Positional Awareness
Positional awareness is an essential element in highlighting the importance of acknowledging one’s social location and how it contributes to research.
Boundary spanning is when at least two groups, cultures or organizations come together to create alliances (Godwin & Ward-Edwards, 2018). With regards to academia, boundary spanning refers to creating connections between institutions of higher education and the community that surrounds them. Creating these connections, and spanning the boundaries, allows for new relationships to be formed. Furthermore, it allows for a chance to learn from new perspectives that otherwise would not have been considered (Godwin & Ward-Edwards, 2018). Boundary spanning is a process where individuals search for knowledge that is outside of their organizational, technological, temporal or geographical boundaries (Nerkar & Miceli, 2016). It also allows for reflection into one's institution to notice and address systematic issues that may not have been recognized prior (Godwin & Ward-Edwards, 2018). Lastly, boundary spanning allows for trust to be established or re-established between two communities or organizations (Godwin &Ward-Edwards, 2018). One example of this is the Engage program that took place at Georgia College; this college has a predominantly white student population but is surrounded by racially diverse community (Godwin &Ward-Edwards, 2018). The Engage program worked to integrate the two communities, allowing new relationships and new sources of knowledge for all parties involved. Boundary spanning also allows for teachers and students to reflect on their institution and student and staff population with new information about their surrounding communities (Godwin &Ward-Edwards, 2018).
Boundary spanning
By Katie Bouwman
(Photo credit to Blucker, 2017)
Boundary spanning
By Abigail Caldwell
(Photo credit to Spencer, 2018)
“Boundary spanning” and “boundary spanning leadership” are becoming a greater focus in higher education, engaging universities, public schools, and community partners. Boundary spanning involves bridging gaps and bringing together an organization and its exchange partners to work towards a common goal and showing a commitment to social justice. Within higher education, boundary spanning is used to describe the experience of community engagement among community partners, faculty, and staff (Weerts & Sandmann, 2010). The boundary-spanner often has one foot in academia and another in the community. A boundary spanner typically embodies a critical awareness of scientific history while demonstrating active efforts to center their community throughout all phases of the project. The communities they choose to work with have historically been excluded from collaboration and the co-production of knowledge within research, therefore their role is critical in providing communities agency. Not every academic is suitable to be a boundary spanner, as it requires an appreciation for complementarity and the ability to translate knowledge between boundaries (Southern et al., 2023). Additionally, an effective boundary spanner requires certain characteristics, including the ability to develop strong relationships, build and maintain trust, and communicate clearly (Weerts & Sandmann, 2010). Within the field of community-based research, effective boundary spanning has many benefits, including, rekindling relationships, enhancing agency, building trust, and engaging in more inclusive and equitable research practices.
Boundary spanning is an action that can be taken and used specifically in research methods, but the essence can be used in daily social life as well. It requires radical imagination and the willingness to fail. This term is used by Godwin & Edwards (2018) as a process, as presented in The Wiley International Handbook of Service-Learning for Social Justice. This process can be taken up at the individual, community, or government level, or may be used simultaneously for all three. Boundary spanning considers different, opposing ideas, ideologies specifically in the context of participatory community engagement, and it considers a social justice-oriented praxis. Furthermore, it recognizes various forms of power; it is for everyone, everywhere, always. An example of boundary spanning might look like the coming together of historically and traditionally opposing organizations, like “colleges or universities and surrounding communities” (Godwin & Edwards, 2018 p. 17). But, just as importantly, boundary spanning is not restricted to uniting dominant and subjugated knowledge ecosystems. Boundary spanning may also be used to respond and highlight the importance of uplifting systemically marginalized bodies and minds, as well as, and more importantly, to understand the consequences of such an action. One might say that the opposite of boundary spanning is boundary separation insofar as there is no unification of contrasting or seemingly unconnected ideas, or organizations. Boundary spanning is a framework (Godwin & Edwards, 2018); it is the process of questioning tradition, and, yet it is so much more (Mortin-Nimomiya & Pollock, 2017).
Boundary spanning
By Quinn WayLaing
(Photo credit to Barrett, 2017)
Complexity thinking
By Abigail Caldwell
(Photo credit to Banks, 2017)
Conversations around the use of complexity thinking within diverse disciplines are becoming increasingly popular as complexity thinking is recognized as crucial for understanding and dealing with the social problems we face today (Rogers et al., 2013). Complexity thinking recognizes and understands the evolution and transformation of social systems and accommodates them with complex responses (Khan et al., 2018). When a system cannot be understood by simply looking at its core elements and demonstrates non-linear interactions between its parts, it requires complexity thinking to conduct an effective analysis (Martin & Sunley, 2007). In contrast to reductive thinking, which privileges systematic approaches that assume linearity and come at a considerable social cost, complexity thinkers challenge linearity and include relevant non-academic community members in research. A challenge with complexity thinking is encouraging scholars to gain a well-rounded understanding of its nuances and realities, to gain the confidence to unlearn the habit of reductive thinking (Rogers et al., 2013). Successfully unlearning reductive thinking can be accomplished by learning more about complexity thinking and gaining lived experience by putting it into practice. The idea of “living” within complexity thinking is critical for transformation because experience, feedback, and the application of feedback are necessary steps for learning about and gaining a thorough understanding of complex systems (Rogers et al., 2013). Complexity thinking within community-based research is important because it can provide innovative solutions to relevant complex issues through collaboration and action-oriented initiatives within communities (Khan et al., 2018).
Cultural safety is a concept rooted in the acknowledgment of power imbalances and cultural differences within healthcare, education, social services, and various other sectors (Nathoo et al., 2013). At its core, cultural safety emphasizes creating an environment where individuals feel respected, understood, and empowered to express their cultural identities without fear of discrimination or marginalization.
Cultural safety is about actively engaging in reflective practice and ongoing self-awareness to understand one's own biases and how they may impact interactions with individuals from diverse backgrounds (McCorkel & Myers, 2003). Cultural safety involves critically examining institutional structures, policies, and practices that perpetuate systematic inequalities and actively working to dismantle them. This includes addressing historical and ongoing injustices, such as colonization, racism, and cultural assimilation, that have marginalized particular groups and have had a negative impact on their well-being (Nathoo et al., 2013). Cultural safety prioritizes the voices and experiences of marginalized communities, ensuring that they have a meaningful role in decision-making processes that affect their lives. This may involve co-designing programs and services with community members, providing culturally appropriate care and support, and advocating for policies that address social determinants of health and promote equity (Nathoo et al., 2013).
Cultural safety is a dynamic and ongoing process that requires continuous learning, reflection, and action to create environments where all individuals can feel safe, respected, and valued, regardless of their cultural background or identity (McCorkel & Myers, 2003;Nathoo et al., 2013). It is a commitment to equity, social justice, and human rights that underpins efforts to create a more inclusive and compassionate society.
Cultural Safety
By Isabelle Williams
(Photo credit to Oxana, 2018)
Positionality
By Sam Walsh
(Photo credit to Dooley, 2017)
Positionality is about sharing one’s beliefs, opinions and prejudices that impact research findings and how they are interpreted (Carey, 2012, p. 59 as cited in Van de Sande & Schwartz). Within research papers, positionality can be seen through reflexivity statements or other statements which includes an overview of an author or researcher’s identities and connections to the topic at hand (McCorkel & Myers, 2003). Reflexivity statements can help to enlighten others such as team members about concerns that may arise throughout the research process. They can also help to ensure a more trauma-informed approach is used (Van de Sande & Schwartz). Reflexivity statements further one’s understanding of a researcher’s perspectives on social justice and social change, while prioritizing the ways that power and privilege shape research and understandings of research findings (Van de Sande & Schwartz; McCorkel & Myers, 2003).
The trauma-informed approach and understanding of positionality statements helps to build comprehension of why we can’t just “’add Indigenous and stir’: no matter how awesome the content, if it goes into a container based on the dominant system where colonial relations make the most and only sense, then it’s going to go sour” (Liboiron et al., 2024). If an article overemphasizes a member of their team that is marginalized as a means for why the article has ground to stand on, it’s a good indicator that it comes from an incredibly biased, and colonial, perspective, which positionality and reflexivity statements strive to move away from.
Positionality is to the idea of how one's social identity shapes and informs one's worldview, both literally and ideologically (Merrill & Frigon, 2015). The notion of one's position is critical to the conceptualization of how one forms the basis for the construction of knowledge. One's positionality can be understood through factors including, but not limited to, one's race, sex, gender, class, ability, or age. Additionally, these variables oftentimes critically intersect-- these moments offer more nuance and the potential for deeper understanding. More importantly, positionality is useful for understanding and creating possibilities for movement through marginalized frameworks of knowledge within research findings. Positionality is useful within the research process for taking a step back, gaining a new perspective, or solidifying a preconceived notion. The degree to which a researcher or research participant is allowed to or consciously chooses to incorporate their positionality will increase the level of reflexivity possible for the sharing of results and subsequent findings. In CBPR, findings and results are instrumental in addressing real community needs and for leaving research participants in better conditions than before the given study was conducted (Hughes & Santinele, 2023; Morton-Ninomiya & Pollock, 2017). Societal conditions on knowledge have the potential to make authoritative, objective claims. So, the importance of positionality in the research context is related to reflexivity, especially in Community-Based Participatory Research methods (CBPR).
