Amidst widespread DEI efforts and initiatives, in this presentation, Dr. Mariana Souto-Manning will problematize the terms and conceptualizations of “diversity” and “inclusion.” In doing so, she will offer ways to move toward a new and expansive politics of belonging. This new politics of belonging critically rethinks, in classrooms and schools, who is ascribed and denied belonging, the harms caused when children do not experience belonging, and the extra work of performing (or attempting to perform) belonging.
Mariana Souto-Manning, Ph.D is President and holds the Irving and Neison Harris President’s Chair of the renowned Erikson Institute, in Chicago, Illinois.
Throughout her career in Early Childhood Education, Dr. Souto-Manning has used her passion for equity and justice to envision and build learning environments that support the unique brilliance of multilingual students. She has dedicated herself to developing educators who support the development of children, their families, and their communities.
Dr. Souto-Manning began her career as a teacher in public preschools in Brazil, where, as a Brazilian woman of Color, she observed the need for change. Dr. Souto-Manning has developed and taught courses in Teacher Education, Integrated Early Childhood Education, and Special Education Programs, Child Development, Linguistics, and Early Childhood Education. A vision for equity and justice drives Dr. Souto-Manning. Her work examines the wrongs of the past from a restorative point of view that seeks societal healing to create more holistic educators, clinicians, parents, and lifelong learners.
The Longfellow Lecture series, inaugurated in 1987, honors the memory of Cynthia Longfellow '72, who devoted her professional life to bettering the lives of young children. This lecture is funded by an endowment established by family and friends.