with Chérie Rivers & Alison Henry
How do we identify classroom practices, culturally embedded narratives or assumptions that are often invisible yet have the potential to hinder the development of free thinking, integrated feeling, and ethical action?
At its core, Waldorf education is designed to remove hindrances that would otherwise prevent students from entering fully and freely into the world and sharing the gifts that they, the students, bring with them from spiritual realms. But what happens when the culture of a school unintentionally undermines this aim? What happens when curricular content contains elements that prove to be hindrances, themselves? How do we identify classroom practices, culturally embedded narratives or assumptions that are often invisible yet have the potential to hinder the development of free thinking, integrated feeling, and ethical action?
In alignment with AWSNA’s 8th Principle and the Core Principles set forth by The Alliance for Public Waldorf Education, Decomposing the Colonial Gaze offers school-based professional development for Waldorf schools seeking concrete skills with which to diversify or decolonize curriculum and school culture while staying true to Waldorf education’s inherent values and priorities of social justice and equity. Building on the inner work considered essential for the Waldorf educator, we engage teachers in activities that develop capacities to perceive the cultural assumptions that underlie habits of practice. We then guide teachers and pedagogical leaders as they move from theory to the daily practice of meeting the developmental needs of the children in their care in ways that are free of invisible hindrances.
Decolonial Dialogues
Drawing on our extensive experience with Waldorf education—as teacher, student, parent, and teacher-trainer—we, Alison Henry and Chérie Rivers, have developed a decolonial dialogic practice designed to help Waldorf schools more fully realize the potential of this transformative education. We view Waldorf education as having a unique potential to be liberatory, decolonial, and cultivate the human dignity and moral courage so sorely needed in our times.
To support this aim, we offer place-based professional development approaches that meet the needs of a given school, including its faculty, board, parent body, or other decision making entities.
Our Offerings Include:
Chérie is a three-fold Waldorfian–daughter of a Waldorf teacher, Waldorf student herself, and now a Waldorf mother of two. She is founder and co-director of an educational Biodynamic farm near Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where, in her spare time, she is also an Associate Professor of Geography and Environment at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has published books and articles about how colonial legacies continue to normalize social, political, and ecological violence, including To Be Nsala’s Daughter: Decomposing the Colonial Gaze (Duke University Press) and “Of Clay and Wonder.” She holds a PhD in African Studies from Harvard University, where she was a pioneering member of the Social Engagement Initiative. Chérie Rivers
The daughter of gifted and committed public school teachers, Alison earned her Master’s degree in education from Indiana University Bloomington in the early 90’s. After years of teaching, first in an EFL classroom and then as a Waldorf class teacher, Alison joined the core faculty of the Waldorf Teacher Education Program at Antioch University New England where she teaches Waldorf pedagogy. Alison earned her PhD from Antioch’s Graduate School of Leadership and Change, focusing on the role of narrative in perpetuating patterns of inequity, while also acknowledging the possibility that narratives can be a powerfully healing balm as teachers find fresh, liberatory, and decolonial approaches to the Waldorf curriculum. Both of Alison’s children were blessed to attend Waldorf schools through 12th grade.
The daughter of gifted and committed public school teachers, Alison earned her Master’s degree in education from Indiana University Bloomington in the early 90’s. After years of teaching, first in an EFL classroom and then as a Waldorf class teacher, Alison joined the core faculty of the Waldorf Teacher Education Program at Antioch University New England where she teaches Waldorf pedagogy. Alison earned her PhD from Antioch’s Graduate School of Leadership and Change, focusing on the role of narrative in perpetuating patterns of inequity, while also acknowledging the possibility that narratives can be a powerfully healing balm as teachers find fresh, liberatory, and decolonial approaches to the Waldorf curriculum. Both of Alison’s children were blessed to attend Waldorf schools through 12th grade.
Chérie is a three-fold Waldorfian–daughter of a Waldorf teacher, Waldorf student herself, and now a Waldorf mother of two. She is founder and co-director of an educational Biodynamic farm near Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where, in her spare time, she is also an Associate Professor of Geography and Environment at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has published books and articles about how colonial legacies continue to normalize social, political, and ecological violence, including To Be Nsala’s Daughter: Decomposing the Colonial Gaze (Duke University Press) and “Of Clay and Wonder.” She holds a PhD in African Studies from Harvard University, where she was a pioneering member of the Social Engagement Initiative.