Radical Imagination in Action: Black Feminist Pedagogy, Podcasting, and Humanizing Leadership in an EdD Program

Higher education pedagogies are often void of deep human connection and collective visioning, an affront to liberatory and communal learning (Budhai & Hill, 2024; hooks, 1994). And yet, as Ruha Benjamin (2024) reminds us, in these contentious socio-political times, imagination is a “field of struggle, not an ephemeral afterthought that we have the luxury to dismiss or romanticize” (p. 8). This chapter contends with that struggle, exploring how Black feminist pedagogy has shaped a transformative educational approach to preparing EdD students for justice-centered leadership and research. Specifically, as doctoral scholars alongside a faculty co-conspirator, we employ scholarly self-narrative to highlight podcasting as a creative and self-reflexive tool. This tool pushed us—individually and collectively—toward relational trust, critical self-awareness, and speculative possibility. As U.S. institutions buckle under the weight of their own contradictions, we present this chapter as a subversive blueprint. We offer it as a guide to reclaim imagination as a vital practice in re-envisioning higher education leadership and shaping EdD programs grounded in collective accountability and transformative change.