Readings & Workshops/ CMEV Flashcards
“How Does Your Positionality Bias Your
Epistemology?” by David Takacs
Asking how positionality biases epistemology –> assets model of multiculturalism in classrooms
Respecting difference instead of “tolerating” it
Connecting positionality to epistemology simultaneously empowers & disempowers individual expertise in the classroom
Unique claims to knowledge –> encourages people to listen
More awareness of conceptual shackles imposed by identity & experiences
knowledge gets constructed by interaction between the questioner and the
world (constructivist realism)
Ex: Cassel: perspective of a young Mexican woman –> grew up in Mexico, saw one of the well-educated people abuse poor communities and their environment due to their lack
of wealth
Cassel’s perspective helped her classmates realize their
own views on justice were shaped by an incomplete relationship with the
world.
–> Consensus building: reading of Garrett Hardin’s “lifeboat ethics” for students to listen to how others’ life experiences
lead them in different directions in the world.
encouraging multiculturalism–> scholarly, personal exploration of racism, classism, sexism, homophobia, other “isms” of society
***Since positionality is the multiple, unique experiences that situate
each of us, no one student’s perspective is privileged; all
are privileged, and therefore all are empowered to speak: the students from minority as well as the majority cultures can help teach each other in an atmosphere of mutual respect
**positionality overall helps people/students articulate, justify, and embody values they find mean-
ingful without imposing our values on them.
Positionality areas
1) “subject under investigation” (what)
2) “the research participants” (who)
3) “the research context and process” (how)
“Fixed” presuppositions
nationality, skin color, race/ethnicity
Fluid presuppositions
political views, personal life-history, experiences
Positionality and reflexivity in soc research
requirement of explicit self-consciousness & self-assessment
–> how these directly or indirectly influence the execution & interpretation of the research findings
*reflexivity requires sensitivity to cultural, political, social context
“Separate Spheres Ideology: Women and Men in their Own Places” by Jone Johnson Lewis
-separate sphere ideology dominated from late 18th c to 19th c
-continues to influence thinking about “proper” gender roles
-woman’s place in the private sphere (family life & home)
-man’s place in the public sphere (politics, economic world, public social and cultural activity)
-experts at the time said this division was naturally rooted in each gender
-women who sought roles or visibility were seen as unnatural and unwelcome
-women’s legal statuses: dependents until marriage and under coverture, with no separate identity and few or no personal rights
“Embodied Ethnocentrism and the Feeling of Culture: A Key to Training for Intercultural Competence” by Milton J. Bennett & Ida Castiglioni
*feeling of culture–> physical and metaphorical aspects
-physical: sensory experiences & stimuli
-metaphoric: an intuitive grasp of a situation; appropriateness of a certain behavior
–> embodied feelings: interface of physical sensation and conscious awareness
concerns of interculturalists:
1) Feeling of appropriateness
2) Facilitating adaption to other cultures (insufficient knowledge or awareness)
*“culture” is treated as a construct in the West
–> human culture= institutions and artifacts generated by some defined group of people (objective)
–> human culture: underlying worldview shared by members of a defined group (subjective)
*strength of Western social science approach to intercultural relations= ability to generate culture-general cognitive frames of reference to compare cultures, methodology for interaction analysis, and identification of certain traits associated with intercultural competence
limitation of intercultural approach is area of cultural adaptation
