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Abstract

Teaching abolition in the university setting from a theoretical standpoint often leaves students feeling disconnected from its real-world implications and does not connect or empower students to join this work. Bettina Love argues that “too often we think the work of fighting oppression is just intellectual. The real work is personal, emotional, spiritual, and communal.” As an assistant professor of African American Studies and an abolitionist feminist, who centers praxis in my pedagogy, my involvement in abolition organizing on campus is the real work that Love asks of educators. I organize with a small group of students and professors to advocate for defunding and demilitarizing university police and investing more in supportive services as a pathway to abolition. Patricia Hill Collins asserts that to know Black feminism requires personal accountability and responsibility (1989). Honoring Collins, I’m actively committed to fighting for change in real time. Aligned with Love and Collins, I share my commitment to praxis as a transformative way to teach abolition: providing students a hands-on, exploratory education that connects them to real abolition work on the ground and invites their engaged participation in such work. The late bell hooks widely advocated for educators to move beyond theory and radically embody their politics. As a professor who is actively engaged in abolition, teaching abolition in my classes goes beyond theory; its being role-modeled and is both a practice of freedom (hooks 1994), and a pedagogic process of learning to advocate for freedom. Crucially, in teaching from praxis, students learn not only why to get involved, but how to get involved in abolition work. In alignment with feminist teaching, overcoming oppression is a central purpose (Shrewsbury, 1987.) In this article, I detail my involvement in abolition organizing on campus and explain how I embed this work into my pedagogy and conclude with sharing an example of a former student, who as result of class, joined this movement and actively participates in this liberation work.

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