Premium
Positionality of African Americans and a theoretical accommodation of it: Rethinking science education research
Author(s) -
Parsons Eileen R. Carlton
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
science education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.209
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1098-237X
pISSN - 0036-8326
DOI - 10.1002/sce.20273
Subject(s) - oppression , sociology , negotiation , gender studies , african american culture , african american , science education , anthropology , social science , environmental ethics , pedagogy , politics , political science , law , philosophy
This essay addresses a call for research involving African Americans to interpret data from the historical, contemporary, and cultural experiences of African Americans. The essay argues for a science education research approach that explicitly considers the positionality of African Americans in the United States. This positionality involves the negotiation of three distinct and conflicting realms of experience that pertain to oppression, African‐rooted Black culture, and the dominant culture in the United States. The theoretical tool proposed in this essay accommodates the positionality of African Americans by superimposing it upon a model that synthesizes the ideas of Michael Cole (cultural‐historical activity theory) and Urie Bronfenbrenner (ecology of human development). © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed 92: 1127–1144, 2008