Dr. Marlon Simmons
Positions
Professor
Werklund School of Education, Specialization, Adult Learning
Contact information
Phone number
Office: 403.220.2875
Location
Office: EDT106B
For media enquiries, contact
Clayton MacGillivray
Content and Media Specialist
Email: clmacgil@ucalgary.ca
Twitter: @UCalgaryEduc
Background
Educational Background
PhD Education, University of Toronto, 2012
M.Ed. Education, University of Toronto, 2006
H.B.A. University of Toronto, 2004
Biography
Dr. Marlon Simmons works and lives on the traditional territories of the people of the Treaty 7 region in Southern Alberta, which include the Blackfoot Confederacy. The City of Calgary is also home to Métis Nation of Alberta, Region III. Marlon is employed at the University of Calgary, which is located on the land next to where the Bow River meets the Elbow River. The traditional Blackfoot name is Mohkinstsis. Dr. Simmons is a Professor in Adult Learning and former Associate Dean of Graduate Programs at the Werklund School of Education. Marlon completed his PhD in Sociology of Education at the University of Toronto, which is situated on the traditional lands of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and the Mississaugas of the Credit.
Marlon is an interdisciplinary scholar whose work involves decolonial thought, Diaspora and cultural studies, qualitative research, and sociology of education. During the past 18 years, his research, teaching, service, leadership, and community engagement have focused on what ways of knowing, cultural memories, histories, resources, and public modes of representation shape ideas around everyday civic participation in the context of Turtle Island. He has published and presented on a wide array of concerns, such as Frantz Fanon and Education, anticolonial theory, antiracism education and writing Black life.
In his book, Notes from the Diaspora, Marlon invites decolonial readings as necessary for the formation of different social imaginaries to aid with subverting historical formations of colonial epistemologies. His work challenges universalized purist approaches to life and contends with the resulting effects of knowing and positioning of Black people and their social realities within racial classifications of their communities. Marlon is the co-editor of Fanon & Education: Thinking Through Pedagogical Possibilities, and The Politics of Cultural Knowledge, and was the principal investigator of a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) funded project: Writing Black Life in Canada: Notes from the Calgary, where he queried how different communities within Turtle Island, make sense of their historical and daily experiences, with the aim of enhancing public education and responsiveness, and promoting changing beliefs and attitudes embedded in colonial ways of knowing.
Research
Areas of Research
Writing Black Life: Theoretical Underpinnings, Locating Black Life within Colonial Modernity: Decolonial Notes, Diaspora, Becoming Human, and the Education of African-Canadian Youth, Politics of Urban Diasporized Youth and Possibilities for Belonging, The race to modernity: Understanding culture through the Diasporic-self, Dialogue with Fanon
- Decolonial Thought
- Diaspora and cultural studies
- Sociology of education
- Qualitative research
Participation in university strategic initiatives
Courses
| Course number | Course title | Semester |
|---|---|---|
| EDER 711 | Advanced Research Methodology for Doctoral Students. | Fall 2025 |
| EDER 733 | Adult Education and Global Issues | Summer 2023 |
Projects
Publications
- Black student university access network project: Lessons learned from Black first-year undergraduate students in Canada. Simmons, M., Otoo, K. B., Ofori-Atta, E., McCready, L. T., Chavannes, V., Howard, P. S., & Hamilton-Hinch, B. . British Journal of Sociology of Education, 47(2), 371-384.. 371-384. (2025)
- Reflection as Pedagogy in Action Research. Special Issue: Pedagogical Action Research (PedAR). Educational Action Research, 29(2), 245-258. Simmons, M., McDermott, M., Eaton, S. E., Brown, B., Jacobsen, M. . (2021)
- When Educators Come Together to Speak about Well-Being: An Invitation to Talk. Canadian Journal of Education, 42(3), 850-872.. Simmons, M., McDermott, M., Lock, J., Crowder, R., Hickey, E., De Silva, N., Leong, R., & Wilson, K. . (2019)
- Reframing Anti-Colonial Theory for the Diasporic Context. Postcolonial Directions in Education, 1(1), 67-99.. Simmons, M., & Dei, G. J. S.. (2012)
- Notes from the Diaspora.. Simmons, M.. Peter Lang.. (2022)
- Frantz Fanon and Education. In A. Luke (Ed.), Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Race and Education.. Oxford University Press. (2023)
- On Decolonial Thought and Writing Black Life. In A. Abdi (Ed.), Social Justice Education in Canada. . Simmons, M. . Canadian Scholars Press.. 49-59. (2023)
- Teaching and Learning in Zoom Network Environments. In P. Trifonas & S. Jaggar (Eds.), International Handbooks of Curriculum Theory, Research, and Practice. Simmons, M. . Springer. (2023)
- Writing Black Life: Theoretical Underpinnings. In G. J. S. Dei, A. V. Jimenez, & E. Odozor (Eds.), Cartographies of Blackness and Black Indigeneities.. Simmons, M. . Meyers. 51-62. (2020)
- Locating Black Life within Colonial Modernity: Decolonial Notes. In S. R. Steinberg & B. Down (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Critical Pedagogies.. Simmons, M. . SAGE. 205-217. (2020)
- Diaspora, Citizenry and the Education of African-Canadian Youth. In A. Abdi & A. Ibrahim (Eds.). The Education of African-Canadian Children: Critical Perspectives. Simmons, M. Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press. 58-72. (2016)
- Politics of Urban-Diasporized Youth and Possibilities for Belonging. In A. Ibrahim & S. Steinberg (Eds.), Critical Youth Studies Reader. Simmons, M. . Peter Lang. 195-204. (2014)
- The Politics of Cultural Knowledge.. Wane, N., Kempf, A., & Simmons, M. (Eds.). Sense. (2011)
- Fanon and Education: Thinking through Pedagogical Possibilities.. Dei, G. J. S., & Simmons, M. (Eds.). Peter Lang.. (2010)
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