Classroom as refuge: performative possibilities for safety, collective healing, and resistance in the classroom and beyond

ABSTRACT In the project, we analyze our 2020 NCA performance of our written script, Classroom as Refuge: Performative Possibilities for Safety, Collective Healing, and Resistance in the Classroom and Beyond. The purpose of this performance and script was to make sense of our identities and experiences as students and academics. Our script and performance outlined the relationship between experiential difference and connection. Due to this fact, in this project, we turn to Crenshaw’s conceptualization of intersectionality and Lorde’s conceptualization of difference to analyze how our script and performance. In doing so, we concluded that performance-based methodologies are a key site of collective resistance and empowerment.