Claudia Diaz-Diaz

• intersectional, feminist, and anti-colonial theories and pedagogies
• teacher education and climate justice education
• critical qualitative research methodologies
• critical studies of childhood and youth

I’m Claudia Diaz, Assistant Professor of Leadership Studies. I joined the Faculty of Education at UVic in July 2022. I’m a settler of Latin-American background. Before I immigrated to Canada, I was born and raised in the territories of the Mapuche people, also known as the Wallmapu. These lands are colonially known as Chile.

My research brings critical perspectives to the study and practice of education. My trajectory is grounded in ten years of experience as an early career researcher, popular educator, and educational consultant in Chile and Canada. As a researcher, I draw on intersectional feminist approaches and Indigenous theorizing to problematize the persistence of colonial and extractive relationships in educational settings. I am committed to working with communities to support leaders by moving away from managerial to more relational and collective approaches to leadership.

The experiences and worldviews of Indigenous and students of colour, immigrants, and 2SLGBTQ+ communities are central to my scholarship. Their knowledge and brilliance are vital to transforming education into a place where educators and learners imagine more livable and just futures while acknowledging the global environmental, social, and economic crisis we live in.

My scholarship focuses on three key areas: 1) critical studies of childhood and youth in educational contexts; 2) feminist and anti-colonial pedagogies in pre-service and in-service teacher education and early childhood education and 3) critical qualitative research methodologies in educational research.

Moving forward, I will be working on climate justice education and the reconceptualization of leadership in both formal and non-formal education.

Peer-reviewed

Diaz-Diaz, C. (2021). (In)visible encounters with Indigeneity: A way towards decolonizing pedagogies in early childhood education. Children's Geographies, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2021.1934402

Díaz-Díaz, C., Semenec, P., & Moss, P. (2019). Opening debates and contestation: OECD’s International Early Learning Study and the testing of children’s learning outcomes. Policy Futures in Education, 17,1-10. https://doi.org/10.1177/1478210318823464

Diaz-Diaz, C. (2017). Going back and beyond: Children’s learning through places. Environmental Education Research Journal, 23(10), 1440-1447. doi:10.1080/13504622.2017.1326019

Díaz-Díaz, C. (2016). Can you tell me that story again? The need for a counter story of the teacher-child relationship. Journal of Childhoods and Pedagogies, 1, 1-16.

Díaz-Díaz, C., & Gleason, M. (2016). The land is my school: Children, history, and the environment in the Canadian province of BC. Childhood, 23(2), 272-285. doi:10.1177/0907568215603778

Díaz-Díaz, C., & Guzmán, K. (2006). Jóvenes infractores de la ley penal: La delgada línea entre la opción personal y el devenir de los hechos (Youth in conflict with the law: The line between the personal choice and fate). Revista de Psicología de la Universidad de Valparaíso, (3), 81-92.

Books

Díaz-Díaz, C. & Semenec, P. (2020). Posthumanist and new materialist methodologies: Research after the child. Singapore: Springer. Available on https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-981-15-2708-1

Book Chapters

Diaz-Diaz, C. (2021). Children walking diverse worlds: Facing the trouble of a settler colonial past and present. In N. Yelland, L. Peters, N. Fairchild, M. Tesar & M. Pérez (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of global childhoods (pp. 553-565). SAGE Publications Ltd. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781529757194.n46

Berard, M.-F., Díaz-Díaz, C., & Semenec, P. (2021). Études post-qualitative. In J. Lehrer, N. Bigras, A. Charron, & I. Laurin (Eds.), La recherche en éducation à la petite enfance: origines, méthodes et applications (pp. 493-526). Presses de l’Université du Québec.

Díaz-Díaz, C. (2019). Going back and beyond: Children’s learning through places. In I. Duhn, K. Malone, & M. Tesar (Eds.), Urban nature and childhoods (pp. 88-95). London, UK: Routledge.

Díaz-Díaz, C., & Grain, K. (2017). Community, identity, and graduate education: Using duoethnography as a mechanism for forging connections in academia. In J. Norris and R. Sawyer (Eds.), Theorizing curriculum studies, teacher education, & research through duoethnography pedagogy (pp. 131-152). Toronto: Palgrave.

Non-peer reviewed

Vaghri, Z., Krappmann, L., Arkadas, A., Hertzman, C., Fenn, C., & Díaz-Díaz, C. (2013). Aid memoir: Piloting the Indicators of General Comment (GC7): Implementing child rights in early childhood. E-version Pilot:  Republic of Chile. Vancouver: HELP.

Book Reviews

Díaz-Díaz, C. (2018). "Continuity in Children's Worlds: Choice and Consequences for Early Childhood Settings" by Melissa M. Jozwiak, Betsy J. Cahill, and Rachel Theilheimer. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood Education. doi:10.1177/1463949118764029

Díaz-Díaz, C. (2017). “Children, Young People and Care” by John Horton and Michelle Pyer (Eds.). Children’s Geographies. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2017.1396672.

Díaz-Díaz, C. (2016). “Radical Childhoods: Schooling and the Struggle for Social Change” by Jessica Gerrard. Global Studies of Childhood, 1-2. doi: 10.1177/2043610616656308

Through my teaching, I offer my students opportunities to develop a sensibility and in-depth understanding of social justice issues by addressing race, class, gender, ability, sexuality, and politics as part of their education. My teaching philosophy focuses on dialogue, deliberation, and respectful disagreement. To do so, I create learning environments that are built on collective reflection and action.

My approach to teaching comes from two decades of working in women’s grassroots organizations and NGOs. I bring those experiences into my teaching through critical, antiracist, and anti-colonial pedagogies. I draw on these theoretical approaches and experiences to create classrooms where students are encouraged to challenge our assumptions regarding ideas about justice and injustice. I welcome these discussions as an opportunity for ethical growth.

Through my courses, I strive to create learning environments in which students acquire knowledge and skills to become compassionate, responsible, and committed future professionals, practitioners, and scholars.

If you enrol in my courses, you can expect to read and learn from the intellectual work of Black feminist, Indigenous, and women of colour scholars and be part of a learning community where we support each other while we challenge our assumptions.

Courses Taught

ED-D 410 Teacher as a Leader

ED-D 540 Gender, Leadership, and Learning