Abstract
The Ed.D. program in Heritage Leadership for Sustainability, Social Justice, and Participatory Culture at the University of Missouri—St. Louis helps students cultivate the mindsets and skill sets required to sustain, pluralize, and enliven heritage in the public sphere. Although the program primarily meets synchronously online, the January 2020 “Wintercession” field trip to heritage sites in Montgomery, Alabama, provided an opportunity for face-to-face interactions, deep conversation, and reflection. Curricular, conversational, and collaborative inquiry deepened awareness and activated activism toward issues of racial justice. The use of high-impact practices (Kuh, 2008) allowed the cohort and faculty mentors to delve further into heritage leadership themes, including: confronting difficult emotions, recognizing sanctified space, facilitating group bonding and trust building, identifying models for activism, and moving forward in activism. We argue that the emergence of these themes demonstrates the value of immersing students and faculty in a shared, high-impact experience that focused on awareness, remembering, and wondering—the process of imagining the not yet (Keenan-Lechel et al., 2019)—as a means to “activate activism” in a cohort-based Ed.D. program.
Highlights
This journal is published by the University Library System of theAt the Legacy Museum, students had an opportunity to visualize the past, to be caught short by an image or artifact, to engage with the experiences of perpetrators and victims, and to reflect on the justifications that allowed such dehumanization to persist
In August 2019, the University of Missouri—St
Vlad Glăveanu, a Swiss scholar of creativity, culture, and the arts, views creativity as an emergent property of experiences that open people up to difference and to the perspectives of others. He maintains that creativity is embedded within a given representational space, but as individuals communicate and as collaboration unfolds, a common representational space emerges “where cultural norms and systems of thought are played with—where representational elements turn into symbolic resources” (Keenan-Lechel et al, 2019, p. 653)
Summary
At the Legacy Museum, students had an opportunity to visualize the past, to be caught short by an image or artifact, to engage with the experiences of perpetrators and victims, and to reflect on the justifications that allowed such dehumanization to persist Perhaps most importantly, they considered how this diminishment challenges us today. We paid special attention to the differing responses of white and black students--in particular, how they approached the museum and memorial and related the difficult histories to their own experiences. This learning experience represented an engagement with what Alderman and associates (2020) term “affective heritage,” in that students focused largely on feeling and emotion, encouraging student resolve toward activism in their emerging careers as heritage leadership professionals. (Keenan-Lechel et al, 2019) as a means to “activate activism” in a cohort-based Ed.D. program
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: Impacting Education: Journal on Transforming Professional Practice
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
