What is Border Crossing?
We all have borders to cross. Some literal. Others figurative. Dr. Ty uses border theory to examine and explain how people form identities, define success, and utilize community-based pedagogical spaces. The circumstances in which various social identities intersect and often times collide dictate our experiences and negotiation of race, place, and complex space. This can be a matter of life and death for many people. For example, across the world, racism and racial tensions are palpable and obvious realities, yet the average citizen has no idea how to respond or be part of solutions. In his presentations, Dr. Ty invites his audiences into brave spaces while pushing them to account for and draw on the best of what we know, the core of who we are, and the needs and histories of those we serve. After engaging in his workshops or reading his books, you just might find that you too are a border crosser!
What is FREEdership?
Dr. Ty defines FREEdership as thoughtfully urgent, culturally and critically grounded leadership that accounts for and draws on scholarship, stories, and systems to leverage the best of what we know (research), the core of who we are (mesearch), and the needs and histories of those we serve (wesearch). As a border-crossing brotha scholar--a Black male academician who has navigated many geopolitical, cultural, and physical borders between Bermuda--my country of birth--and the U.S. university classroom--I have embraced the calling to build bridges between traditional classrooms and what some would see as non-traditional educative spaces... spaces of healing and refuge for black communities (e.g. the barbershop and church). I describe my work as FREEdership. FREEdership is the product of FREEsearch plus leadership; FREEsearch is what happens when research, mesearch, and wesearch are all combined. FREEsearch is the personal, professional, and pedagogical work of border-crossing brotha/sistah scholars.