for liberation and justice for our students and families, for even in the throes of the shared and mutual difficulties of our struggle, "It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men."