Double-Edged Sword: Understanding the Nature of Agency for Multiply Marginalized and Underrepresented Teachers’ Identity Negotiation

• In Event: Teacher Identity and Agency in Racially and Politically Contested Contexts

Abstract

Using critical narrative inquiry, we explored the nuanced experiences of multiple marginalized and underrepresented (MMU) teachers and examined the ways they negotiated teacher roles and their marginalized social identities within school contexts. Four MMU teachers who identified as people of color and/or members of the LGBTQ+ community were interviewed. Our findings showed that the teachers’ efforts to exercise agency to authentically perform their multiple intersecting identities had both oppressive and empowering facets. They enacted their teacher identities by leveraging or concealing certain social identities while being intentional about creating nurturing spaces for their students. These findings suggest that safe school environments are needed for MMU teachers to exercise their agency and authentically enact their teacher identities while engaging their students.

Authors

• Ji Y. Hong, University of Arizona

• Dionne Cross Francis, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

• Taylor A. Roloff, University of Arizona

• Faqryza Ab Latif, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

• Jing Zhao, Educational Psychology

• Soojeong Lee, University of Arizona

• Himanshi Pradhan, University of Arizona

• Paul A. Schutz, University of Arizona