Refusing Erasure: Black and Indigenous Women Educational Leaders Talk Back!

• In Event: Decolonizing Professional Learning

Abstract

Purpose
The field of educational leadership is at a crucial moment for both theory and practice – it is finally reckoning with the idea that school leadership must embrace diversity, equity, and inclusivity, and the nuances of how identity impacts both leadership and the ability to interrupt systems of oppression across schools. While there is research that deconstructs the need for school administrators to engage in equity, diversity and inclusion, few research studies have explored how racialized and gendered school administrators navigate school leadership and there are particularly serious gaps in the literature regarding Black and Indigenous women school administrators’ experiences. This study explored the experiences of Black and Indigenous women school administrators working to create safe and supportive environments within public schools in Ontario.

Perspectives
To situate the study, lead researcher uses the theoretical frameworks of Black feminist thought (Hill-Collins, 2000; Hull, et.al; hooks, 1984, 2015a): Indigenous feminisms (Green, 2007; Suzack, 2015; Suzack et al, 2010; Smith, 2005), critical race theory in education, specifically, the tenets of intersectionality (Crenshaw, 2017) and counter-storytelling (Solórzano & Yosso, 2002). Per the literature, these intersections position them at the center of a dangerous matrix of domination and oppression (Hill-Collins, 2000), requiring a delicate quest for understanding, processing, and analyzing their sacred experiences. While the experiences of Black and Indigenous women are different, there are several ways that their experiences mirror each other (i.e., legacy of systemic oppression due to colonization and the institution of slavery, intersectional identities as racialized people who are also gendered as women). With the added component of the participants’ roles in leadership positions within public schools and added context of leading during a global health pandemic and period of increased racial awareness; it is important to gauge to what degree their identities, ability to serve, and external success is measured.

Methods
Our study involved semi-structured online interviews with Black and Indigenous educational leaders working in Ontario schools. We conducted in-person interviews (1-2 hours) and collected ethnographic data for each participant.

Results
Researchers employed a comprehensive thematic analysis of each participant’s contribution, to guide collective meaning-making as patterns and salient themes arose from the data (Boyatzis, 1998; Creswell, 2003). It provided the chance to understand how participants’ intersecting identities are at play as they lead, as well as elevate the nuances between and among participants. Three main themes emerged: Critical hope as Resistance, Solidarity through Survivance, Healing as a necessary and ongoing practice. Findings from this research project suggest that Black and Indigenous women school administrators have much in common in their approach to work, the collective ways in which they engage in the world, and how they define healing and their collective need for it.

Significance
Findings can inform current educational leaders, as well as scholars interested in Black and Indigenous solidarity, critical race, and feminist theories in education. Documenting these experiences provides avenues for co-production of knowledge, professional collaboration and ultimately transform the educational leadership of Black and Indigenous women school leaders.

Author

• Whitneé L. Garrett-Walker, University of San Francisco