At the core of the skill to identify positionalities lies the understanding of where you stand as a person in your society and in the world. To do so, it is important to recognize the social systems and structures that make up the world and be able to analyse and position oneself in these structures. Learners can be taught to understand their own situatedness and relate this to how knowledge is produced and assessed. The objective is to achieve empowerment and get to grips with how one’s position in the world and, as critical world citizens capable of independent and critical thinking, strive for social justice and positive societal impact. In contrast to more performance-based self-reflection, reflecting on positionality thus entails a critical yet empowered and productive engagement with one’s position in the world whilst at the same time striving for positive social impact with an ethical relationship to difference and inequality.
Tips & tricks
With these tips & tricks, you can introduce students to the skill in an accessible way.
Discussion
Discussion of positionalities in a classroom setting asks of the teacher to take on an active role in facilitating introspection and conversation. When addressing positionality in relation to the material discussed in class, the teacher could for example talk about how different people connect with the course material, where knowledge discussed was produced, how it was produced, and ask the students where they stand in relation this. Doing so provides an opportunity to critically assess the origins and assumptions that inform the topic that is being discussed. In addition, opening the floor to such questions also provides an opportunity to talk about each other’s experiences and backgrounds and how this influences the ways in which people engage with course material. Another benefit of such approach is that it might also facilitate mutual understanding and respect among classroom participants. It is important to note that a critical conversation as well as introspection about one’s own positionality is never completed. Hence why such discussion can be held continuously throughout a course and does not need to lead towards a final answer or conclusion. It is important that the teacher provides a space for all the students in class and makes adequate space for alternative and otherwise silent perspectives to be shared. In the end, a conversation about how students’ positionality relates to the topic that is being discussed helps them in developing their understanding of what positionality is, and how it influences how they engage with the world around them.
Teaching activities
With these teaching activities, you can enable students to apply the skill concretely within your educational practice.
Mapping Positionality
To get a better understanding of their own place in the world, students can practice mapping their positionality. They will write or discuss where they stand in the world and how this impacts their life. This can be done in the form of a paper, but also as a presentation or an in-class discussion. It can furthermore be useful for students to visualize their positionality in the form of a mind-map, a poster or a drawing. This would entail answering questions about students’ gender, ethnicity, ability, socio-economic background, etc and relate this to how knowledge is produced. The teacher can choose to dedicate one lesson to create such a visualization, but it can also be a continuous exercise during the classes, with a paper or presentation as a final product. The goal is that students think critically about where different people stand in the world and how this has different impacts on how people make sense of academic knowledge as well as their surroundings. This will make them more aware of the structures, assumptions, and relationships that influence their lives. In the end, this allows them to be critical yet independent as they continue to learn and make a positive impact on the world around them.
Opposing Viewpoints
When assigning readings or other material, consider choosing resources that present different and contradictory perspectives on the topic being discussed. Providing there is sufficient safe space among participants, students can be encouraged to discuss resources that strongly oppose the group consensus. This will make students more aware of the various perspectives in ongoing debates and it will better equip them to engage with dissident views. The ensuing broader picture will enable students to better identify their own positionality, articulate their own opinion more carefully in the future, and to be more open towards other, unknown, opinions and thoughts. Particular attention is required to anticipate (further) polarisation, for example by collectively debriefing and evaluating group dynamics at the end of the session.
Assessment
With these assignments, you can encourage students to further train and develop the skill.
Position Paper
The understanding a student has of positionality can be deepened, and tested, by assigning a position paper. In such a paper the student will have to explain what position they hold toward the course material, and how this influences the way they view the content. In this case, position refers to both how they relate in terms of identity as well as arguing for a certain understanding or position. Such an assignment requires the student to be able to understand historical socio-economic structures, and to be able to challenge themselves and their beliefs. Such an assignment can also be given in a smaller way, as a final consideration after the last paper. The student then must position themselves regarding the topic of their paper and submit this as a short assignment.
Perspective Paper
The idea of a perspective paper is to write an essay from the viewpoint of someone else, ideally someone that is affected more than the students themselves by certain societal problems. For example, when talking about sustainability and climate, students can be asked to write a paper from the perspective of someone from the global south, whose life is much more affected by climate change than that of the students. Analysing climate change from the perspective of a farmer in Bangladesh will be much different than analysing it from the perspective of a Dutch university student. Though it might always remain difficult to fully understand and voice the perspective of someone different than oneself, practicing perspective taking trains students in developing empathy as they attempt to position themselves outside their own bubble. Furthermore, such exercise can be useful in grasping and interrogating students’ own positionalities as well as that of person from whose view you’re writing a paper.
Good practices
These examples provide insight into how students have successfully applied the skill in practice.
Position Paper
The position paper is meant to encourage critical thinking about students’ personal backgrounds, experiences, social positions, as they develop a paper that takes a clear stance on a given topic. In practice, what works well is asking students to respond to material discussed in the course or a pre-written statement related to course material. In many cases asking of them to relate this argument to their own personal lives and experiences. Doing so teaches them to be self-aware, and reflexive whilst at the same time develop critical thinking and argumentation skills.
Jacobson, D., & Mustafa, N. (2019). Social identity map: A reflexivity tool for practicing explicit positionality in critical qualitative research. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 18, 1609406919870075.
Rodriguez, A. J., & Navarro-Camacho, M. (2023). Claiming Your Own Identity and Positionality: The First Steps toward Establishing Equity and Social Justice in Science Education. Education Sciences, 13(7), 652.
Tien, J. (2019). Teaching identity vs. positionality: Dilemmas in social justice education. Curriculum Inquiry, 49(5), 526-550.