Existence in the Gray: a Duo-Ethnography of Dehumanization in Motion

Multiple Presenter Session: Alternative Session

Abstract

This Duoethnography (Lawrence & Lowe, 2020, Leider & Dobbs, 2022) between two red-state institutions explores and responds to the dehumanization of graduate (PhD) students-as-instructors (Wimberly, 2024) teaching multicultural education in higher educational settings through the current Trump Administration, and state-level anti-DEI movements. Grounded in the concept of Nepantla (Anzaldúa 1987; Antuna, 2018; Scott & Tuana, 2017), which describes the ‘in-between’ spaces of identities as they actively negotiate to create social change, we provide a comprehensive view on the experiences of four graduate students from distinct standpoints as they navigate pain and find transformative outlets for solace, support, and intimate connection (Anzaldúa, 2015). Drawing from traditions of decolonial and abolitionist thought, our collaboration brings awareness to the triangulation of education as graduate students, instructors, and humans. Working from our intersections as sites of possibility, we ground our relations in critical social justice commitments toward a humanized future.

Sub Track

• AESA

Presenters

• Ashley Engeler, University of Utah

• Tianna Leigh Bankhead, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

• Vivian Bo Kyung Lee, University of Utah

• Brendan Kachnowski, University of Nebraska - Lincoln