Belly Laughs, Grins, and Giggles: Humanizing Black Joy in the Social Work Classroom

Overview: Traditionally, social work employs a deficit model in research and conversations used to inform both curricula and practice related to Black people. This interactive workshop explores the importance of positive images of Black people and highlights how to incorporate discussions of Black joy in the social work classroom.Proposal text: Too often, conversations, in social work classrooms, that focus on Black communities are deficit based and fail to acknowledge the strengths of Black people. Instead of pathologizing Black bodies and locating chronic pain, despair and dysfunction within the same, the social work classroom must become a place that acknowledges, encourages, and ultimately celebrates Black Joy in every form it takes. What is Black Joy? Black Joy is unabashed happiness. Black Joy is ease. Black Joy is comfort. Black Joy is freedom. Black Joy is peace. Black Joy is laughter. Black Joy is perpetual childhood. South African poet Koleka Putuma writes: “Isn’t it funny? / that when they ask about black childhood / all they are interested in is our pain / as if the joy-parts were accidental,” (Putuma, 2017).

The beauty of Black Joy is that the above list is not finite. Black Joy is best experienced multi-sensorially. See Black Joy (smiles/grins), hear Black joy (belly laughs/giggles), (through creation) taste Black joy, smell Black joy. Touch your fingertips to the pulse at your wrist after you engage in/think about your own personal experience with joy. FEEL Black joy. In all those ways, we CREATE Black joy. We ARE Black joy. Or at least, we can be.

The Black body and mind is commodified within the history and understanding of Blackness as property and as a result Black people are seen as devoid of agency, feeling, and, more importantly, joy. Indeed, our commodity “seems to be the only way that audiences can engage with our unique voices” (Cardwell, 2015). Within the classroom, Black students often bear witness to the abstraction of Black pain for the advancement of instruction. We become subjected to our stories and experiences being used as commodities; a reality that, at most times, feels inescapable. In order to express Black joy with no inhibitions, we must oppose the conditions that mandate the absence of our joy.

This workshop will further illuminate Black Joy from a global perspective. Fanon (1965) states, “it is at the heart of national consciousness that international consciousness lives and grows.”, thus we posit Black Joy as a transnational testament. The social work classroom is a space where multiple forms of Blackness are present from students all over the globe and several practitioners practice beyond the scope of the United States. Therefore, it’s imperative that a transnational lens is applied to Black Joy expressions.

This session will invite participants to reconcile the current climate of the social work classroom with the boundless, transformative potential inherent in eliminating the barriers to Black Joy. Participants will have opportunities to think about ways to celebrate the abundance of Black joy. In addition to rich dialogue, facilitators will guide participants through an immersive, multi-sensory experience incorporating audio-visual art, culinary delights, textures, and aromatherapy. Facilitators will offer strategies to honor the multiple ways of knowing, living, and embodying Black Joy.