From Surviving to Sustaining: Testimonios Examining the Need for and Impact of Embodied Critical Professional Development Among Educators of Color

<p>Literature documents the impacts of systemic racism on Educators of Color, yet how to support these educators remains under-researched. This testimonio study examined how Educators of Color navigate racial battle fatigue and cultivate sustainable, liberatory practice. Grounded in Critical Race Theory, Chicana Feminist Epistemology, and somatics as political practice, this inquiry investigated: What conditions lead Educators of Color to cultivate embodied critical pedagogy, and what impacts emerge when they co-create embodied critical professional development? This study centered on the individual and collective experiences of participants in the Teacher Wellbeing Collective, a 5-month professional learning series. The collection of testimonios is not just documentation of conditions and experiences but a vision of what TK-16 and teacher education can be when professional learning centers their full humanity. The participants theorized that healing is not an individual necessity but a collective one. With trust, mutuality, authenticity, and vulnerability as its foundation, their collective impact extends healing ripples outward toward students, families, communities, and future generations.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Philosophy, PhD

Level thesis:degree_level

Restricted to Claremont Colleges Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

School of Educational Studies

Year dc:date.available

2025

Author dc:creator

• ChenFeng, Andre

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dina Maramba
• Emilie Reagan

• critical pedagogy
• educators of color
• racial battle fatigue
• somatics
• teacher wellbeing
• Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education
• Teacher Education and Professional Development

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/1091

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarship.claremont.edu:cgu_etd-2113