ABSTRACT
In this essay published in 2022, April-Louise M. O. O. Pennant explores her educational experiences growing up as a Black woman in England using analytic and critical autoethnography, and interweaves this account with a broader examination of her doctoral research on the educational challenges faced by Black British women more generally. While Pennant elaborates how she was encouraged by her parents to see herself as both British and shaped by the cultures of Nigeria and Jamaica, in the academically selective schools she attended she observed a lack of diversity around her, as well as in the curriculum, where the limited discussions of Black people in history focused on slavery and civil rights in the United States, rather than on the history of Black people in the United Kingdom. However, through engaging in extracurricular activities focused on empowering and centring Black identities, Pennant was still able to preserve and cultivate her sense of self despite these curricular deficiencies. In university, Pennant was able to also study Black feminism, Black British experience, and Black Caribbean women’s experiences for the first time. From these intellectual foundations, Pennant pursued her doctoral research focused on Black British women’s educational experiences and the intersections of their gender, race, and social class identities. This article shares first-hand and second-hand experience, showcasing the importance of intersectional theory as well as the continued challenges Black people (especially Black women) face in the United Kingdom to see themselves represented positively in society, education, and curricula.
