Pedagogical and Leadership. Practices “You Have to Know Their World”: Somali Teacher Epistemologies in Framing Culturally Responsive School Leadership

• In Event: AERA Teachers of Color Handbook Session 2

Abstract

This chapter is a case study examining how the leadership practices of a Black immigrant woman inform the literature and understandings of Culturally Responsive School Leadership (CRSL). The study examines the practice of Ms. Ahmed, a high school English teacher of Somali descent, in a community midwestern K-12 charter school. We use a conceptual frame of decoloniality, while CRSL and othermothering to provide an analytical lens—expanding our understanding of CRSL. We understand othermothering to be a unique expression of decoloniality, and in the context of schooling, expands upon how it is a culturally responsive school leadership practice. This work is grounded in Somali epistemologies, as the Somali conception of a Macalin (teacher) as a Waalid (parent) highlights the student(s)-teacher relationship based on a deep commitment to the child and the community as a whole. This chapter puts forward that Somali communal relationships are rooted in Indigenous African epistemologies centering the interconnectedness between the child’s life and learning with others and with the world. In this chapter, we theorize this particular practice as decolonizing as it recognizes immigrant children’s worth and humanity. We draw on case study methodology to examine interviews and observational data over a six months period. Ultimately, we demonstrate how an immigrant teacher led her school’s culturally responsive school leadership by exemplifying two practices: 1) student centered practice with decolonial orientations; 2) operationalization of familial forms of care as a strategy of repair.

Authors

• Nimo Abdi, The Ohio State University - Columbus

• Stefanie L. Marshall, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

• Muhammad Khalifa, The Ohio State University - Columbus