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.  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 -

Selected Publications

• Maharaj, S., Tuters, S. & Shah, V. (2024). Anti-CRT attacks, school choice, and the privatization endgame (Shannon Dawn Maree Moore, Ee-Seul Yoon , Melanie Janzen, Ed.) Critical Education, 15 (2), 29-36. doi:https://doi.org/10.14288/ce.v15i2.186883.
• Daniel, B.D. & Shah, V. (2024). In between jockeying and resisting proximities to whiteness: the challenges and promises of cross-racial solidarity Race Ethnicity and Education. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2024.2402327.
• Shah, V., James, C.E., Logan, C. & Cardoza, D. (2024). Community-school-university partnerships: possibilities for activism and racial justice International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 1-26. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2024.2416703.
• 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. & Sodhi, M.H. (2023) B <-> I <-> POC Leadership Energies . Toronto: Ontario Non-Profit Network and Toronto Neighbourhood Centres
• 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. & 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. & 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. & 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., 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., 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. (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). Different numbers, different stories: Problematizing "gaps" in Ontario and the TDSB Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy (187), 31-47.
• 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).

Other Research Outputs

• The UnLeading Project
• Challenging Myths that Uphold Oppression (e-course with unlearn.)
• Troubling Whiteness, curriculum for YouthREX Anti-Black Racism Certificate
• Brown Complicity, curriculum for YouthREX Anti-Black Racism Certificate
• RSEKN Equity Podcast Series

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

• Mentor of the Year, Leaders and Legends Award, OISE/UT - 2022
• Graduate Teaching Award, Faculty of Education, York University - 2023
• President’s University-Wide Teaching Awards, York University - 2024
• The William J. Davis Award, University Council for Educational Administration - 2024

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
• Faculty of Education Summer Institute, York University: Faculty Co-Advisor

Service/Community Activities

• PEACH: Board member