Agbára Education LLC offers personalized indigenous educational services designed to support individuals who identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). With more than 30 years of research and practice, we are deeply rooted in providing cultural rites and indigenous learning experiences. In response to the lack of cultural rites in the United States, many BIPOC scholars have emphasized the importance of African-centered rites of passage to help youth transition successfully into adulthood. These rites orient participants to concepts of African cultural identity, cultural restoration, and the successful navigation of life’s transitions.
We extend these practices across the lifespan, offering support to emerging young adults, ages 18 to 25, and beyond. Our hybrid programs are framed by African-centered rites of passage, including the stages of separation, liminality, and re-integration. In addition, we integrate Ifa/Orisa practices to support cultural and spiritual alignment, fostering ongoing personal development. At Agbára Education LLC, we are committed to helping individuals build a strong sense of cultural identity and achieve success through life’s most significant transitions.
Agbára
Agbára, a Yoruba term when translated, means power, and advances African-centered education and cultural learning experiences to enhance positive cultural identity development. This initiative orients participants to concepts of African cultural identity and cultural restoration and aims to facilitate overall success with life phase transitions experienced during emerging adulthood (Brookins, 1996; Hucks, 2014, p. 187; Oladunjoye, 2012). Research reports that culturally specific learning experiences foster positive feelings about one’s culture and aid in positive cultural identity development (Adinku, 2016; Blumenkrantz & Goldstein, 2014; Harvey & Hill, 2004; Piert, 2007; Pratt-Clarke, 2013).
Agbára connects with social justice issues and explores critical social problems associated with the concepts of race and gender’s impact on cultural identity development and learning. Specifically, Agbára conveys facets of African culture and cultural leaning in the African Diaspora and counters social issues linked to racism, marginalization, and oppression among emerging Black/African American female adults, ages 18 to 25, in the United States.
This curriculum is framed by rites of passage and Black Feminism, as informed by Critical Race Feminism. Rites of passage assume critical roles in advancing African-centered education, and in a previous study (Mann-McFarlane, 2020), rites of passage bolstering concepts of Black Motherhood, Black female power served as positive influences on cultural identity development and learning. Further, this community-based education program adopts the position affirming that cultural traditions and values, upheld by a family and community network, instill a positive sense of identity (Hooks, 2015).