Mutual Mentorship: Exploring Politicized Trust Within QTPOC (Queer and Trans People of Color) Relational Practices

• In Event: Challenging Dominant Structures in Mentoring, Math, Data, and Making

Abstract

While scholarship in learning sciences have called for racial justice efforts to prioritize identity-safe learning environments, learning scientists are just beginning to draw on Queer Theory to facilitate relational approaches to challenge dominant power systems (McWilliams, 2016; Uttamchandani, 2019). Acting as both researcher and participant, my research explores the micro-genesis of identity-safety as four Queer and Trans People of Color gather to discuss mentorship strategies. Using video and discourse analysis, I draw on the notion of politicized trust (Vakil et.al, 2016), to explore participants’ attunement to the political and ethical dimensions of trust. In my proposed presentation, I will discuss how participants’ relational practices inform the enactment of politicized trust and the implications of politicized trust for designing identity-safe learning environments.

Author

• Shivani Dave, University of California - Los Angeles