ERIC Number: ED418184
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1993
Pages: 23
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Theory, Praxis, and Community Service: Cornerstones of Black Studies. Occasional Paper No. 23.
Jennings, James
Community-based research in Black Studies is a general phrase suggesting that scholarship about blacks should be pursued within a framework of theory, praxis, and community service. Both theory and praxis are critical in order to understand fully how black life experiences have molded and are reflected in American civilization. Theory refers to the building of predictive and projective knowledge about the experiences of blacks, and praxis implies that theoretical understandings of black life experiences should be informed by the concrete experiences of blacks. Community service refers to the idea that students should use their education, as well as the resources of the institution of higher education, to assist in resolving the economic and social problems and challenges of black individuals and communities. The growth of these ideas is traced in the work of W. E. B. Du Bois and Malcolm X. Two major scholarly works that reflect the synthesis of scholarship, praxis, and community service are Kenneth Clark's "Dark Ghetto" (1965) and "The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual" by Harold Cruse, also published in the 1960s. In spite of intellectual and institutional resistance to the synthesis of black scholarship, praxis, and community service, it is imperative that the black community continues to pursue its pedagogical tradition. Black Studies must continue to use the highest standards of intellectual pursuit in ways that connect theory, praxis, and community services. (Contains 20 references.) (SLD)
Publication Type: Opinion Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: Massachusetts Univ., Boston, MA. William Monroe Trotter Inst.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A