Teaching Leadership From Many Grounds: Navigating the Challenges and Possibilities of Multiple Identities

• In Event: Examining Ourselves in Service of Our Mission: Teaching Leadership for Social Justice

Abstract

Given that leadership for social justice requires sensitivity to and inclusion of differences, I come with a lifetime of experience. I come from a mixture of backgrounds: I am Puerto Rican, Taina, Black, urban, suburban, Spanish speaking, English speaking. I teach Educational Leadership, though my doctorate is in a different field. I navigate these diverse worlds on a daily basis.
Though these aspects of my identity have left me feeling like an “other” my whole life, I use this reflection to investigate how questions of identity; feelings of belonging and group identity; conceptions of leadership; and social justice pedagogies can be harnessed to create a sense of groundedness and “enoughness” that is essential in teaching school leadership for social justice.

Author

• Rosa L. Rivera-McCutchen, Lehman College - CUNY