Abstract:
This chapter features a blend of Black third-wave feminist, critical race theory, and critical pedagogical perspectives complemented by autoethnographic methodology. The author relates three counter-stories of her multiracial children’s schooling journey revealing ways in which she fostered and negotiated relationships and alliances with teachers, administrators, and school personnel in the United States (US) and as an American immigrant of color living in Aotearoa-New Zealand (NZ). This contribution reveals (1) a Kindergarten experience with the author’s son in the United States (US) (S. CA); (2) a bilingual (Spanish-English) second grade experience with her daughter in the US (S. CA); and (3) her and her children’s combined experiences as 8 and 10 year olds in a bilingual (Māori-English) blended classroom in Auckland, NZ. The process and product associated with each layered account, has given rise to an accessible counter-narrative and inquiry process that serves to challenge canonical ways of producing and relating scholarship. This chapter aims to raise consciousness among scholars, practitioners and others interested in promoting cultural change vis-à-vis improvement in educational spaces.
