Creating Sustainable Sanctuaries: A Collective Liberation Approach to Developing Fugitive Spaces for Educational Communities

• In Event: Resisting Oppression and Navigating Policy in Education

Abstract

As marginalized educators face intensifying political restrictions and surveillance, this theoretical analysis examines fugitive learning spaces as sites of resistance, healing, and collective liberation. Drawing on BlackCrit and the practice of "(re)membering," we analyze historical and contemporary cases of educator resistance to develop a framework for understanding and cultivating sustainable fugitive spaces. Through qualitative comparative analysis, this study identifies how these spaces enable three essential functions: protecting educators from institutional violence, nurturing transformative leadership, and sustaining movements for educational justice. The resulting framework provides educational leaders with practical guidance for co-constructing spaces where marginalized educators can authentically lead and collectively resist while advancing more humanizing and liberatory educational practices.

Authors

• Pete Locher, American University

• Yasmin Elgoharry, University of Connecticut

• Elise Robison, Howard University