I loved having this conversation with Dr. Roni Jo
Draper. Many people say they don’t want things to be politicized or
sexualized… especially when it comes to kiddos. Well, sorry to
break it to you but all of our homes are full of political, sexual,
cultural and ecosystemic “curriculum” whether you realize it or
not. Dr. Draper is a career educator and we had a wonderful
discussion about -what- and -how- we teach. Even your home decor
will probably make the cut.
Roni Jo Draper, Ph.D. (Yurok|she.her) was a
professor in the Department of Teacher Education in the David O.
McKay School of Education at Brigham Young University for 22 years
where she taught courses in multicultural education, women’s
studies, and literacy. She has also devoted a considerable amount
of her scholarship to address the challenge of preparing teachers
to create classrooms that allow our most minoritized children to
thrive. In her recent work she has turned to Indigenous
storytelling and other art forms to share stories that center the
lives of Indigenous peoples. She has produced the film Scenes from
the Glittering World, about the in- and out-of-school lives of
three Navajo young people attending a remote high school on the
Navajo Nation. Roni Jo is also the writer, producer, and director
of the documentary Fire Tender, which centers the lives of Yurok
fire practitioners as they work to return cultural fire to heal
land. Additionally, Roni Jo works as an advocate for social justice
in her community where she serves as the Vice-President of PFLAG
Provo/Utah County, and on the National Board of the ACLU. She is
the Past-President of the ACLU of Utah.