Critical Leadership Pedagogy: Engaging Power, Identity, and Culture in Leadership Education for College Students of Color

Abstract

This chapter focuses on how the application of critical pedagogy to leadership education allows for issues of identity, power, and culture to shape the process of leadership learning. Examples from the authors’ work with various populations of students of color are used to illustrate critical leadership pedagogy.

Defining ourselves: Exploring our leader and activist identities as Asian American women doctoral students.

“…Increasingly, studies of student activism on college campuses document the leadership skill building that accompanies the work of activism, such as influencing supporters, creating agendas for change, and consensus building (Elkins & Elkins, 2019;Kezar et al, 2017;Martin et al, 2019). These trends parallel the social change model of leadership development designed to understand college students' experiences with leadership in advocacy contexts (Pendakur & Furr, 2016), and they illustrate how leadership and activism do not emerge in a vacuum. Instead, there are many external forces comprised of the "relevant actors, contexts, time, history, and how all of these interact with each other to create what is eventually labeled leadership" (Avolio, 2007, p. 25).…”

“…Given that most of the leadership literature is written by upper-middle class white men, leadership and activism work enacted by people of color outside of academia is often overshadowed (Dugan, 2017; Wilson & Johnson, 2015). Yet, as several scholars note, the behaviors and values of those who do the work of leadership and activism are often influenced by the cultural identities that shape these individuals, even though these identities are often not acknowledged as explicit mediators (Guthrie et al, 2013; Museus et al, 2016; Pendakur & Furr, 2016; Stewart & Quaye, 2019). Sometimes, however, efforts to centralize the cultural identities of these leaders perpetuate stereotypes about racialized groups.…”

Being at the Heart of the Matter: Culturally Relevant Leadership Learning, Emotions, and Storytelling

“…Leadership scholars have noted the parallels between relational models of leadership and teaching and have argued that effective leadership pedagogy should reflect the leadership content being taught (Meixner & Rosch, ; Rosch & Anthony, ; Thompson & Couto, ). Furthermore, regarding teaching strategies for developing CRLL, critical pedagogies have been found to be effective teaching tools (Dugan & Komives, ; Guthrie et al, ; Guthrie, Bertrand Jones, Osteen, & Hu, ; Mahoney, ; Pendakur & Furr, ). Therefore, I believe storytelling can be another effective critical pedagogical practice, which draws its strength in a comprehension of embodied emotions.…”

Leading at the crossroads: Understanding how identity influences presidential communication for Black community college presidents

“…For example, microaggressions and acts of racism from campus and community members alike can be challenging to presidents of color, especially at predominantly White institutions (PWI) in the United States (Jones, 2019;Mickles, 2005;Smith, 2004). While there is no shortage of research on leadership in higher education, there is a need for additional work that provides insight into the lived experiences of leaders of color in higher education (Ospina & Foldy, 2009;Pendakur & Furr, 2016), specifically those who are university presidents at PWIs.…”