3: On Working Toward Equitable Learning Communities: Thinking Across National Borders

Through duoethnography, the lens of Critical Race Theory, and the concept of brave space, White Canadian and Diasporic African (African American) cousins and scholars consider the possibilities of reshaping classroom realities in a good way through expanding traditional theoretical approaches to incorporate marginalized voices. School-university-community research incorporating a wider range of theoretical approaches can amplify Indigenous and globally-inflected voices and resources in classrooms from Kindergarten through postsecondary. Decolonizing education and educational research through place-based, contextually- and culturally-responsive, connected learning communities developed through dialogic brave space can contribute to closing educational equity gaps. In our experience, supporting students with pathways to multilingualism and multicultural understanding can provide bridges to cross-cultural communication and understanding. The forms of ontological, epistemological, and linguistic diversity that are included in educational spaces affect the culture of those spaces. Further school-university-community dialog and research is needed to provide culturally-relevant, practical steps to create equitable learning communities.