The Diversity Scholars Network presents a two-part event on Autoethnography, Authenticity, and Resisting Colonial Paradigms in Higher Education

How can we disrupt the colonial paradigms that shape higher education and foster learning spaces rooted in authenticity, storytelling, and critical love? In collaboration with Dr. Liz DeBetta, Dr. Cristina Sánchez-Martín and Prof. RAsheda Young (Fulbright-Hays Fellow), the Diversity Scholars Network presents a dynamic two-part webinar engaging with the power of autoethnography as a practice of resistance and liberation.

This event brings together our presenters to explore how autoethnography, counterstory, and decolonial pedagogy disrupt oppressive structures in higher education. Drawing from Dr. DeBetta’s forthcoming book chapter, Young’s work on how Ubuntu — "I am because you are" — shapes teaching practices that center radical love, humanity, and linguistic justice, and Sánchez-Martín’s research on multilingualism and radical belonging, this session examines how storytelling, embodied pedagogy, and linguistic justice serve as tools for liberation. Rooted in Black feminist thought and decolonial frameworks, this discussion challenges the erasure of marginalized voices and reimagines the classroom as a site of resistance and transformation.

Part I – April 22: Radical Love, Autoethnography, and Decolonial Pedagogies — How can educators employ language and storytelling to resist colonial paradigms in higher education?​ Presentation by Professor RAsheda Young, and Dr. Cristina Sánchez-Martín

Moderator:

Keenan Colquitt, Jr., Ph.D. - Program Manager for Diversity Scholar Engagement

Panelist:

Dr. Cristina Sánchez-Martín, Assistant Professor in the Department of English at the University of Washington
Professor RAsheda Young, Assistant Teaching Professor for the Writing Program at Rutgers University

Part II – April 23: Autoethnography and the Classroom as a Site of Resistance — How can feminist educators disrupt colonial paradigms and create inclusive, anti-oppressive learning spaces? Presentation by Dr. Liz DeBetta

Moderator:

Keenan Colquitt, Jr., Ph.D. - Program Manager for Diversity Scholar Engagement

Panelist:

Dr. Liz DeBetta, Advocacy Program Manager in the Center for the Education of Women+ at the University of Michigan

Join us for a critical dialogue on how authenticity, storytelling, and transgressive approaches can transform the landscape of higher education.