Envisioning Critical Race Praxis in Higher Education Through Counter-Storytelling (HC)

A volume in Educational Leadership for Social Justice
Series Editors: Jeffrey S. Brooks, Monash University,
Denise E. Armstrong, Brock University; Ira Bogotch, Florida Atlantic University;
Sandra Harris, Lamar University; Whitney H. Sherman, Virginia Commonwealth University;
George Theoharis, Syracuse University
While critical race theory is a framework employed by activists and scholars within and outside the confines of education, there are limited
resources for leadership practitioners that provide insight into critical race theory and the possibilities of implementing a critical race
praxis approach to leadership. With a continued top-down approach to educational policy and practice, it is imperative that higher
education leaders understand how critical race theory and praxis can assist them in utilizing their agency and roles as leaders to identify
and challenge institutional and systemic racism and other forms/manifestations of oppression (Stovall, 2004). In the tradition of critical
race theory, we are charged with the task of operationalizing theory into practice in the struggle for, and commitment to, social justice.
Though higher education leaders and leadership programs are often absent in this process, given their influence and power, higher
education leaders need to be engaged in this endeavor.
The objective of this edited volume is to draw upon critical race counter-stories and praxis for the purpose of providing higher education
leaders-in-training and practicing higher education leaders with tangible narratives that
demonstrate how racism and its intersectionality with other forms of oppression manifest within
higher education. An additional aim of this book is to provide leaders with a working knowledge
of the central tenets of critical race theory and the tools that are required in recognizing how they
might be complicit in the reproduction of institutional and systemic racism and other forms of
oppression. More precisely, this edited volume intends to draw upon and center the lived
experiences and voices of contributors that have experienced racism in higher education. Through
the use of critical race methodology and counter-storytelling (Solórzano & Yosso, 2002),
contributors will share and interrogate their experiences while offering current and future higher
education leaders insight in recognizing how racism functions within their respective institutions,
and how they can address it. The intended goal of this edited volume is to translate critical race
theory into practice while emphasizing the need for higher education leaders to develop a critical
race praxis and anti-racist approach to leadership.