Can We Write About Black Life? - Refusing the Unquenchable Thirst for Black Death in Education

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by dabgoudw

The article examines how “spirit murder” operates subtly within education and the academy, arguing that exclusion and marginalization are not the main mechanisms through which this spiritual harm occurs. Drawing on existing literature, it proposes Black lifemaking as an analytical pathway that shifts scholarly focus from seeking redress in educational sites to centering Black life as continually generative. The conclusion calls for Black scholars to adopt an abolitionist praxis that moves beyond meritocracy and clings to the margins.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages17

Reading Time43 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Spirit murder and its subtle operations in education

Black lifemaking as an analytical pathway

Abolitionist praxis and a call to action

Can We Write About Black Life? Refusing the Unquenchable Thirst for Black Death in Education Jalil B. Mustaffa The Journal of Educational Foundations Vol. 34, No. 1 2021, pp. 68-84 Copyright 2021 by Caddo Gap Press Abstract I first describe the Black scholarly dilemma to setup the reader for how spirit murder happens subtly and the ways, I argue, centering Black life can restore our spirits. Through meditating on the existing literature, I argue that exclusion and marginalization are not the primary indicators of spirit murder in the education field or the academy. Then, I offer my theory of Black lifemaking as an analytical pathway to shift from seeking redress in sites of education to centering Black life as always generative. In conclusion, I outline a call to action for Black scholars to practice an abolitionist praxis that divests from meritocracy and clings to the margins. Keywords: anti-Blackness, abolition, Black lifemaking, Black education, academia Introduction The why behind the reasons one enters scholarship and the academy is important. For me, I am a Black man, wrestling with how white heteropatriarchy and capitalism violates and implicates me and my work (hooks, 1990) that aims to contribute to the working-class Black communities I remain connected to. I came to the field of education, specifically the higher education field, because the system enrolls over 1.1 million Black people and I wanted to contribute to documenting and disrupting how an idealized system reproduced anti-Blackness. Forme, it meant centering Black life, or the ways Black people create, live out, Jalil B. Mustaffa is an assistant professor of higher education in the Department of Education and Counseling at Villanova University, Villanova, Pennsylvania. E-mail address: [jbishop1281@gmail.com](jbishop1281@gmail.com) and sustain their human value. My approach called for a recalibration of self and research where Black life did not become valuable once joined with degrees, good jobs, or accolades (Jenkins, Tichavakunda,& Coles, 2020) . Instead, my approach focused on what Black people do without and beyond those attributes. My early scholarly training and mentorship was through the Black Radical Tradition—defined as the collective political struggle and consciousness developed to uproot racial capitalism and define Black humanity in a world where Black people as collectively powerful and self-determined were non-thoughts (Robinson, 2000). Scholars, in this Tradition, have argued for an abolitionist praxis to systems that do not value Black life such as mass incarceration, housing, community development, reproductive healthcare, and capitalism (Johnson & Lubin, 2017) . An abolitionist praxis refers to showshow relationshipsofun-freedom consolidate and stretch, but not for the purpose of documenting misery. Rather, the point is not only to identify contradictions—inherent vices—in regimes of dispossession, but also, urgently, to show how radical consciousness inaction resolves into liberated life-ways, however provisional, present and past. (Gilmore, 2017, p. 597) As I jointly moved through the academy and became a scholar in the field of education I realized these two sites also did not value Black life. Moreover, there was a long Black Radical Tradition that named the academy and the field of education as anti-Black from Du Bois and Woodson to Ladson-Billings and Love (Du Bois, 2001; Woodson, 2006; Ladson-Billings, 2006; Love, 2019;). Today, even education institutions make public statements declaring their commitments to “combating anti-Black racism” every time there is an uprising in response to the murders of Black people. While seemingly thereis agreement about antiBlackness, a tension has formed for me in that it is always positioned as easily solvable, progressively getting better, or simply a matter of better data and research (Bell, 2009) . A rapture has happened. At the same time the study of anti-Blacknes

FAQs

What does the article describe as “spirit murder” in education?

It frames spirit murder as a disregard for others whose lives depend on being regarded, connected to daily and structural assaults on Black people within education and academia.

Why does the author argue that exclusion and marginalization are not the primary indicators?

The argument is that spirit murder happens in ways that are subtler than straightforward exclusion, so the key mechanisms cannot be reduced to marginalization alone.

What is “Black lifemaking” and what does it aim to change?

Black lifemaking is presented as a pathway for shifting scholarship away from seeking redress inside educational sites toward centering Black life as always generative.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by dabgoudw