A Call for Qualitative Methods in Action

Abstract

This article describes how the qualitative research tradition known as positionality can be used as a method to support classroom equity. The text describes three ways teachers can use a spoken approach to positionality in their day-to-day practice. Classroom vignettes illuminate how these spoken methods of positionality can address the latency of power and privilege in 21st-century teaching and learning contexts. The didactic use of positionality to stimulate the kind of reflective student discussions associated with culturally responsive educational reform is also evidenced. Conceptual consideration of positionality methods to support classroom inclusivity for students with disabilities is suggested.

Implications for Conducting Special Education Research Drawn From the Reflexive Accounts of a Deaf With Disabilities Professor and Three Student Researchers

“…The positionality of researchers and participants can have implications on the perceptions between them, as well as among members of the research team. Positionality can be described as the social context that creates identities and people's perceptions connected to privilege or power within different contexts (Anderson, Stahley, & Cullen, 2014;Greene, 2014;Grimaldi, Serpieri, & Spanò, 2015;Relles, 2016). In research settings, researchers use language that exhibits their expertise about the enquiry subject, which can lead to participants feeling inferior (Hoyle, 2001;Thye, Willer, & Markovsky, 2006).…”

The Whiteness of the Elephant in the Room

“…As stated above, positionality, and with it, the practice of whiteness and its relation to power structures institutionally and socially (Alexander, 2004;Anthias, 2002;Chubbuck, 2004;R. Crowley, 2016;Dache-Gerbino & White, 2016;Diem, Ali, & Carpenter, 2013;Galman et al, 2010;Garner, 2006;Hunt, 2000;Kim, 2004;Lalik & Hinchman, 2001;Manglitz, 2003;Martin & Gunten, 2002;Milner, 2007;Muhammad et al, 2015;Nishi, Matias, & Montoya, 2015;Relles, 2016;Soni-Sinha, 2008;Tillery, 2009), were key in how participants navigated difficult conversations with close ties in their social networks and in their activism. Positionality was also paramount in the ways that participants negotiated inner conflicts due to their own conditioned racialized lens of the white experience.…”

“…Positionality, particularly in sociological terms, is talked about in the context of the inherent power structures that are embedded within our social, political, economic, and ideological systems in relation to others with whom we human beings share this world (Anthias, 2002;Martin & Gunten, 2002;Milner, 2007;Muhammad et al, 2015;Relles, 2016;Soni-Sinha, 2008). Specifically, the power structures referred to in this study are central to white-identified individuals and their experiences within the context of selfidentifying as white, as opposed to individuals who identify as POC (Anthias, 2002;Brewer & Heitzeg, 2008;Martin & Gunten, 2002;Milner, 2007;Muhammad et al, 2015;Relles, 2016;Soni-Sinha, 2008;Tillery, 2009).…”

“…Positionality, particularly in sociological terms, is talked about in the context of the inherent power structures that are embedded within our social, political, economic, and ideological systems in relation to others with whom we human beings share this world (Anthias, 2002;Martin & Gunten, 2002;Milner, 2007;Muhammad et al, 2015;Relles, 2016;Soni-Sinha, 2008). Specifically, the power structures referred to in this study are central to white-identified individuals and their experiences within the context of selfidentifying as white, as opposed to individuals who identify as POC (Anthias, 2002;Brewer & Heitzeg, 2008;Martin & Gunten, 2002;Milner, 2007;Muhammad et al, 2015;Relles, 2016;Soni-Sinha, 2008;Tillery, 2009). These imbalanced systemic power relations are evident in networks of crime and punishment, educational (in)equity, healthcare accessibility, and good, viable jobs-and the ways that societal advantages are allocated to white-identified communities as opposed to those of POC identity (Brewer & Heitzeg, 2008;Dache-Gerbino & White, 2016; T. L. Green & Dantley, 2013;Manglitz, 2003;Staurowsky, 2007;Todd, Suffrin, McConnell, Odahl-Ruan, 2015;& van Gorder, 2007).…”

“…In addition to studies concerning white-identified individuals' challenges to understanding their whiteness, research has attempted to identify power structures inherent in educational environments, as well as political and economic systems. Each of these power structures appropriate labor and/or knowledge from Black and Brown bodies, while eventually leading to incarceration in an increasingly punitive system that is specifically aimed toward POC (Alexander, 2004;Becker & Paul, 2015;Boatright-Horowitz, Marraccini, & Harps-Logan, 2012;Brewer & Heitzeg, 2008;Chizhik & Chizhik, 2005;Chubbuck, 2004;Dutta et al, 2016;Eversman, 2014;Galman, Pica-Smith, & Rosenberger, 2010; T. L. Green & Dantley, 2013;Heiner, 2016;Larson, 2016;Manglitz, 2003;Milner, 2007;Mintz, 2013;Muhammad et al, 2015;Relles, 2016;Robinson & Culver, 2016;Soni-Sinha, 2008;Zufferey, 2013).…”