Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies to Restore Individual and Collective Well-Being

ABSTRACT

This essay begins with Nikole Hannah-Jones's assessment of the solidarity that has sustained African Americans' hope that our country can still make good on the promise of democracy. This social resilience has sustained BIPOC communities through the pandemic in ways that demonstrate how personal well-being is rooted in collective wellness. Research on students' understanding of social resilience has examined how feelings of dignity and self-sufficiency foster hope and enable collective agency. This dynamic is vital to culturally sustaining pedagogies that help students engage with the lifeways that help them feel connected and hopeful. We discuss critical hip hop pedagogy as an example of culturally engaged teaching that can cultivate students' social resilience by acknowledging the dignity of their communal experiences and traditions in ways that can sustain hope and enable collective action.