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ABSTRACT
In this article, we introduce co-excavative letter writing as a method for developing racial literacy, deepening relationships, and challenging standard forms of knowledge production. Jordan and Karen, students in Yolanda’s cotaught graduate seminar, developed an epistolary exchange as part of their “(un)final project.” Collaborative epistles challenged the writers to explore their positionalities, allowing them to trace interrelated issues of power and identity in their past and present experiences. The co-excavative letter-writing process makes explicit the individual voices that combine to create coauthored academic articles, highlighting the process of collaboration in a way that traditional academic production obscures.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. I adopted the term (un)final project from my colleague Lalitha Vasudevan when I cotaught the course “Youth, Media and Educational Justice” with her during the 2013–2014 and 2014–2015 academic years. Inspired by a saying from Maxine Greene (Citation2001), “I am what I am not yet” (para. 1), Lalitha suggested that as long as we are living and breathing, no projects should ever be final. This idea greatly impacted me to the point that I do not assign “final” projects in my classes.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Jordan Bell
Jordan Bell is PhD candidate in Urban Education and an Instructor of English at Dutchess Community College, SUNY. His research centers around Racial Literacy, Black Educational Spaces, BlackCrit, Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Education (CRSE), and Oral History.
Karen Zaino
Karen Zaino is a PhD candidate in Urban Education and a lecturer in English Education at Queens College, CUNY. Her research draws on affect theory and queer of color critique to reconceptualize teacher education, critical literacy, and open pedagogy.
Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz
Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz is a poet and an award-winning Associate Professor at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research focuses on racial literacy in teacher education, Black girl literacies, and Black and Latinx male high school students.