Critically Conscious Reciprocal Mentoring Framework: Alleviating Dilemmas in Critical Conscious Discourse Through Community

• In Event: Critically Conscious Reciprocal Mentoring: Reimagining and Renewing the Egalitarian Learning Community

Abstract

Academic mentorship networks traditionally follow the notions of mentoring established by Informal and Formal mentorship scholarship. Formal mentorships begin as a result of compulsion. Whereby, a "novice" is assigned a mentor to guide the professional development of the novice. However, there are dynamics of power inherent in this type of mentorship. The relationship experiences strain through the imbalance of power between mentors and their proteges. By nature of placing someone perceived to be an expert with a novice, a barrier girded by a hierarchical structure of power conceptualizes one person as an empty receptacle to be filled by the other (Friere, 1972).

In contrast to formal mentorship, Informal mentoring and its benefits remain under-studied. Informal mentorships form when one chooses a mentor rather than having one assigned. Informal mentoring defines the network as one naturally chooses to engage in for profession and personal growth (Inzer, 2005). The novice sees the expert as an equal rather than a superior. However, informal mentorship is still plagued by the imbalance of power through the way knowledge is shared. The Critically Conscious Reciprocal Mentoring (CCRM) framework aims to achieve equity and liberation and the professional and personal benefits offered by informal mentorships. CCRM provides an egalitarian framework where learning and knowledge flow in a multi-directional pattern where each member acts as a mentor and mentee to the network. A CCRM community requires the membership of persons that value the funds of knowledge available in diverse networks.

This autoethnographic case study (Creswell, 2016; Fetterman, 2019; Fusch, Fusch, & Ness, 2018), describes how an African American female doctoral student experienced critically conscious discourse as a participant of a CCRM community. The community consisted of graduate students and faculty at a Primarily White Institution (PWI). The Transformative Learning Theory (TLT) lens will interpret instances of critical thinking, relationship-building, and reflective action that develop as a result of critically conscious discourse. The integration of the TLT lens and other critical theory lenses resulted in the emergence of the Critically Conscious Reciprocal Mentoring (CCRM) framework. The research reveals that the CCRM framework facilitates opportunities for critical conscious discourse that fosters critical thinking, relationship-building, and reflective action. Data collection took place in formal (i.e., class, meetings, residential mentoring sessions) and informal (i.e., Salon of Sorts, social gatherings) via field notes, audio recordings, questionnaires, journal reflections, and group artifacts, and documents. An investigation of each community's structural processes, experiences, and spaces of study should reveal processes that afford opportunities for critical discourse. Discourse analysis will code the communities' processes into themes. Results will discuss each theme perceived to facilitate critical consciousness discourse and reimagine the current definition of informal mentorship. This research fills the literature gap identified by Geneva Gay et al. (2010) that found that Teacher educator-students are avoiding discourse regarding solving real-world political and social issues concerning K-12 education. This research aims to reduce resistance by offering Teacher educators, teacher education students, and K-12 teachers an approach to successfully engaging students in critical conscious discourse.

Author

• Karynecia Elizabeth Conner, Baylor University