With a Little Help from My Friends: The Intersectionality of Friendship and Critical Friendship

Abstract

AbstractIn this chapter, we explore the influence of the ongoing duality of friendship and critical friendship as they impact all aspects of our lives – researchers, teacher educators and, most importantly friends. Drawing on emails, conference presentations, and peer-reviewed manuscripts compiled over five years (and counting) that were all grounded and connected in an ongoing text thread, we argue that without a deep sense of friendship, critical friendships may never reach their full potential. Further exploration of this under examined aspect of self-study work is important if we are to prepare future researchers to leverage self-study as a space to do the necessary work of improving teaching and teacher education practices.