Rooted in Place: Building Curriculum Through Rural Relationships and Reflexive Inquiry

• In Event: Centering Other Epistemologies in Critical Curriculum Studies

Abstract

This proposal examines how relational curriculum and reflexive inquiry can support justice-oriented teacher education in rural Montana. Drawing on Indian Education for All (IEFA), disability studies, and decolonial frameworks, we use Sealey-Ruiz’s (2022) “Archaeology of Self” to reflexively engage with community knowledge, identity, and place. In a politically charged landscape marked by anti-CRT legislation and curriculum censorship, we examine how inclusive pedagogies rooted in rural relationships foster belonging, resist deficit narratives, and center community assets. Our work offers a pedagogical tool that models critically reflexive approaches to addressing historically situated, place-based knowledge as entryways into more inclusive curricular practices.

Authors

• Alycia M. Elfreich, Montana State University

• Leslie Ann Rogers, Montana State University