Teaching.IU

Context

Social positionality provides important angles in perceiving reality, conducting research, as well as participating in educational experiences. Gutierrez-Perez (2012) writes: “I cannot separate my race/ethnic/geographic location from my theorizations of queer interlocutors or the classroom space” (p. 197). In the same ways, students’ experiences and worldviews provide a particular lens through which they perceive learning opportunities as well as mundane realities. When I teach, I strive to create spaces for students to strategically identify and articulate their positionalities in order to reflect how these axes of difference – or their ways of being in the world – provide points of view which are non-neutral yet are revealing of knowledge about self and others (Tracy, Franks, Brooks, & Hoffman, 2015).   

Step-by-Step Implementation

Here are two examples of incorporating strategic moments to disclose positionality and reflect on the implications of their positionalities for the decisions they make as students.  

Example 1: Research project 

1. Students complete a research project. For example, they conduct an ethnographic examination of a situation or context in an organization or an event and develop a code of best practices to be used or followed to achieve inclusive communication.  
2. Students present their positionality. As a part of their paper or presentation, students explain their positionality and how that positionality provides a lens to their research, data collection, and analysis.  

Example 2: Movie analysis 

1. Students watch a movie. For example, Chocolat with an assignment to choose a notable scene. 
2. Students summarize the scene and provide an analysis of the scene. For example, the analysis may focus on how the scene represents identities, groups, and how identities are presented as different through the communication among characters. Students can use all or some of the following questions:  What do people do, what do they say, how do they behave? What identifies are represented and how? How and why do the characters perceive difference?
3. Further, students critique this representation. They can use all or some of the following questions: From which point of view is the representation constructed? Which practices are emphasized to produce the presentation? How and whose culture does this representation rely on to produce a norm? What is at stake with this representation? How do verbal and nonverbal messages promote inclusive communication? How do biases become enacted in the situation?  
4. Finally, students critique their critiques and perceptions explaining how their own positionality defines their approach analysis. These questions can be used: How do you perceive this scene? What biases define your perception? What do you learn about yourself and your own worldview when you watch this scene and analyze it? 

Effectiveness

Overall, students respond positively, and they report discovering their own perspectives. At the onset of these activities, they argue that they feel uncomfortable to make themselves visible in the process of analysis or research. The general assumptions about scholarly analysis and research is that they are objective, and using personal perspective is not encouraged or permitted. Yet after the initial reaction, they embrace the idea that the ways of being have an impact on how they perceive everyday reality, scholarly work, or learning opportunities.