Overview
While we aim to articulate the specificities of each system of oppression, we recognize that all systems of oppression are interconnected in their goals and the violence that they perpetuate against historically oppressed populations. Common threads of dehumanization, domination, exploitation and erasure connect each form of oppression as they act to maintain the status quo in our conceptions of leaders, leadership, and community.
In the naming of each system of oppression, we seek to make strange the constructed logics that allow their persistence in our institutions of learning and leadership. The descriptions provided here provide points of entry and reference in our conversations on leadership, however they are by no means exhaustive; they are the beginnings of a dialogue towards anti-oppressive praxis.
As we shift our focus toward transformative approaches to leadership, we hope to make clear the ways in which these dominant ideologies impact leaders - their development, their influence, and their humanity. It stands that if we recognize the possibilities for leadership to cultivate change, then we must clearly identify what it is we are trying to change and then turn our attention to imagining possible futures.
Cis-Heteropatriarchy
Colonialism, Coloniality and Settler Colonialism
Ableism
If you have come here to help me you are wasting your time, but if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.
— Dr. Lilla Watson