My research explores the literacy practices of young LGBTQIA++ people of color, critical and third space methodologies, and youth-authored pedagogies in order to better understand the relationship between identity and language: how language is transformed through our use, and how we are continually transforming as we language our realities. I am also interested in youth-authored pedagogies as deinstitutionalized educational models researchers and educators might learn much from. As a child of the Astor gifted programs in New York City, and, as an adult, a long-time director of college counseling, I also research and write on discourses of giftedness, access and attainment in higher education. As a poet, and teacher of poetry to K-12 students, graduate students and adult community members, I write on workshop pedagogy and practices.
My dissertation, Meaning and Identity in Self-Sponsored Literacy Practices (DOI), was awarded a Doctoral Dissertation Grant. Using a critical phenomenological methodology, I explored the meaning three participants made of their self-sponsored literacy practices (SSLP) in relation to their identities. I theorized identity expression through the concepts of embodiment (drawing upon bell hooks’ work), language (drawing upon Mikhail Bakhtin’s and Jose Esteban Muñoz’s work), and third space (drawing upon Sylvia Wynters’ and Homi K. Bhabha’s work). The research questions guiding my study were: (a) How do three multiply minoritized young people—in this study, aged 18–21, identifying as LGBTQIA+ and of color—bring their identities into conversation with their SSLP, and what are some ways in which I might interpret the meanings they create in doing so? (b) How do practitioners' contexts shape and how are their contexts shaped by their SSLP? (c) What are some ways to understand the value of participants’ SSLP and the meaning they make of their practices, within, and importantly, beyond traditionally understood educational settings? Data included interviews, artifacts, and multimodal reflection journals. The final chapter is devoted to implications for young people with literacy practices, educators in out-of-school and in-school settings, and researchers.
Here is my educational background, selected teaching experience and a selected list of conference presentations.
Education
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in English Education, Teachers College at Columbia University
Dissertation: Meaning and Identity in Self-Sponsored Literacy Practices
Advisor: Dr. Robert Fecho
Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Poetry, Brooklyn College, City University of New York
Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Interdisciplinary Studies (Education), Amherst College
Teaching Experience (Selected)
Adjunct Faculty, Literature and Teaching, Teachers College at Columbia University, Department of English Education
Teaching Assistant, Theoretical Frameworks and Qualitative Methodologies, Teachers College at Columbia University, Departments of English Education and Curriculum & Teaching
Teaching Assistant, Fieldwork in English Education, Teachers College at Columbia University, Departments of English Education
Faculty, Poetry Workshop and Thesis Projects, MFA Program in Poetry at St. Joseph’s College (program is in transition)
Visiting Faculty, Craft of Poetry, MFA Program in Poetry at Rutgers University-Newark
Faculty, Literature & Philosophy (10th, 11th, & 12th grades), Grace Church High School
Leader, Poetry Workshops, at Bronx Council on the Arts and Mission Belonging
Conference Presentations (Selected)
Olivares, C. (2025, April 27). Things I do in the dark: Meaning and identity in the self-sponsored literacy practices of young LGBTQIA+ people of color [Graduate Student Research-In-Progress Roundtable Series (RIPRS)]. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting, Denver, CO, United States.
Olivares, C. (2024, August 2). Helping students write college personal essays [Conference presentation]. Paper presented at the Bay Area Writing Project, Fostering Connections Conference, Berkeley, CA, United States.
Olivares, C. (2024, April 12). Technology of scarcity: Class, race, and hyperselective college admissions [Invited panelist at Critical Posthuman and Postfoundational Studies in Education SIG Meeting]. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, United States.
Olivares, C., Jimenez, I., & Barrett-Feliciano, C. (2024, February 23–25). Latina feminist futures in English education; Governance/embodiment: Reading a liberated present in research about the writing practices of queer and trans youth of color* [Conference presentation]. National Council of Teachers of English Assembly on Research (NCTEAR) Conference, Austin, TX, United States. (Accepted but not delivered due to illness).
Olivares, C., Vinz, R., & Pindyck, M. (2023, November 19). Poetry in our teaching & lives: An exploratory panel-workshop [Conference presentation]. Paper presented at the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Annual Conference, Columbus, OH, United States.
Potts, S., Olivares, C., Wittchow, A., Islam, A.-Q., & Blau, S. (2023, November 16). Writing on the shoulders of giants: Connecting the contemporary classroom to our intellectual forebears; Audre Lorde: Nothing is uninvolved [Conference presentation]. Paper presented at the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Annual Conference, Columbus, OH, United States.
Queen, K., Sharma, P., Tolbert, T. C., Whittaker, M., & Olivares, C. (2018, March 7–10). Who’s got the power? Enacting advocacy for oneself & others; Theorizing on professionalism [Conference presentation]. Paper presented at the Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) Conference, Tampa, FL, United States.
Montilla, Y., Ekere-Tallie, M., Velasquez, E., & Olivares, C. (2017, February 8–11). Women of color discuss Emily Dickinson's influence [Conference presentation]. Paper presented at the Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) Conference, Washington, DC, United States.
Rosal, P., Hawkings, C., Perdomo, W., Olivares, C., & Yanique, T. (2016, March 30–April 2). American tropics: Literature of Asian, Caribbean, and Pacific islands [Conference presentation]. Paper presented at the Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) Conference, Los Angeles, CA, United States.