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Using a research paradigm inspired by a postcolonial approach and Indigenous ways of knowing, this student's qualitative grounded theory study examines educators' perceptions of the characteristics of liberatory spaces in higher education. Friere, hooks, and so many others describe institutions of higher education as sites that replicate inequities and perpetuate dominant power structures, which furthers injustice. My student's research suggests that liberatory spaces cultivate the opposite - freedom, liberation, and transformation. She describes liberatory spaces in the following way:
Liberatory spaces are built and designed to engage in the work of individual and collective liberation from dominant power (Jones, 2021). Liberatory spaces are designed for power to be shared and all those who are part of it are responsible for holding and creating that space (hooks, 1994). These spaces can be identified as spaces that allow participants to co-build and foster community (hooks, 1994). These liberatory spaces center participants who are most vulnerable to inequity, inequality, and injustice (Jones, 2021). In addition, these spaces allow participants to engage in ongoing critical thought, prioritize lifelong learning, develop and sustain individual and collective empowerment, practice ongoing reflection and self-awareness and amplify individual voices (Arao & Clemens, 2013; hooks, 1994; Love, 2019; Patel, 2021). (Davis, M., 2024)
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