Black and Indigenous freedom dreaming as critical educational policy praxis

Abstract

This article centers on freedom dreaming as a critical approach to educational policy studies. I examined how one Black and Indigenous American educator activist collective’s conversations linked freedom dreaming to critical praxis. Educational policy studies would benefit from centering on Black and Indigenous knowledges especially if scholars aim to dismantle interlocking systems of oppression. I used a multiple-conversation and relational design to explore the concept of freedom dreaming within and between Black and Indigenous educator activist’s commonalities, tensions, affirmations, and extensions. The findings of the study reveal three key praxis examples: protection, connection, and sustainment. Protection praxis represents an insularly space for individuals to express their experiences and resist oppression, leading to collective healing. Connection praxis highlights the acts of freedom dreaming in building linkages between and among policy actors, their ancestors, and younger generations. Sustainment praxis emphasizes how freedom dreaming energizes the work of educational justice movements, promoting coalition-building and intergenerational invitation. This study’s knowledge co-creation implicates shifting the fulcrum towards Black and Indigenous conceptualizations of practicality and illuminating power maldistribution. To conclude, I offer a freedom dreaming praxis manifesto to render knowledge co-creation answerable to my comrades and similarly-situated collectives.