Upcoming Book by Niagara University Professor Dr. Zuhra Abawi Focuses on Leadership for Inclusive Schools

Dr. Zuhra E. Abawi, assistant professor of education and chair of the Department of Educational Leadership at Niagara University in Ontario, co-authored the book, "Activist Leadership for Inclusive Schools-Canadian Insights," which will be published in March 2025.

Dr. Abawi notes that the text offers a timely collection of voices and narratives that recenter the lived experiences of scholars, teachers, school leaders, families, and community activists to disrupt hegemonic understandings of leadership. She notes that leadership within the field of education is commonly constructed through the perspectives of dominant identities, such as white, male, ableist, and heteronormative discourses of what leadership ought to be, and as such, operates as a gatekeeper of leadership as a title.

"This book is intended to challenge educators, scholars, students, teacher candidates, and aspiring leaders to rethink the field of educational leadership through an activist framework to best serve the diverse students, families, and communities they serve and to encourage them to re-imagine, reconceptualize, and problematize normative narratives of leadership within the Canadian K-12 educational landscape," she said, adding that the book is the culmination of various conversations she and her co-authors have had with the educators, families, students, allies, and community members that they have brought to the forefront with intentionality.

Dr. Abawi is the author of "The Effectiveness of Educational Policy for Bias Free Hiring: Critical Insights to Enhance Diversity in the Canadian Teacher Workforce," and co-editor of "Equity as Praxis in Early Childhood Education and Care" and "Enacting Anti-Racist and Activist Pedagogies in Education: Canadian Perspectives." Her work focuses on discourses of race, equity, and identity that are negotiated, mediated, and socialized in education.

She earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science, a Bachelor of Education and Master of Education from York University, and a Doctorate of Education from the University of Toronto.