(De)Coloniality of Mothering: Race, Gender, and Mothers in Schools

Nimo Abdi; Dinorah  Sanchez Loza; Kalia  Vue

doi:10.29333/ejecs/2139

Authors

Nimo Abdi Ohio State University https://orcid.org/0009-0000-6799-5370
Dinorah Sanchez Loza The Ohio State University https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1376-0482
Kalia Vue The Ohio State University https://orcid.org/0009-0004-9376-2377

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29333/ejecs/2139

Keywords:

Decolonial, Motherhood, Women of color, immigrants, Motherwork, Decoloniality, de-linking, Somali mothers, white supremacy

Abstract

This study builds on decolonial, Chicanx, and Black Feminist Theory to explore how “mothering” as a phenomenon has been theorized and how it manifested in our respective research sites: (a) within Somali immigrant mothers in urban communities in the United Kingdom; and (b) how the role of mothers was understood and deployed in predominantly White suburban Ohio. We draw on stories from our research to argue that the modern/colonial gender system constructs ideas and possibilities of motherhood in different ways depending on the sociopolitical and epistemological locations of those engaged in motherwork. We argue that decolonial mothering includes pedagogies of collectivism necessary for healing and joy. And finally, we reflect on how the findings from our studies can contribute to liberatory practices through projects of de-linking from discourses of coloniality in academic spaces.

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Author Biographies

Nimo Abdi, Ohio State University

Nimo Mohamed Abdi is an assistant professor in the department of Teaching and Learning at the Ohio State University. Her research focuses on immigrant and refugee education, particularly as it relates to cultural, racial, and religious diversity. She is interested in Indigenous African thought, anti–colonial/decolonial methodologies, as well as phenomenology of race and gender. Her work examines Somali educational experiences in urban United states, and in the Diaspora.

Dinorah Sanchez Loza, The Ohio State University

dinorah sánchez loza is a critical scholar of education examining schooling, power, and political and social reproduction. Her research centers how youth come to think and act politically while focusing on critical social theories such as settler colonialism and its structuring of race, gender, and political economic relations and the impact these have on the teaching and learning of politics and civic engagement. She is an assistant professor at The Ohio State University where she teaches classes on critical social theories in education, critical ethnography, and the teaching and research of social justice education.

Kalia Vue, The Ohio State University

Kalia Vue received her PhD in Multicultural and Equity Studies Education from The Ohio State University. Her research focuses on informal learning environments such as museums, emphasizing anti-colonial and asset-based pedagogies to amplify the voices of BIPOC individuals, underrepresented communities, refugees, and immigrants, all within the context of social justice education.

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