Meet Valerie
Valerie Joseph
I am an educator-interventionist who strives to listen to, dignify and empower participants who seek to invest in a conversation-based process of hearing and engaging diverse perspectives.
I am the originator of Grounded Knowledge Panels®, a unique and influential way of having a public conversation by a small group of people who have realistic, authentic and personal experience and understanding of a particular topic or question.
Vision
My vision is that we so profoundly understand ourselves to be members of the human family, that we fear nothing about talking about who we are and who we want to be.
I am inspired by the Roman playwright Terrance, who said, “Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto.” Translation: “I am human; I think nothing human is alien to me.”
Speaking Volumes:
Grounded Knowledge Panels provide an empowering forum for difficult discourse
Smith Alumnae Quarterly recently featured me and my work on Grounded Knowledge Panels.
I have a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Massachusetts. In my doctoral research, I investigated the enduring legacies of British colonialism and African heritage memory among the members of the African Diaspora in Carriacou, Grenada. I mapped how the play of Carriacouan Black girls’ as well as their words, beliefs, and attitudes reflected both the detrimental internalization of colonial ideology and the restorative nature of African retentions.
Prior to my fieldwork in Carriacou, I lived and worked in Africa for seven years as a Peace Corps Volunteer science teacher, then a coordinator of training at Mogoditshane Rehabilitation Center. My last job wasco-director of a School for International Training college semester abroad program. I sharpened my interest in cross-cultural conflicts, including those that seemed to be intractable, though traceable, in part, to cultural mores as well as historical and social patterns embedded in racial or ethnic bias and discrimination.
I have a Masters in Movement Therapy with a concentration in counseling psychology and a Masters in Social Justice Education. I have supplemental training, work and experience in several fields including gymnastics coaching, diversity training, Authentic Movement (a contemplative dance form), mediation and teaching and management in higher education.
I am an educator-interventionist who strives to listen to, dignify and empower participants who seek to invest in a conversation-based process of hearing and engaging diverse perspectives.
I work at Smith College where I am the Mentoring Administrative Director for AEMES (Achieving Excellence in Math Engineering and Science). In that role, I manage programs to support the most marginalized students who are pursuing STEM.
My first children's book, This is What Maisie Believes, is published by 619 Wreath Publishing.