A Womanist Analysis of an Asset-Based Anti-Gun Violence Curriculum

Researchers collaborated with a social justice organization to co-design a curriculum for elementary and middle school youth to create an interactive map highlighting community assets as an exploration towards how they might combat gun violence. The curriculum was designed around Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) to engage students in asset mapping for social action. However, the researchers noted a lack of guidance for addressing the systemic underpinnings of gun-violence. In response, the researchers applied a womanist lens-which reflects Black women and women of color's everyday strategies for ending all forms of oppression-to examine how it might shape reflection and iteration on the curriculum. Analyzing curricular resources and codesign notes, the findings highlight the importance of fostering relationships to redistribute power, center dialogue for engaging in tensions, defining a collective communitarian approach with learners, supporting learners in storying their communities, and engaging in care and wellness as resistance.