Christina Parker, PhD, is a certified elementary school teacher and currently a professor at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, in Social Development Studies. Her research focuses on how to provide marginalized students with opportunities to be heard and included in the classroom through peacebuilding, conflict resolution, and restorative justice. Currently, she is researching how schools in diverse communities are implementing peacemaking Circles to support constructive conflict dialogue.
"Who's In and Who's Out: Problematizing Peacemaking Circles in Diverse Classrooms"
Christina Parker brings critical peacemaking Circles into the colorizing RJ/RP work. Like other Critical Studies, the critical study of peacemaking Circles concerns what qualitatively transpires within a Circle’s space. Despite a person sitting physically in Circle, for example, an individual may experience being socialized out of it. People of Color and Indigenous Peoples know the “who’s in, who’s out” duality quite well. Parker reminds us of how the structures of mainstream institutions convey messages about power relations spatially and culturally. She makes clear that Circles contain a nuanced, social complexity that deserves our full attention and consideration; otherwise restorative practices end up perpetuating the very harms they seek to remedy.