Identity Matters: Power, Knowledge and Place

"Classrooms are arenas of knowledge construction that are specific, partial, and unique. Yet these constructions represent in microcosm larger societal discourses shaped by their participants' positions in terms of gender, race, and class. Each dialogue, and the juxtaposition of many voices, allows us to see ways in which difference, and the confrontations it produces, can lead to richer complexities of theory. We can also glimpse how naming our positions as multiple, and putting them in relation to each other, can lead to more sophisticated forms of interaction and community." (Frances Maher & Mary Kay Tetrault, “Frames of Positionality: Constructing Meaningful Dialogues about Gender and Race”, Anthropological Quarterly, Vol. 66, No. 3, 1993)