From the Middle Passage to the current realities of the African Diaspora

I urge readers to travel with Dr. McClean on this journey from the Middle Passage through to the current realities of the African diaspora and the historical continuities taken up within classroom instruction. Here we will learn about the indomitable indigenous leadership spirit of Nanny of the Maroons as well as how the author translates her personalized storytelling into critical pedagogies of struggle and liberation.  On one level, the text reads as a counter-narrative to both Western epistemology and Eurocentric empirical research methods, reclaiming indigenous knowledge. Beyond that, on the level of action, as in social justice, we learn firsthand how to move beyond frustrations and “if only” realities towards realizing that students and teachers can voice mutual respect and the freedom to learn inside classrooms. Chapter after chapter, Dr. McClean pays homage to her Jamaican ancestry as she brings forth her imaginative ideas grounded in impeccable and original scholarship.  
 
                                                         Ira Bogotch, Professor of Educational Leadership, Florida Atlantic University

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