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Emerging Perspectives 
ep.journalhosting.ucalgary.ca 
 

 
 
 

Belonging and Othering in Research and Education: A Foreword 
 

Nurgul Rodriguez del Ojo, Fabielle Rocha Cruz, Warren Ferguson, Emily Coombs* 

University of Calgary 

The 2024 edition of the Graduate Studies Faculty in Education Journal emerges from 
Tapestry 2024: Belonging and Othering in Research and Education, a symposium 
exploring the intricate dynamics of inclusion and exclusion in educational and 
research contexts. This foreword reflects on the conference’s central themes through 
a personal lens, highlighting the profound impact of identity, culture, and lived 
experience in shaping scholarly and pedagogical work. Drawing on the metaphor of 
a tapestry, it underscores the richness of diverse narratives and methodologies—from 
autoethnography to community-based research—that challenge dominant paradigms 
and reimagine education as a site of belonging, recognition, and justice. 
Emphasizing reflexivity, vulnerability, and the transformative potential of embracing 
difference, the foreword invites readers to consider their own positionalities and 
roles in fostering inclusive practices. The contributions in this volume call for 
sustained, collaborative efforts to dismantle systems of othering and co-create 
educational spaces grounded in equity, respect, and relationality. 

Key words: Belonging, Critical Pedagogy, Educational Justice, Intersectionality  

Rodriguez, N., Rocha Cruz, F., Ferguson, W., Coombs, E.(2025). Belonging and Othering 
in Research and Education. Emerging Perspectives.  

Acknowledgments: We would like to sincerely thank my copy editor, Danielle Shinbine, for 
their keen attention to detail and dedication to clarity, and my editor, Mica Piba, for their 
insightful guidance and thoughtful feedback throughout the editing process. Your support 
and expertise have been invaluable in bringing this work to life. 

 

 

*Emily.Coombs@ucalgary.ca 



Rodriguez/ Emerging Perspectives (2025)  2 

 

As we unveil the 2024 edition of the Graduate Studies in Education Journal, we write 
this foreword with deep gratitude, reflection, and a profound sense of purpose. The 2024 
conference, Tapestry 2024: Belonging and Othering in Research and Education, provided fertile 
ground for critical inquiry, creativity, and collective action. Against a global backdrop of 
sociopolitical polarization and educational inequity, the conference invited participants to 
interrogate how inclusion and exclusion—belonging and othering—are enacted, resisted, and 
reimagined in contemporary educational spaces. 

The tapestry metaphor evokes for me the interwoven nature of personal narrative, cultural 
memory, pedagogical commitment, and scholarly inquiry. As an immigrant, artist, and educator, 
my own experiences navigating cultural in-betweenness mirror the central question raised by 
many of the contributions to this volume: What does it mean to belong, and how do educational 
systems reproduce or disrupt the boundaries of that belonging? 

Belonging, as noted by Abawi et al. (2022), is not merely about presence but about 
participation, recognition, and relational connection. Yet many of us, like the "insider-outsider" 
adult learners described by Rautins et al. (2024), live in a state of tension between proximity and 
distance, visibility and erasure. This dual positionality is not a limitation but a critical lens. It 
pushes us to consider how structures of power and identity co-construct the meaning-making 
processes in graduate education and beyond. 

The works featured in this issue reflect a methodological and epistemological richness 
that challenges the boundaries of conventional academic discourse. The use of posthumanist 
inquiry in Burnett and Stewart’s (2023) Redefining Educational Places reminds us that belonging 
is not only socially mediated but spatially and materially constituted. Educational “place” is not 
fixed but emergent, relational, and entangled with the human and more-than-human world—a 
view that invites us to rethink how spaces of learning are constructed and experienced. 

This volume also foregrounds the emotional and embodied dimensions of education. For 
instance, Wilson and Jones’ (2023) study using HeartMath biofeedback and SEL interventions 
among adolescents illustrates that fostering emotional self-regulation is not tangential but 
foundational to cultivating belonging. Emotion, often marginalized in traditional academic 
discourse, is central to how students experience safety, inclusion, and connection. 

 
 



Rodriguez/ Emerging Perspectives (2025)  3 

Belonging, however, must be held alongside its shadow: othering. As Ahmed (2012) 
notes, inclusion often operates through mechanisms of conditionality: “you can belong, but only 
if you conform.” This tension is echoed in Phan’s (2024) exploration of her own affective 
responses to the “curriculum of fear,” where English language learners are positioned as 
perpetual outsiders, marked by their difference. Her work challenges us to consider how 
emotional labour, linguistic borders, and racialized expectations shape the pedagogical 
landscape. 

A similar critique emerges in Belonging and Othering in Research and Education: 
Bringing Indigenous Voices into the Classroom (Walker et al., 2024), which calls for the centring 
of Indigenous epistemologies not as additive but as constitutive to just education. As the authors 
argue, inclusion that does not engage with the historical and ongoing effects of settler 
colonialism risks becoming performative. True belonging, they suggest, is co-constructed 
through relational accountability, land-based knowledge, and ethical engagement with difference. 

Several contributions push the boundaries of conventional pedagogy through the 
integration of technology and creativity. Sharma’s (2024) exploration of generative AI in middle 
school art education presents a compelling case for leveraging digital tools to foster collective 
meaning-making and creative risk-taking. Similarly, López and Huang’s (2024) investigation 
into machine translation tools demonstrates that, when critically implemented, these technologies 
can support, not supplant, language learners in constructing multilingual identities. 

Across these works, a recurring theme emerges: belonging is not a static end-state, but an 
ongoing, negotiated, and co-created process. It is not merely about being included in what 
already exists, but about reshaping the very conditions of possibility — curricular, spatial, 
emotional, and epistemological — that define the educational experience. This aligns with 
Florian’s (2014) assertion that true inclusion necessitates a shift in mindset: from viewing 
diversity as a problem to be managed to embracing it as an opportunity for transformation. 

Through my research [Rodriguez] and arts-based practice, I have come to understand that 
fostering a sense of belonging requires reflexivity and vulnerability. It requires that we, as 
educators and researchers, continuously interrogate our own assumptions, positionalities, and 
complicities. As the conference underscored, creating inclusive spaces is not only a theoretical 
endeavour but also profoundly ethical and affective. 

This volume stands as a testament to the courage, imagination, and commitment of its 
contributors. It offers no simple answers but instead invites critical dialogue. It challenges us to 
disrupt the comfort of sameness and embrace the generative tension of difference. Let it serve as 
both a provocation and an invitation to reimagine what education can be when belonging is not 
merely a goal, but a way of being, knowing, and relating. 

As you engage with these articles, I invite you to ask: Where do I locate myself in this 
tapestry of belonging and othering? How might I act, personally, pedagogically, institutionally, to 
ensure that education becomes a space where all are recognized, valued, and transformed? 

 

 
 



Rodriguez/ Emerging Perspectives (2025)  4 

References 

Abawi, L., Oliver, M., & Johnson, B. (2022). Defining inclusion: What it is and what it is not in 
educational settings. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 26(5), 
555–570. 
 

Ahmed, S. (2012). On Being Included: Racism and Diversity in Institutional Life. Duke 
University Press. 
 

Burnett, C., & Stewart, H. (2023). Redefining educational places: A posthumanist exploration of 
place in higher education. Higher Education Research & Development, 42(1), 
25–39. 
 

Florian, L. (2014). What counts as evidence of inclusive education?. European Journal of Special 
Needs Education, 29(3), 286–294. 
 

López, C., & Huang, R. (2024). Exploring the potential of machine translation tools for English 
language learners. TESOL Journal, 15(1), e00489. 
 

Phan, J. M. (2024). Othering in curriculum of fear: An ESOL educator’s autobiography of 
difficult emotions. Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 23(2), 145–159. 
 

Rautins, C., Ibrahim, S., & Jackson, M. (2024). Insider-outsider adult learners: Culture and the 
meaning-making of belonging in graduate education. Adult Education Quarterly, 
74(1), 44–62. 
 

Sharma, A. (2024). How can generative artificial intelligence (AI) be effectively incorporated 
into middle school art to develop creative thinking and enhance a sense of 
community?. Journal of Art Education, 77(3), 215–229. 
 

Walker, C., Blackbear, N., & Thomas, R. (2024). Belonging and othering in research and 
education: Bringing Indigenous voices into the classroom. Canadian Journal of 
Indigenous Education, 47(1), 1–18. 
 

Wilson, T., & Jones, R. (2023). Using integral theory to study the effectiveness of HeartMath 
biofeedback and social-emotional learning in adolescent emotion regulation. 
Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 52(9), 1789–1805. 
 

 
 



Rodriguez/ Emerging Perspectives (2025)  5 

Appendix A: Acknowledgements 

The success of Tapestry 2024: Belonging and Othering in Research and Education and this 
special edition of the Graduate Studies in Education Journal would not have been possible 
without the collective efforts, insights, and commitments of many individuals and organizations. 
We express our sincere gratitude to the following contributors: 

Conference and Editorial Leadership 

● Alexandria Poppendorf, Co-President of the Graduate Programs in Education Student 
Association (GPESA), whose encouragement and leadership were instrumental in 
securing the GSA Quality Money grant that made this symposium possible. 
 

● Fabielle Rocha Cruz, Symposium Co-Chair, whose initiative and vision helped expand 
Tapestry 2024 into a multi-institutional, interdisciplinary event, fostering collaboration 
across campuses and fields of study. 
 

● Warren Ferguson, Journal Liaison, for moderating the journal call for papers and 
supporting authors through the submission and review process, strengthening the 
academic rigour of this special issue. 
 

Editorial Team and Reviewers 

We are deeply appreciative of the editorial guidance and support provided by: 

● Emily Coombs and the EPIGREP Journal Editors, for their commitment to showcasing 
graduate student scholarship and advancing intersectional, critical, and equity-focused 
research in education and psychology. 
 

● The anonymous peer reviewers, whose thoughtful feedback elevated the quality of the 
published works and supported the professional development of our contributors. 
 

Keynote Speakers and Panellists 

We extend heartfelt thanks to our keynote speakers (names to be inserted), whose powerful talks 
brought depth and provocation to our conversations around belonging, identity, and structural 
transformation in education. 

Presenters and Participants 

To all presenters, facilitators, and attendees: your contributions of time, scholarship, 
vulnerability, and lived experience created a space of rich dialogue, mutual respect, and 
collective growth. Thank you for courageously sharing your research, stories, and questions. 

Institutional and Financial Support 

 
 



Rodriguez/ Emerging Perspectives (2025)  6 

We gratefully acknowledge the financial and logistical support of: 

● The Graduate Students’ Association (GSA) of the University of Alberta for awarding 
the GSA Quality Money Grant. 
 

● The Department of Educational Psychology and the Faculty of Education, whose 
ongoing support affirms the value of student-led initiatives that center equity, inclusion, 
and critical inquiry. 
 

Volunteers and Organizers 

Finally, we wish to recognize the many student volunteers, tech support staff, and organizing 
committee members whose behind-the-scenes efforts ensured the smooth execution of both the 
symposium and the editorial process. Your work, often unseen, was vital to the success of this 
initiative. 

 

 
 


	Appendix A: Acknowledgements 
	Conference and Editorial Leadership 
	Editorial Team and Reviewers 
	Keynote Speakers and Panellists 
	Presenters and Participants 
	Institutional and Financial Support 
	Volunteers and Organizers 


