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Workshops & seminars, Meetings

Decentring Dominant Narratives in Higher Education through Culturally Responsive and Relevant Pedagogies


Date & time
Wednesday, October 8, 2025
12 p.m. – 1 p.m.

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Speaker(s)

Clarissa de Leon

Cost

This event is free.

Where

Online

This workshop is part of the Contemplative Practices Summit series.

This workshop is part of the Contemplative Practices Summit series. 
Drawing on the work of Dr. Geneva Gay and Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings, this collaborative and interactive session will explore key concepts within Culturally Responsive Pedagogy and Culturally Relevant Pedagogy, demonstrating how they can be used in tandem to challenge dominant white narratives in higher education. Attendees will be guided in an examination of normative teaching practices within their disciplines (or institutions), considering how these practices may perpetuate racial hierarchies. Together, we will discuss how culturally responsive and relevant pedagogies can be used to disrupt and challenge power dynamics in educational spaces. Central questions that will be unpacked in this session include: how can we affirm students’ cultural identities in our approaches to curriculum, classroom environment, and learning activities? How can we create accountable spaces that avoid microaggressions and tokenization? How can we encourage students to develop a socio-cultural critical consciousness?

Session Objectives:

  • Analyze how dominant white narratives create normative teaching practices across various disciplines
  • Unpack points of connection and difference between Culturally Responsive Pedagogy and Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
  • Identify culturally responsive and relevant pedagogies that can be used to challenge racial power hierarchies in higher education

Facilitator’s bio

Clarissa de Leon is an educator with over a decade of experience spanning elementary and post-secondary teaching, as well as education development. Her expertise lies in fostering diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism within educational spaces. Clarissa has taught in the Queen's University Faculty of Education and has worked as an Educational Developer at Queen's University and St. Lawrence College. She also works as an independent anti-racism and anti-oppression education consultant. Her past projects have included collaborations with the Limestone District School Board and The Critical Thinking Consortium. 

Clarissa recently completed her PhD in Education. Her doctoral research focused on supporting BIPoC graduate students in their anti-racist teaching development.

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