Kushya Sugarman researches how children and teachers disrupt harmful schooling structures through daily interactions and collective, creative inquiry. Using participatory methods, photovoice, and ethnography, she explores how play, storywork, and the arts support abolitionist pedagogies and foster solidarity across difference. Dr. Sugarman’s work centers the power of collectives in crafting relational learning environments rooted in justice, creativity, and kinship. Her research has been supported by the Spencer Foundation and CNPq, and honored with AERA’s Outstanding Dissertation Award for Critical Educators for Social Justice.
Prior to working at Mount Holyoke, Dr. Sugarman was an elementary and math teacher in New York City for almost 20 years.