Situated knowledges, plurality & positionality - Geraldine, Gloria & Viola

Dr Geraldine Brown is Assistant Professor at the University of Coventry. Her research deals with inequality, social justice, race and ethnicity – doing work with African Caribbean communities amongst others. Her action and community research engages children, young people and families and people in prisons, studying issues of health and social policy and practice.

To learn more about Geraldine and her work, you can find her profile in Unit 8.

QUESTIONS:

• Geraldine says her position is shaped by some experience she's had. Can you point to any experiences that have shaped your positionality?
• Is positionality static, or can you see yours changing?
• How much of your 'DNA' do you leave in your research? Do you see this as a positive or negative thing?

Dr Gloria Giambartolomei is particularly interested in exploring the personal, political and power dimensions of social-ecologically just sustainability transformations, both in everyday practices, and at the institutional level. For her PhD, she worked at the interface between communities, government and public and third sectors organisations, to understand how a feminist and democratic ethics of care can contribute to the development of meaningful and inclusive collaborative practices for the sustainable management of natural resources in Wales.

The more you dig the more understanding you gain of why certain dynamics and why certain processes occur and what kind of impact they have... Gloria Giambartolomei

QUESTIONS:

• What things help you work out who you are, where you stand, how you relate to others and what your privilege is?
• How do you identify the power inequalities that exist between researcher and researched? Have you found ways to address any of these inequalities?
• Gloria mentions using field journals to write about her own experience, her perceptions, emotions, struggles or challenges. She also 'dug' via discussions with her supervisors and circle of PGRs. Are you drawn to either of these approaches?

Dr Viola Hakkarainen is based at LUKE and the University of Helsinki. Her research focuses on epistemic dimensions of human-nature relationships. She is interested in understanding how to enhance inclusivity of diverse knowledges, expertise and worldviews and enable plurality in different ecosystem governance settings for just sustainability transformations.

'What sort of research do you do? Why do you choose your methods? Why do you ask the questions you ask? Who do you include? Who don't you include? What motivates you as a researcher?' Viola Hakkarainen

QUESTIONS:

• Do you ever ask yourself the questions posed by Viola?
• Are there any other questions that might be helpful to ask?