Cinematic Intersection (LoveCraft Country): Women of Color Leadership in Education: Possibility Models for Working Within and Beyond Education for Social Change

Session Type: Invited Speaker Session

Abstract

Inspired by episode 9: “Rewind 1921” this session illuminates themes focusing on the importance of leadership and sacrifice. Both leadership and sacrifice were reflected by characters, one in particular (Leti) walking through fire for her family. Similar themes reflective of women of color and their formidable leadership will be examined. Education is in, arguably, its most precarious times. Neoliberalism, school closings and openings amidst the concentrated impacts of COVID-19 on Black, Latinx, and Indigenous peoples all display the fact that schools/universities are contested spaces. Still, Black and other women of color in formal, high level leadership roles work within and beyond formal and informal educational structures to forge collaborative partnerships, engage communities and promote equity. Although K-12 school districts and higher education remain largely grounded in Eurocentric patriarchal epistemologies and leadership models, both history and the present struggle for educational equity reveals much about what has and can be done when women of color build collective power.

Sub Unit

• AERA Presidential Session

Chair

• Leigh Patel, University of Pittsburgh

Participants

• Talisa Dixon, Columbus City Schools

• Valerie Kinloch, University of Pittsburgh

• Latifat Odetunde, Boston College

• Na'ilah Suad Nasir, Spencer Foundation