In narrative research, people’s experiences are collected and analyzed to investigate quality of life and other personal and community issues. In such critical narrative methods genres of interpretations have emerged. As one recent example, Testimonio methodology ( Garcia-Hills, 2021 ) is an anti-racist, anti-colonial, life affirming and spiritually fortifying process for inquiry geared toward transforming oppression and social injustice. Through a collaborative research practice a Testimonio methodology fortifies a sense of community and connection and disrupts traditional researcher/researched dynamics common in academia.
Published in Chapter:
Toward the Freedom of the Human Spirit: Re-Searching and the Role of Leadership and Education
Gabriele Strohschen (DePaul University, USA)
Copyright: © 2022
|Pages: 17
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-6684-4144-2.ch015
Abstract
These days, educators in academia are simply no longer the only knowledge producers and disseminators. Yet, as political, social, economic, ecological, and technological structures are changing, educational leadership is called upon to ready adults for global challenges. The 21st century knowledge society requires leadership with appropriate traits and skills: emotional intelligence; spirituality; finely honed facilitation of learning within cross-cultural, cross-sector, and inter-disciplinary settings; and a willingness toward a praxis of partnering. In this chapter, the author explores the interdependence of the multi-dimensional roles of education, educational leadership, and research. Examined within collaborative and contextual paradigms, she suggests research to become a re-searching to align the purpose of education institutions and the role of educators to empowerment of people by freeing the human spirit in service of creating a sustainable world with critically thoughtful human beings.