Biography

Dr. Vidya Shah is an educator, scholar and activist committed to equity and racial justice in the service of liberatory education. She is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at York University, and her research explores anti-racist and decolonial approaches to leadership in schools, communities, and school districts. She also explores educational barriers to the success and well-being of Black, Indigenous, and racialized students. Dr. Shah teaches in the Master of Leadership and Community Engagement, as well as undergraduate and graduate level courses in education. She has worked in the Model Schools for Inner Cities Program in the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) and was an elementary classroom teacher in the TDSB. Dr. Shah is committed to bridging the gaps between communities, classrooms, school districts and the academy, to re/imagine emancipatory possibilities for schooling. Dr. Shah is also a facilitator with the Center for Courage and Renewal, focused on nurturing deep integrity and relational trust for a more loving, equitable, and healthy world. You can learn more about her work at https://www.yorku.ca/edu/unleading/.

Faculty & School/Dept

• Faculty of Education -

Courses Taught

• Enacting Leadership and Policy (GS/EDUC 7010)
• Teaching for Diverse & Equitable Classrooms in Ontario (ED/EDFE 3100)

Selected Publications

• Shah, V. & Grimaldos, D. (2023). Rising Up: Collectivizing, Strategizing, and Forging Solidarities among Parents and Caregivers Leading for Racial Justice (Sonya Douglass (Guest Editor), Rosa L. Rivera-McCutchen (Guest Editor), Ann M. Ishimaru (Guest Edito, Ed.) Voices in Urban Education, 51 (1). doi:https://doi.org/10.35240/vue.20.
• Shah, V. & chanicka, j. (2023). Brown Identities, Complicities, and Complexities: Towards Brown-Black Solidarities Journal of Critical Race Inquiry, 10 (1), 1-26. doi:https://jcri.ca/index.php/CRI/article/view/15355.
• Shah, V. (2023). Topographies of research as relational: Exploring the politics and ethics of positionality & relationality in research processes. In M.D. Young & S. Diem (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of critical education research (pp. 810-833). USARoutledge
• Shah, V., Aoudeh, N., Cuglievan-Mindreau, G., & Flessa, J. (2023). Tempering Applied Critical Leadership: The Im/Possibilities of Leading for Racial Justice in School Districts Educational Administration Quarterly, 59 (1), 179-217. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/0013161X221137877.
• Shah, V. & Tuters. S. (2022). Social justice teaching and leadership in higher education: Decentering whiteness and addressing alt-right resistance. In A. G. Proulx & C.M. Shields (Eds.), Leading for equity and social justice: Systemic transformation in Canadian education (pp. Chapter 7). Toronto, Ontario, Canada: University of Toronto Press
• Shah, V., Grimaldos, D. (2022). Lies, denials, and cover-ups: The pervasiveness of whiteness in school districts relations with Black and racialized parents Urban Education. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/00420859221095004.
• Shah, V. (2022). Critical, interconnected approaches to professional engagements. The Journal of Educational Foundations, 35 (1), 52-79.
• Shah, V., Aoudeh, N., Cuglievan-Mindreau, G., & Flessa, J. (2022). Subverting whiteness and amplifying anti-racisms: mid-level district leadership for racial justice Journal of School Leadership. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/10526846221095752.
• Shah, V., Cuglievan-Mindreau, G., & Flessa, J. (2022). Reflecting on race: Reviewing 25 years of district leadership in Ontario Canadian Journal of Education Administration and Policy (198), 35-54.
• Shah, V. (2021). In/Visible POC: Narratives of a Brown professor in teacher education Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies, 22 (2), 204-213. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/15327086211051787.
• Shah, V. (2021). The case against exoticism: Troubling "identity" in identity-based data collection. In S. Schecter & C. James (Eds.), Critical approaches toward a cosmopolitan education (pp. 101-118). Routledge
• Shah. V. (2020). The (un)intended outcomes of educational policy for equity on family and community engagement. In S. Winton & G. Parekh (Eds.), Critical perspectives on education policy and schools, families and communities (pp. 161-182). Charlotte, NC, United States: Information Age Publishing
• Shah, V & Peek, M. (2020). Mythologies of "we": Whiteness in cross-racial solidarity work19 (1), 41-54.
• Shah, V. (2019). Calling in the self: Centering Socially Engaged Buddhism in critical pedagogy through personal narrative The International Journal of Critical Pedagogy, 10 (2), 45-67.
• Shah, V. (2018). Leadership for social justice through the Lens of Self- Identified, Racially and Other-Privileged Leaders Journal of Global Citizenship & Equity Education, 6 (1).
• Shah, V (2018). Different numbers, different stories: Problematizing "gaps" in Ontario and the TDSB Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy (187), 31-47.

Other Research Outputs

• The UnLeading Project
• Shah, V. & Sodhi, M. H. (2023). B <-> I <-> POC Leadership Energies [Report]. Ontario Non-Profit Network and Toronto Neighbourhood Centers. 
• Challenging Myths that Uphold Oppression, online course for unlearn. 
• Troubling Whiteness, curriculum for YouthREX Anti-Black Racism Certificate
• Brown Complicity, curriculum for YouthREX Anti-Black Racism Certificate
• RSEKN Equity Podcast Series
• This is Not a Resilience Story (documentary)

Research Projects

School District Reform for Racial Justice

Tracked: Student Perspectives on Their Experience of Streaming and De-streaming

Initiating and Sustaining Equity Innovation for System Reform

Awards

• Graduate Teaching Award, Faculty of Education, York University - 2023
• Mentor of the Year, Leaders and Legends Award, OISE/UT - 2022

Professional Affiliations

• Ontario College of Teachers: Member
• Center for Courage and Renewal: Facilitator and member

York University Affiliations/Cross Appointments

• City Institute: Member & former member of the Executive Committee
• YUFA - Community Projects: Member & former Co-Chair
• Centre for Feminist Research: Member and former member of the Executive Committee
• YUFA Race Equity Caucus: Member
• Jean Augustine Chair : Faculty Associate

Service/Community Activities

• PEACH: Board member