Alexandria Hollett
“Being a queer woman is a gift, and my activism, art, teaching, and scholarship are impacted not just because I’m queer in terms of my sexuality, but because queerness has helped me develop a particular way of seeing the world that does not accept without question what others take for granted as true,” writer, professor, and activist Dr. Alexandria Hollett tells GO. This lens has shaped much of her work as a professor, impacting her teaching, writing, and nearly all aspects of her life. Inspired to pursue a life of activism during her time in San Francisco, Hollett became a teacher and union delegate in the Chicago Public Schools, and a participant in the Chicago Teachers’ Strike of 2012. Her experiences in education left her with “a lot of unanswered questions about how to make change effectively,” and wondering “what I was actually meant to be doing, and who my people were.” She found her space in the doctoral pro- gram at Indiana University, where she studied Curriculum and Instruction and Gender Studies. Now, as a tenure-track professor at California State University, Northridge, Hollett develops lessons based on organizing, queer liberation, abolition, and anarchism. Her research and drive also provides her with a better understanding of herself, oppression, and queer communities. “Before I learned the word ‘intersectionality,’ I was trying to make sense of how various oppressions map onto each other and create new systems of violence, particularly in the field of education,” she explains. She now passes this knowledge onto her students to equip the next generation. –AB
