Sara Axtell

Axtell is the recipient of a 2023 University of Minnesota Outstanding Community Service Award.

How my work is related to social justice

Much of my work focuses on developing mutually beneficial, authentic collaborations between the university and communities. This work often brings up questions about how to share intellectual authority and how to best bring together academic knowledge (which in many ways is based in modern Western knowledge systems) and the knowledge systems that are held in cultural communities. For me as a European American, this has necessitated deep cultural self-study so that I have a better understanding of the damaging cultural patterns, as well as the cultural resources, that I have inherited. I am indebted to elders at the Cultural Wellness Center for guiding me in this study.

As a part of this work, I teach with Healing Roots, which is a community of people of European heritage who are studying our culture and history to become agents of change in creating a healthy society for people of all cultural heritages. We seek to develop a sense of collective responsibility, which can lead to productive action. For information on classes and events, go to the Healing Roots Community website.

For more in-depth discussion, please see my comments from the conference, Overcoming Racism: Recognizing and challenging the legacies that oppress us.

What Students Can Expect from Me

In my teaching, I seek to create a space where we can bring our whole, authentic selves, and  the knowledge that has grown out of our experiences.  We work together to develop an understanding of families and communities that acknowledges and values community assets and knowledge.  We share the responsibility to pose critical questions.  In my classes, you can expect a lot of large and small group discussion and reflective writing.