Positionality, Epistemology, and Social Justice in the Classroom.

Abstract

I had opportunity to work at an American-owned maquiladora. This journey made me imbalance of power between first world third. More exactly, I had always been part of a marginalized group. I would fit in platinum category if one compares my marginality to a credit card. That is, I am economically challenged, a woman, of color, who is queer. My parents older siblings worked in agricultural fields of Hollister, California, to put food on table. Why would an economically challenged woman want to research question, what is role of maquiladoRAZAtion in global political economy? There are a few reasons: (1) The World of Academia does not address issues about worker from voice of worker. (2) Education should be a tool to combat oppression. (3) Education should work to empower all people, not only those who can understand academic jargon. (4) The only way to truly address issues of third is to listen to voice of oppressed, it is this voice that needs to hem worlds of academia. -- Abelina Campos (1) Introduction: Why Ask Students to Think About Positionality Epistemology? HOW DOES YOUR POSITIONALITY BIAS YOUR EPISTEMOLOGY? I HAVE BEEN POSING this question to students, weaving it as a theme throughout my courses. Of course, a resounding chorus of bafflement greets initial question: How does who you are where you stand in relation to others shape what you know about world? A student's search for answers opens up new possibilities for understanding her connections to world, as opening quote suggests. As a reflective practitioner of teaching profession, I constantly grapple with these questions, as well. To work toward a just world--a world where all have equal access to opportunity--means, as a start, opening up heart mind to perspectives of others. We must be able to hear each other to respect learn from what we hear. We must how we are positioned in relation to others--as dominant/subordinate, marginal/center, empowered/powerless. In The Feminist Classroom, Maher Tetreault (2001: 164) describe the idea of positionality, in which people are defined not in terms of fixed identities, but by their location within shifting networks of relationships, which can be analyzed changed. For those who teach for social justice, and changed part is crucial: understanding positionality means understanding where you stand with respect to power, an essential skill for social change agents. From this understanding, we have a standpoint from which to challenge power change ourselves. Few things are more difficult than to see outside bounds of our own perspective--to be able to identify assumptions that we take as universal truths, but that instead have been crafted by our own unique identity experiences in world. We live much of our lives in our own heads, in a reconfirming dialogue with ourselves. Even when we discuss crucial issues with others, much of dialogue is not dialogue: it is monologue where we work to convince others to us or to adopt our view. Simply acknowledging that one's knowledge claims are not universal truths--that one's positionality can bias one's epistemology--is itself a leap for many people, one that can help to make us more open to world's possibilities. In a recent book on teaching history, Sam Wineburg (2001:24) states, the narcissist sees world--both past present--in his own image. Mature historical knowing teaches us to do opposite: to go beyond our own image, to go beyond our brief life, to go beyond fleeting moment in human history into which we have been born. When we develop skill of understanding how we know what we know, we acquire a key to lifelong learning. But one need not limit our excursions to days gone by: in our classrooms, present swirls around us, voices of this present can lead beyond narcissism into deeper understanding of chaotic world that demands our attention intervention. …

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