Tag: positionality

Becoming (Remember) was recorded on April 18, 2021. Lynn began the session by reading her poem, “Becoming Reach” which encapsulated the ideas, feelings, and energies of the previous session.

“The Birds Who Flew Beyond Time” by Anne Baring and read by Pat Berberich. Here is a summary of the book found online:

A modern retelling of the Sufi parable, “The Conference of the Birds,” a poem written in the thirteenth century by Farid ud-Din Attar. In this retelling, the birds of the Earth, led by the Hoopoe, respond to Her call for help and set out on a journey to find the Great Being over the edge of time. In the course of this journey they encounter and overcome the power of the seven invisible monsters who are threatening the life of the planet.

In this part of the session, Cristina talks briefly about Dr. Cynthia Dillard’s latest work, “The Spirit of Our Work: Black Women Teachers Remember.” She also discusses her positionality in relation to her ancestry.

Further, here is an online description of The Spirit of Our Work: Dr. Cynthia Dillard centers the spiritual lives of Black women educators and their students, arguing that spirituality has guided Black people throughout the diaspora. She demonstrates how Black women teachers and teacher educators can heal, resist and (re)member their identities in ways that are empowering for them and their students. Dillard emphasizes that any discussion of Black teachers’ lives and work cannot be limited to truncated identities as enslaved persons in the Americas.