Reframing Togetherness: Equity-Focused, Anti-Oppressive Classrooms in Challenging Times
February 19, 2025 @ 1:00 pm - 3:00pm EST
Virtual workshop co-sponsored by the Equity Issues and Student Concerns Subcommittees
Registration is now closed
In a moment where Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Decolonization (EDID) efforts are under overt scrutiny and attack, it is essential for all educators to critically engage with how we continue to cultivate learning environments that prioritize justice, access, and respect for all students.
This interactive event will begin with 3 guest speakers who will offer insights into how, given this political ethos, we might teach about and practice decolonization, disability justice, and anti-Black racism in the classroom in ways that protect and strengthen our collective commitment to creating spaces where every student feels valued, heard, and supported.
Following these insights, attendees will be able to engage in small group conversations (breakout sessions) about their own teaching experiences tied to these issues. Small group conversations will be moderated by members of the Equity Subcommittee and the Student Concerns Subcommittee.
The event will conclude with a large group reflection and discussion of teaching-focused equity work.
Speakers:
Dr. Nadiya Nur Ali, Assistant Professor, Trent University
Nadiya is currently an Assistant Professor in Sociology at Trent University. Nadiya has long been fascinated by the ‘puzzle’ of the social world and the intricate web of relations that comprise our social milieu. This fascination has led to the pursuit of a multidisciplinary international social science career, with a focus on race, racialization, cultural production, and critical creative research praxis. Nadiya has given particular attention to examining and innovatively supporting the pathways of resistance and subject formation that come to be carved out by populations sitting on the receiving end of racializing and marginalizing structures, with particular attention given to Anti-Black Islamophobia. More broadly – Nadiya’s work is rooted in community-engaged scholarship and remains in conversation with and continues to be informed by Black Studies, Critical Ethnic Studies, and Critical Muslim Studies.
Dr. Patty Douglas, Associate Professor, Queen’s University
Dr. Patty Douglas is an Associate Professor of Disability Studies, the Inaugural Chair in Student Success and Wellness, and Director of the Centre for Community Engagement and Social Change in the Faculty of Education at Queen's University. She leads Re•Storying Autism in Education (www.restoryingautism.com), a multimedia storytelling project in Canada, England, and Aotearoa New Zealand that brings together Autistic people, family members, practitioners, educators and artists to reimagine practice in ways that desire the difference of Autism. She draws on participatory, critical art-based, intersectional and decolonial approaches in disability studies, critical autism studies and radical care. Patty identifies as neurodivergent, is a former special education teacher and is the mother of two sons, one of whom attracted the label of autism. Her recent book, Unmothering Autism: Ethical Disruptions and Care Pedagogiesis available from UBC Press.
Dr. Jayne Malenfant, Assistant Professor, McGill University
Jayne Malenfant is an Assistant Professor at McGill University, in Tio'tiá:ke/Montreal. Their work focuses on the educational experiences of young people and adults navigating homelessness, the experiences of Two-Spirit, trans, and non-binary communities navigating housing precarity and institutional harm, and anarchist and community-led education for justice.
Workshop Facilitators
CSA Equity Issues Subcommittee: Dr. Jessica Braimoh, York University, Kristen Hardy, University of Winnipeg, and Dr. Foroogh Mohammadi, Acadia University
Student Concerns Subcommittee: J Overholser, University of Calgary