Resistance Wisdom and Grassroots Urban Education: Lessons from Detroit

Abstract

This chapter focuses on how radical educators in Detroit, MI are working through an ecocritical pedagogy to expose the absurdity of the destructive habits of today’s society and to propose grassroots alternatives. Acknowledging the impacts of Western industrial culture on the racially segregated neighborhoods systematically decimated by the racism, sexism, and classism of the North American industrial revolution, this chapter provides an overview of environmental justice and eco-racism in connection with youth engagement in the context of urban education. Drawing on the author’s experiences as a Detroit scholar-activist educator, this chapter shares how—despite the strong efforts of a neoliberal State government to gentrify and privatize land, water, and food in Detroit—activist educators have been able to politically mobilize communities through advocating for rights that ensure access to food and food traditions that support a healthy community and argue that for the importance of an education that supports the best possible standard of living for all. Asserting that activist-educators at the grassroots level in Detroit are exploring education that moves beyond the boundaries of formal schooling, this chapter shares examples of how students, educators, and members of the local community engage in identifying and examining issues relevant to the local neighborhoods while simultaneously developing a worldview supportive of social justice and sustainability.