(2023). Mentoring to Subvert Racialized-Gendered Spaces: Critical Perspectives of Black Women Academic Administrators. New Directions for Student Services, n182 p121-131 Sum. Black cis/trans women faculty face many challenges that impact their access to and success within administrative positions. We use critical race feminism (CRF) to highlight the role of mentoring in subverting multiple axes of power Black women encounter along the pathway to academic administration…. [Direct]
(2023). Cycles of Fugitivity: How Black Teacher Fugitive Space Shapes Black Teacher Pedagogies. Equity & Excellence in Education, v56 n4 p560-573. As conservatives ban the teaching of Black history and critical understandings of race across the country, Black teachers are turning again to fugitive pedagogies, or subversive ways of teaching, to counter anti-blackness and imagine the world anew. This study drew on data from interviews, classroom observations, and student focus groups to demonstrate how a Black teacher fugitive professional learning space helped to motivate and inform the pedagogies of a Black secondary school teacher. Using the theoretical framing of BlackCrit and the concept of fugitivity, I share how one teacher reflected on and made sense of how his participation in this professional learning space impacted his pedagogical practice. The research provides insight into how Black teachers learn to use fugitive pedagogies to create Black-affirming collective learning spaces for their students…. [Direct]
(2023). Making a Case for Exemplary Principal Leadership for Racial Equity. Thresholds in Education, v46 n2 p193-208. The concurrent crises of climate change, a pandemic, and social unrest have laid bare systemic inequities in our economic, health, education, and criminal justice institutions that negatively impact people of color. School leaders face unprecedented challenges as they navigate these dilemmas and are compelled to address the implicit biases and resulting behaviors and policies responsible for the opportunity gaps in their schools. A path to equitable educational opportunities for all students in an era beset with compounding crises can begin with a new focus on character and virtues to provide a framework for right action. This prioritization of character and virtues dates back to nineteenth-century American educator Horace Mann, who asserted that the goal of public education should be to instill character and civic virtue. Our proposition that the philosophical analysis of character and virtue can be an effective framework for leading for educational equity is followed by an example… [PDF]
(2024). A Composite Counterstory of Latinx Faculty Navigating and Resisting a Culture of Niceness. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, v23 n2 p104-120. Latinx faculty play a significant role in supporting the success of Latinx students. However, a culture of niceness at Historically White Serving Institutions with Hispanic-Serving Institution designations could reproduce inequities for Latinx faculty and thus contribute to their departure. We created a composite counterstory from interview data with Latinx faculty to illustrate how Latinx faculty created validating and supporting environments to critique and collectively transform the culture of niceness…. [Direct]
(2024). 'This Is Almost Like Ruby Bridges': Young Children's Demonstration of Racial Literacy. Race, Ethnicity and Education, v27 n1 p118-137. Young Children of Color in the United States experience the effects of racism on a daily basis. There have been calls for anti-bias and anti-racist education across the field of education, yet most recommendations are based on older students or studies in laboratory settings. Additionally, state and local governments have enacted legislation designed to make it harder for teachers to engage in anti-racist, anti-oppressive education. In this ethnographic study of two early childhood classrooms, children explored individual and collective racialized identities and investigated the role of race in the lives of children across time, including 6-year-old Ruby Bridges, who integrated New Orleans schools in 1960. Children also applied theories of justice to ideas about race. Findings suggest racial education should support students' racial inquiry by acknowledging what they already experience, do, and wonder about race…. [Direct]
(2024). Solidarity on the Screen and Six Feet Apart? DisCrit Mothering amid Multiple Social Crises. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education (QSE), v37 n9 p2582-2599. In justice movements, solidarity means showing up for the humanity of others. This paper explores DisCrit mothering as a form of solidarity with children and families dehumanized by ableism and racism. As three motherscholars, who occupy varying spaces of privilege/marginalization in the academy, we reflect on our attempts to support our communities through DisCrit mothering, especially amid a global pandemic, uprisings for racial justice, and ongoing climate crises. As we encountered physical distance from our children's learning communities, we asked: What might solidarity look like? To answer this question, we share how we attempted solidarity from a distance…. [Direct]
(2024). Wall of Whiteness: Applied Theatre and Institutional Life. Research in Drama Education, v29 n4 p570-582. This essay urges the field of applied theatre to extend its critical focus to examine how whiteness differentially shapes our institutional homes, scholarship, and creative practice. Drawing from Sara Ahmed's (2012) notion of 'institutional life', the essay takes readers into my academic home at the University of Missouri, a predominantly white public institution in the middle of the US, to examine my direction of a critical performance effort, "The Revolutionists" Project. Throughout the essay, I show how a wall of whiteness shaped the design of the performance project and, as such, worked to obstruct critical conversations about racism and institutional life…. [Direct]
(2024). Racialized Lived Experience and Equitable Decision-Making among Philanthropic Leaders: A Narrative Inquiry. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, Pepperdine University. This qualitative study explored the influence of racialized lived experiences (RLEs) on equitable decision-making among philanthropic leaders, employing a narrative inquiry approach. It examined how diversity within philanthropy, beyond tokenistic representation, can introduce a wide range of perspectives that enhance equitable decision-making processes. The study emphasized the significance of RLEs in philanthropic leadership and decision-making, despite potential institutional constraints on grant processes. Twenty philanthropic leaders from various backgrounds, including private and family foundations, community foundations, and corporate social responsibility initiatives, participated in the study. Utilizing a critical race conceptual and theoretical framework, the researcher analyzed philanthropic leader's narratives of race, racism, and equity relative to equitable decision-making and grantmaking praxis. These narratives were collected through interviews framed as… [Direct]
(2025). Ethnoracial Diversity of the Special Educator Workforce over Time. Exceptional Children, v91 n2 p144-165. Teachers of color are critical for improving students' educational experiences and outcomes, especially for students of color. Yet, more than 80% of special education teachers (SETs) in U.S. public schools are white. Thus, we examined how the ethnoracial diversity of the SET workforce changed over time, from 2012-2021, in relation to the increasingly ethnoracially diverse population of students with disabilities. Analyzing multiple waves of several nationally representative datasets, we found that any growth in the number of SETs of color nationally is wholly insufficient to keep pace with growth in the population of students of color with disabilities. With growing ethnoracial disparities between the SET workforce and the population of students with disabilities, race-evasive recruitment and retention initiatives are not justifiable. Instead, coordinated, race-conscious policies and practices are needed across policy, teacher education, and in-service school districts, to foster a… [Direct]
(2008). Examining Parent Involvement in Reversing the Underachievement of African American Students in Middle-Class Schools. Educational Foundations, v22 n1-2 p79-98 Win-Spr. In this study, the authors examined the school experiences of middle-class African American parents and students, because they are largely overlooked in the professional literature when it comes to underachievement and parent involvement. Although No Child Left Behind (NCLB) highlights parent involvement and school accountability through the use of test data, the authors posit that non-White and non-Asian students in middle-class schools are frequently overlooked in the reporting and investigation of school achievement, particularly as it relates to parental involvement and engagement. Using Critical Race Theory (CRT) as a conceptual framework to examine parent involvement as it pertains to African Americans in middle-class schools, the authors attempt to account for an explicit intersection of race and class to be used in their analysis. CRT allows for the incorporation of counterstorytelling as a methodological tool so that parent voice can be a focus of this study. The purpose of… [PDF] [Direct]
(2022). Critical Whiteness Studies and Racial Justice Activism with White Student Affairs Professionals. New Directions for Student Services, n180 p27-37 Win. Using Critical Whiteness Studies (CWS), two student affairs professionals share their personal narratives about their professional practice. Each reflect on how they challenge white supremacy both personally and professionally. We provide recommendations for using CWS as a framework to inform racial justice activism and support with white student affairs professionals…. [Direct]
(2022). From 'What Is' toward 'What If' through Intersectionality: Problematizing Ableist Erasures and Coloniality in Racially Just Research. International Journal of Research & Method in Education, v45 n4 p356-369. Drawing from critical theory and intersectionality, we speak with and through racially just methodologies and epistemologies to problematize who is being centred, for what purpose, and encourage the visibilizing of identities not explicitly engaged within this work. We argue that for racially just research to challenge how whiteness and ableism are embodied by traditional research design approaches it needs to problematize the coloniality wedded in such commitments and bear witness to the importance that disability identities, culture, justice, and freedom have in this endeavour. We first unpack what racially just methodologies and epistemologies have enquired from the late 1990s-2020, as well as where disability and coloniality have been represented (erased) in this work. Then, we engage with Mignolo's seminal theorization of "epistemic disobedience" and its importance in the generation of our thesis. Finally, we make visible the need to conceptualize the margins within… [Direct]
(2022). "Education as the Practice of Freedom?" — Prison Education and the Pandemic. Educational Review, v74 n3 p685-703. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic there has been a corner of society where the spotlight has not fallen — the black hole of prisons, confining predominantly poor, minoritised and often younger adults. Globally, during the pandemic, people detained in prison have been locked away in solitary, or near solitary, confinement for up to 23-hours a day. In the UK, this meant choosing between fresh air, exercise or a phone call to loved ones each day. There has been little mention of education. Those in custody endured over a year locked in a cell without access to basic education let alone Higher Education (HE). In examining the state's responsibility to provide "education for all", we demonstrate, through our collective participation in the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Programme, the value and importance of prison education beyond the current focus on risk, responsibility and recidivism. We evidence the transformative and humanising potential of HE in prison through three key… [Direct]
(2022). Managing Racial Integration in BRICS Higher Education Institutions. Bulgarian Comparative Education Society, Paper presented at the Annual International Conference of the Bulgarian Comparative Education Society (BCES) (20th, Virtual, Jun 2022). The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were developed by the United Nations in 2015 to encompass universal respect for equality and non-discrimination regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, and cultural diversity. Since 2000, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) have aligned with SDG 4.3 by developing higher education institutions (HEIs) which aims to "By 2030, ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university". This was intended to create equal opportunities and permit full realisation and prosperity of human rights and human dignity. This paper explores the effectiveness of managing racial integration in BRICS HEIs and illustrates remarkable progress in research and policy enactment. Particular attention is devoted to the period from the mid-2000s when evidence around the globe exposed the presence of many forms of violence, which inhibit management of effective racial… [PDF]
(2006). Color, Race, and English Language Teaching: Shades of Meaning. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates (Bks) The unique contribution of this book is to bring together Critical Race Theory and narrative inquiry and apply them specifically to a largely overlooked area of experience within the field of TESOL: What does it mean to be a TESOL professional of color? To address this question, TESOL professionals of color from all over the world, representing a wide range of racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds, offer accounts of their own experiences, responding to two related questions: (1) Can you identify critical events or conditions in your personal or professional life that are the result of you being a person of color that affect who you are now and what you do as a TESOL professional of color? and (2) What have you learned from these events or conditions that have had a bearing on your life as a TESOL professional of color? This book is intended for researchers, professionals, and students in the field of English language teaching. The book is designed as a text for MATESOL programs… [Direct]