A.A. Valdivia

Bio

aa (pronounced ah-ah) Valdivia has a mixed heritage ancestry. Their father comes from a small village in Zacatecas, Mexico while their mother is from the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico. aa's research centers around decolonial wellness: indigenous healing of body, mind, spirit, earth.

aa lives, speaks, listens, and thinks from the corazón, the heart. This method has provided tools for teaching con ganas, with enthusiasm. As a queer person of color, with an invisible disability, and having experienced firsthand the oppression, marginalization, and hegemonic practices within the higher education environment, aa is sensitive to issues surrounding identity (race, class, gender, sexuality, ability, etc.) and learning styles (auditory, visual, tactile, kinesthetic, etc.).

All students, all people have knowledge to contribute. It is a missed opportunity when educators do not promote effective facilitation of a community of sharing and learning. There is much to be gained from diverse learning experiences where speaking one's truth, respecting interdependence, and developing community critical consciousness facilitates positive transformation of student lives and their surrounding world. The environmental changes for sustainability thus demand the involvement, the inclusion, the consciousness, and the diversity of all walks of life.