“I LIVE This”: Identity Formation of Abolitionist Educators

• In Event: Research in Progress Roundtable Session 3
  In Invited Roundtable: Culturally Responsive Teaching and Teacher Education (Table 6)

Abstract

This study examines how educators develop an abolitionist identity, focusing on the journey of teachers who embrace abolitionist principles to challenge racial oppression in education. Drawing on a framework combining teacher identity formation, radicalization, and abolitionist teaching praxis, the research explores how teachers reflect on and engage with their radicalizing experiences. Through interviews with Bay Area teachers of color, the study investigates how these experiences shape their political and pedagogical commitments. Preliminary findings suggest that teachers' paths to abolitionism are deeply personal, shaped by early encounters with systemic oppression and their work with marginalized students. This research contributes to understanding how teacher identity and critical consciousness evolve, highlighting the role of educators in dismantling oppressive educational structures.

Author

• Estefania Rodriguez Sanchez, Stanford University