Unhidden: The voices of teacher education scholars on disrupting, transforming, and healing toward an antiracist world

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by McQueen

This counternarrative honors abolitionist work in teacher education and calls for humanizing liberatory praxis as collective healing from racism and anti-Black hate. Three critical teacher educators interrogate how their positionalities and schooling-related experiences were shaped by memories of growing up in a racist United States. The text outlines disruption of dehumanizing practices, names victims of white supremacist state violence, and presents an antiracist, social-justice teacher education agenda rooted in joy and transformation.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages28

Reading Time1 h 11 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Antiracism and Social Justice in Teacher Education

Unhidden: The voices of teacher education scholars on disrupting, transforming, and healing toward an antiracist world Mary Candace Raygoza Saint Mary's College of California Aaminah Norris Sacramento State University Raina León Saint Mary's College of California Abstract This counternarrative is an homage to the work of abolition in teacher education and a call to humanizing liberatory praxis as collective healing from racism and anti-Black hate. We, three critical teacher educators, interrogate our positionalities and the experiences within and beyond schooling that have shaped us. We recognize that our identities were informed by our individual memories of growing up in a racist United States. We therefore make space for disruption of practices that continue to (de)humanize us, our students, and their students. We say their names− Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Aubery, George Floyd−as wereplace dehumanization with rehumanizing praxis and a commitment to the journey of seeking freedom through finding joy in our work and in our lives. Our voices are unhidden as we join the resistant and transformational voices of youth and adults in the movement for Black lives. Together we change the world. Keywords: Antiracist teacher education, social justice teacher education, teaching for transformation, praxis, counternarrative 76 AILACTE Special Issue 2021 Voices of Teacher Education Scholars Introduction In the midst of the dual pandemics ofCOVID-19 and ongoing anti-Black racism, we offer what we can as teacher educators to the many teachers and professors navigating the crises of our time. On March 11, 2020, five days before the Shelter in Place directive was issued in the San Francisco Bay Area, we wrote an article together entitled “Humanizing Online Teaching.” What does it mean to teach for a more just, antiracist, humanizing world when we must be physically distant from our students, when we are grieving a world on fire, when we are mourning the loss of our own loved ones, the lives ofAhmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and the many other Black lives taken by white supremacist, state-sanctioned violence? What lessons does the inspiring national and international resistance brought on by the movement for Black lives teach us? What do our own lived experiences teach us? What do our students teach us? What can“social justice education in the classroom and in the streets”(Picower, 2012) teach us? Questions born from a place of radical love for humanity, resistance to all forms of oppression, and a belief in our education system as a vehicle for social change fuel our work. Before the coronavirus pandemic, the three of us had worked together, driven by shared justice-oriented ideologies−discussing program curriculum, supporting our students, and getting to know and hold deep admiration for one another’s work. It was through collaborative work over the past eight months, though, that we dove into extended conversations with one another on our lived experiences, revealing and interrogating our histories and positionalities in our work as teacher educators. Time was now more sacred, more precious. Zoom fatigue was growing more real. Two of us were now suddenly caring full-time for young children alongside our paid work. Instead of spending less time in meetings with one another, we found ourselves spending more time in conversation− storytelling, inspiring one another, and learning what drives us, what we dream for the future, and how we can collectively manifest those dreams into existence in our work together as teacher educators. We were engaging ourselves in what we strive to teach in our teacher education praxis seminars—that we cannot do AILACTE Journal 77 Raygoza, Norris, and León this work alone, that we must disrupt educator alienation through transformative communities of praxis (Martinez, [et. al](et. al), 2016; Navarro, 2018; Picower, 2015). Most notably, Dr. Aaminah Norris’s own invitatio

FAQs

What is the central purpose of the counternarrative in this document?

It pays homage to abolitionist work in teacher education and calls for humanizing liberatory praxis as collective healing from racism and anti-Black hate.

How do the authors frame their approach to disrupting oppressive narratives?

They interrogate their positionalities and the dehumanizing experiences that shaped them, then create space to disrupt practices that (de)humanize educators and students.

What role does resistance and joy play in the authors’ vision for teacher education?

Their voices join resistant and transformational youth and adult efforts, aiming toward freedom by finding joy in teaching work and in daily life.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by McQueen