1st Edition

Storying Leadership for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Reconceiving Research Dynamics

Edited By Ambika Gopal Raj, Socorro Orozco Copyright 2025
    272 Pages 13 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    This book positions the concept of Storying as integral to leadership in qualitative research, drawing on a wide range of studies and perspectives by diverse, minoritized leaders.  

    Presenting stories of leadership, resistance, diversity, and cultural wealth, these chapters highlight ‘problems of practice’ from Latinx, Black, and BIPOC administrators, special education teachers, EOP community college students,  and parents, including those undocumented. Crucially, the book showcases where ‘leadership in place’ is exemplified through storying, arguing that ‘storying’ is more empowering in qualitative research since it acknowledges the identities and reflexivity of both the researcher and the researched. This significant aspect of research methodology not only addresses cultural historicity but also fosters authentic representations of participant identities and lived experiences. The chapters directly and innovatively address these power dynamics and show how they are re-negotiated within spaces that are culturally relevant, socially situated, and historically constructed. They demonstrate how, through storying, the limits of textual interpretations can be traversed. 

    This unique volume contributes to the growing literature on the largest minority group in the United States and is highly relevant to those with interests in educational leadership, race and ethnicity, research methods, and qualitative research. 

    Foreword

    Lois Andre-Bechely

    Preface

    Ambika G. Raj and Socorro Orozco

    Acknowledgements

    Contributing Authors

    List of Figures and Tables

    Part 1: Theorizing Storying as Empowering Methodology

    1. Storying Conceptions of Leadership

    Ambika G. Raj

    2. Teaching and Researching with Storying: An Epistemic Quest

    Socorro Orozco

    3.  They know that we are powerful: Place, Ways of Knowing, and Leadership

    Marie C. Vea and Kunal Palawat

    4. Parables of Resilience: Storying Black Women Early Childhood Leaders’ Lived Experiences

    Meghan L. Green, Alissa Mwenelupembe, and Kelly Ramsey

    5. Innovating Institutions: Writing New Stories of Educational Leadership

    Madhu Narayanan

    6. “What’s wrong with being Gay?”: Queer Storying in Educational Leadership

    Chrissy Constant

    Part 2: Storying Practices of Culturally Situated Leadership

    7. Latin American Leader-Educators Counterstorying for Social Justice for Designated English Learners

    Sophia Piral Lee

    8. Storying Leadership Through Re/Creating Hidden Structures: Educational Journey Maps and Un/Settling Counter Narratives

    Ambre T. Lee

    9. Storying as Leadership: Multilingual Parents as Authors and Community Leaders

    Laura B. Liu, Anakarína Hurtado, Nancy 純子 Boatner, Karol M. Espinoza Romero, Karen Garrity and A’ame Joslin

    10. Voices of a Silenced Community: Testimonios of Undocumented Parents of Young Children

    Norma L. Castillo

    11. Emerging Mexican American/Chicano Leadership Through Perseverance, Ganas y Corazón

    Joseph A. Sandoval

    12. Changing the Terms of Our Lease: Positionality, Identity, and Renegotiating Space

    Meghan Buchanan, Jennifer Bailey Watters, Kyle-Allen Sanchez, and Dwight Perry

    Part 3: Empowering Leadership Through Storying

    13. The Legacy of Dean Penny: Testimonios of Multi-Generational Women Leaders

    Katrina Struloeff, Karena Escalante, Kimberly Sterin and Ayana Allen-Handy

    14. Storying as an Empowering Pedagogy in Leadership Preparation Programs

    Antoinette M. Ryan, Wesley L.C. Henry, and Paula M. Talty.

    15. Storying the Experiences of Black Mothers to Advance Maternal Health

    Toncé Jackson

    16. A Framework for Storying Leadership: A Conversation between colleagues

    Ambika G. Raj, Lois Andre-Bechely, and Socorro Orozco

     

    Biography

    Ambika Gopal Raj is Professor of Storying and Pedagogy in Educational Leadership in the Division of Curriculum and Instruction at California State University, Los Angeles, USA.  

    Socorro Orozco is Assistant Professor in Mathematics Education and STEM Leadership in the Division of Curriculum and Instruction at California State University, Los Angeles, USA.