<i>Kujitambua</i> and <i>Busara</i>: Fostering Self-knowledge and Practical Wisdom in Black Students

Abstract How can educational institutions, from primary to higher, engage in the development of Black students’ racialized self-knowledge? Research has shown that deeper self-realization (self-knowledge) in Black students yields positive results regarding student success (Miquelon and Vallerand 2006; Austin 2018). However, philosophically speaking, what self-knowledge (via one’s Blackness) is, and how we develop it across educational spaces, is still unclear. This article uses the terms Kujitambua (Swahili for “self-knowledge”) and Busara (Swahili for “practical wisdom”) to describe educational aims for schools that desire to seriously engage in Black student’s development through the examination of Blackness. This article utilizes James Baldwin’s and Alain Locke’s assertions about perception, justice, and education to argue that deepening one’s Kujitambua and Busara are critical for Black student success in and beyond school.