Harvard Ed. Magazine - Change of Course

“We are our own resource”

Essay by Bryant Odega, Ed.M.

“Know history, know self. No history, no self.” 

Those were the words projected on the wall in the beginning of Christina “V” Villarreal’s T004 Ethnic Studies and Education course. It is a saying written by revolutionary intellectual Jose Rizal, whose writings helped inspire Philippine resistance to Spanish colonization. It is a saying that I’ve often reflected upon throughout the fall semester of 2023, and my last semester this spring as I’ve been student-teaching ethnic studies at a high school in Boston’s southernmost neighborhood, the majority Black, Brown, and beautiful community of Hyde Park. 

From this course I’ve learned that in many aspects, we are our own resource and that by learning our history, we can better know ourselves. It is about being critically conscious of the narratives we are told about ourselves and uncovering counternarratives. Working with Dr. V’s teaching fellow and Ph.D. student Melina Melgoza, I am also reminded about the importance of helping students create new narratives. 

Throughout my student-teaching experience, I’ve had the honor to teach ethnic studies and be a witness to the wisdom and brilliance that my students possess. For example, my students learned about the five elements of hip-hop and, after reading Black Indians by William Katz, used them to showcase how Black and Indigenous people resisted European colonization in the Americas. Students illustrated concepts of resistance, community, and solidarity through powerful poems, songs, and graffiti art. Incorporating hip-hop studies in my practice was inspired by a lesson given by Dr. V’s teaching fellow and Ed.L.D. student, Justis “DJ Faro” Lopez...

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