Author | Scholar | Visual Sociologist | Urban Educator |Critical Race | Feminist

My research and work examines equity and justice practices in K-16 education by exploring how students learn about various forms of difference across the human experience through visual texts and urban space and place.

Main video and still photography throughout the site by Laura K. Porterfield

“How we engage with the images we consume on a daily basis shapes how we see and interact with the world.”

Teacher and Scholar

As a critical race theorist and pedagogue, I believe in de-centering privilege. As a woman of color, I see my personal experiences and educational trajectory as part and parcel of what I bring to the class 'table.' I am forthcoming about my agenda to de-center and unpack privilege, and often this means de-centering whiteness, patriarchy, heteronormativity, and xenophobia. I make absolutely no excuses or apologies about my approach: it is why I am here and why I do what I do.

I believe that as educators, we should value meditative silence but not silencing, and this is best achieved through dialogue and reflection. When students have the opportunity to approach a text or a concept through talk, I believe that they begin the process of seeing themselves as having knowledge worth sharing and knowing. Through the process of dialogue – to call on Freire - a recognition of mutual humanity occurs.