Intersectional Empowerment: A Framework for Understanding Women of Color Educators in International Schools

• In Event: Navigating the Margins: Race, Power, Gender, and Transformation in International Education

Abstract

Introduction and Purpose
In an increasingly globalized educational landscape, K-12 international schools – educating students from around the world – serve as critical sites of intercultural exchange and knowledge production. Within these spaces, Women of Color Educators (WOCE) occupy unique positions at the intersection of multiple identities and power structures. Historically, international schools have not supported, ejected, and targeted WOCE for introducing inclusion, belonging, and racial justice to these settings. The absence of their knowledge and expertise impacts students, families, and communities. The paper develops a framework capturing WOCE's experiences in K-12 international schools, guided by two questions:
1. How do WOCE in K-12 international schools experience and navigate intersecting oppressions and power dynamics?
2. How does "intersectional empowerment" provide a framework for understanding and amplifying WOCE's knowledge production and transformative practices?
We propose "intersectional empowerment" as a conceptual framework to address these questions, drawing on transnational feminism and borderlands theory.
Perspectives
Intersectional empowerment draws upon scholars advocating for empowering educators and students, integrating key aspects of transnational feminism (Mohanty, 2003) and borderlands theory (Anzaldúa, 1987). Building upon Mohanty's critique of universalist tendencies in Western feminism, emphasizing her understanding of women's diverse experiences across cultural, economic, and political landscapes, and from borderlands theory, intersectional empowerment adopts the concept of "nepantla" (Anzaldúa, 2002a), viewing WOCE as "nepantleras" who inhabit and navigate liminal spaces.
Specifically, Mohanty critiques Western feminism's universalist tendencies, recognizing women's varying cultural, political, and economic contexts. Anzaldúa's borderlands theory examines the liminal spaces WOCE occupy, navigating between cultures, languages, and professional identities. Extending this concept, we propose that WOCE are nepantleras occupying an "educational borderland" that is both a site of struggle and a source for transformation.
Intersectional Empowerment
Our “intersectional empowerment” framework creates a lens to examine how K-12 international school WOCE use their liminal experiences. This intersectional empowerment framework is a multifaceted approach that recognizes and leverages the unique positions, experiences, and knowledge of individuals – specifically WOCE – who navigate multiple, intersecting identities and oppression within transnational spaces. Moreover, intersectional empowerment recognizes that WOCE face a complex matrix of power relations shaped by gender, race, nationality, and professional status. Instead of considering these intersecting forms of oppression as separate issues, intersectional empowerment seeks to address them simultaneously.
Significance
As presented here, intersectional empowerment does not just recognize multiple forms of oppression, but also leverages the unique insights, experiences, and capabilities that arise from navigating these intersections. It sees the complex, transnational positionality of WOCE not as a disadvantage, but as a potential source of innovative practices and transformative power in educational settings. It recognizes that WOCE experiences in international schools can contribute to broader understandings of global power structures and cross-cultural dynamics. We posit that by leveraging their unique positionality, WOCE can enact transformative educational practices.

Authors

• Nayoung Kim-Weaver, University of San Diego

• Jessica Wei Huang, University of San Diego