Women's Blackness in Educational Leadership Across the Continents: A Call for Inclusion

• In Event: Innovative International Research

Abstract

Two scholars apply the centuries-old model of the griot to tell stories of Blackness among women leaders across continents and to interrogate and challenge women’s subaltern status in Costa Rica, Rwanda, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Confronting the privileged status of white Europeans’ dominance, we offer three lenses to invite application in educational leadership curriculum. First, we present our positionality and describe our transnational Black feminist theory frame. Second, we offer women leaders’ stories and salient themes from our investigations in the four nations. Finally, we present a model of how Blackness can be infused as a cross-cutting theme throughout educational leadership curriculum, forming a signature pedagogy and inviting a prominent role in leadership preparation.

Authors

• Elizabeth C. Reilly, Loyola Marymount University

• Victoria Showunmi, UCL Institute of Education, London