Victim, Survivor, Educator Advocate: A Retrospective Analysis of My History With Childhood Sexual Abuse

• In Event: Foregrounding the Relational in Teacher Education Practice

Abstract

This inquiry is a retrospective analysis of my journey from victim of childhood sexual abuse to survivor to teacher educator advocate. I have compiled documents (personal and professional journals, memory pieces, and teaching resources) that I have written across the span of my academic career relative to my journey. Using tools of discourse analysis, I considered how I am positioned in the texts, the tone of the texts, and how I present my agency. My aim is to detail and understand the transformation I have undergone. My hope is that illuminating my process might benefit other educators in coming to terms with their own childhood trauma(s) and how trauma(s) shape who they are and how they teach.

Author

• Valerie A. Allison, Susquehanna University