Street culture has received considerable attention in the popular press, on social media, and increasingly in scholarly circles.
One of the things where less attention is spent is on a reasonably acceptable definition. In short, Street Culture can be defined as “the beliefs, dispositions, ideologies, informal rules, practices, styles, symbols, and values associated with, adopted by, and engaged in by individuals and organizations that spend a disproportionate amount of time on the streets of large urban centers (Ross, 2018, p. 8).
That said, many questionable myths exist about street culture. These beliefs prevent us from adequately understanding its contributions, limitations, and possibilities for use.
Some popular misconceptions about street culture are listed as least to most important.
Many assume street culture is inherently tied to specific communities and neighborhoods because they encounter distinct styles, behaviors, and symbols in those urban areas. However, while some elements—such as streetwear trends, graffiti styles, or body modifications—may have originated in particular locations, they are not exclusive to them. The mobility of individuals, the influence of global media, and the commercialization of subcultural aesthetics have contributed to the widespread dissemination of elements of street culture beyond its points of origin. Rather than being static and place-bound, street culture evolves as it travels, adapting to new environments and merging with local traditions. For instance, hip-hop, which emerged in the Bronx, has been reinterpreted in cities worldwide, leading to distinct regional expressions. Similarly, once rooted in specific urban communities, sneaker culture has become a global phenomenon shaped at the very least by athletic endorsements, hype culture, and corporate branding.
Myth 2: Street Culture is Primarily an American Phenomenon
It may seem like an American phenomenon if one equates street culture solely with the origins of hip-hop and its associated elements (rap, beatboxing, breakdancing, etc.). However, street culture is far more expansive, encompassing diverse expressions like graffiti, skateboarding, parkour, and informal economies. These forms appear worldwide, from Brazil’s pichação and France’s parkour to South Africa’s pantsula dance and Japan’s bosozoku subcultures. Rather than being confined to the United States, street culture emerges in response to urban conditions, social struggles, and creative activities across economically privileged and marginalized communities.
Myth 3: Street culture is restricted to the disadvantaged, excluded, poor, or marginalized sectors of an urban population.
Popular media often portrays street culture as the domain of marginalized and socioeconomically disadvantaged people, frequently linking it to gangs or criminal activity. Although street culture can emerge from economic hardship and social exclusion, reducing it to these conditions ignores its broader appeal and diversity. Many aspects of street culture require significant financial investment, contradicting the assumption that it is solely for the disadvantaged.
For example, lowrider culture—commonly associated with street culture—involves customized cars costing tens of thousands of dollars. Similarly, the sneaker industry, driven by streetwear trends, includes luxury collaborations where shoes sell for hundreds or even thousands of dollars. High-fashion brands frequently draw inspiration from street aesthetics, and affluent individuals participate in street culture by incorporating elements like designer sneakers or graffiti-inspired couture.
By framing street culture as exclusively tied to poverty, we overlook its fluidity and how individuals across socio-economic classes engage with and contribute to it. While some forms of street culture originate in marginalized communities, they are neither confined to nor defined solely by them.
Pop culture often reinforces a common perception that street culture exists only in large cities, particularly in low-income areas. Although this view has some merit, street culture thrives in various environments and adapts to different social and spatial contexts. First, street culture extends beyond major cities into suburbs and near suburbs. While neighborhoods like the banlieues of Paris or the Jane-Finch corridor of Toronto share socio-economic conditions with some parts of inner cities—dense populations, high unemployment, and significant immigrant and refugee communities—street culture also emerges in smaller towns and rural regions through informal economies, graffiti, and underground music scenes. Second, street culture manifests in diverse urban spaces beyond the stereotypical “streets.” It influences social interactions in bars, gyms, nightclubs, restaurants, and transportation hubs, shaping behaviors and hierarchies. In schools, students navigate status through language, dress, and affiliations, while in correctional facilities, power dynamics often mirror street norms in a hypermasculine form. These settings demonstrate how street culture is not tied to geography but to social structures that emerge in different institutions.
Myth 5: Street Culture is the Purview of Youth Culture
Media portrayals often highlight youth-centered movements such as hip-hop, graffiti, and skateboarding, reinforcing that street culture is inherently youthful. While younger generations pioneered these movements, street culture is not age-specific. Many older individuals actively shape and sustain street culture in often overlooked ways. These include street vendors, small business owners, homeless and unhoused communities, elderly street performers, artists, older graffiti writers, and urban creatives. Why, then, does the myth that street culture is the domain of youth persist? This can be boiled down to three overlapping factors: Media Representation, Historical Association, and Marginalization of Older Participants. Street culture is not bound by age—it is shaped by all who navigate, inhabit, and contribute to public spaces. While youth may bring innovation and energy to various aspects of street culture, they are not the only participants.
Street culture is often reduced to streetwear—sneakers, baseball caps, and T-shirts—produced by brands like BAPE, Stüssy, and Supreme. While these brands capitalize on the aesthetic and energy of urban life, this oversimplification serves a commercial purpose and obscures the broader, more complex concept of street culture. Beyond fashion, street culture includes the ideologies, practices, and interactions that shape life in urban public spaces. This encompasses graffiti, street art, street food, and the social dynamics—ranging from community-building to informal economies, as well as the tensions of policing and resistance—that give urban environments their vibrancy. Street culture is not simply a style; it is a lived experience and a form of expression that extends far beyond retail.
Myth 7: Individuals associated with street culture are engaged in creative or artistic activities.
There is a widespread belief that people who engage with street culture are inherently creative, participating in dance, music, graffiti, street art, and fashion. This myth excludes a significant portion of those involved in street culture, such as individuals who work on or adjacent to the streets, those experiencing homelessness, and street vendors. While these groups may not be traditionally seen as engaging in “artistic” or “creative” activities, they contribute to the fabric of street culture in vital, often overlooked ways. For many, street culture is about survival, resilience, and adaptability—qualities that require significant creativity, even if they don’t manifest in the expected forms of music or graffiti. Street vendors, for example, may not be regarded as artists in the conventional sense. Still, their resourcefulness in marketing their goods, navigating social dynamics, and creating vibrant local economies reflects a creative engagement with their environment.
Why do people hold on to these beliefs about Street Culture?
Many misconceptions about street culture stem from mass media’s (especially news and social media) portrayals, which often reduce it to crime or exoticized subcultures. These representations homogenize the lived experience of those who create and sustain street culture.
Until we critically examine these beliefs, myths, and representations, street culture will continue to be misunderstood, limiting its recognition as a legitimate and complex social phenomenon.
While most communication channels do not engage in this kind of analysis, the academic fields of urban anthropology, geography and sociology, and criminology often provide valuable frameworks (or counternarratives) for understanding street culture beyond the mainstream. Indulging in these academic disciplines may open doors of understanding to people interested in learning about street culture at a deeper level.
Photo Credit
Photographer: Nate Bolt
Title: b-boy executing a freeze
https://jeffreyianross.com/wp-content/uploads/2142720958_58fbaccb6a_o-scaled-e1738420863200.jpg426640Jeffrey Ian Rosshttps://jeffreyianross.com/wp-content/uploads/jeffrey-ian-ross-logo-04.pngJeffrey Ian Ross2025-02-02 05:32:052025-02-02 05:32:05Seven Popular Myths About Contemporary Street Culture
The built environment has numerous underappreciated liminal spaces, and stairwells are among them.
If we examine these structures more closely, we notice many types. They vary based on their placement in a building (e.g., internal versus external), how many sides are surrounded by walls (e.g., open versus closed), their design (e.g., monumental, spiral, split scissors, cantilevered, etc.), and what they are made out of (e.g., concrete, wood, metal, stone, etc.).
While these differences define their physical characteristics, stairwells’ functions and roles go far beyond their structural diversity.
Although these spaces are often seen as purely functional, they also offer a range of benefits and roles in urban life.
Looking Beyond the Obvious
First, stairwells can serve a fitness purpose. Sometimes, people walk or run up and down the stairwells of structures as part of an overall exercise routine. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when gyms were closed and outdoor activity felt risky, some people turned to stairwells to get their steps in. The repetitive, vertical challenge they offer makes them ideal for cardiovascular workouts, and their accessibility ensures they remain a convenient option.
In popular culture, stairwells often serve as dramatic settings. Films like Die Hard and The Joker have used these spaces for tension-filled action scenes, including foot chases, daring stunts, amazing physical stunts, and gunfights. Their confined, vertical nature is ideal for storytelling, emphasizing movement and suspense.
Stairwells also have a social and cultural dimension in everyday life. Residents of crowded or government-assisted housing may find stairwells provide a temporary escape from noisy and overcrowded apartments. They can also act as informal gathering spots, especially in inclement weather, offering a semi-private space for conversations, social interaction, and community-building.
For some people, stairwells become places of reflection, where they can find a moment of solitude amidst the bustle of urban life.
Stairwells may also have a subversive edge. Graffiti writers and street artists occasionally use them as canvases, transforming sterile, functional spaces into vibrant galleries of self-expression and resistance. This kind of urban art improves the aesthetic nature of these areas and reclaims them, imbuing them with cultural and subcultural significance.
Conversely, stairwells are sometimes sites where illicit activities occur. Their semi-private nature makes them discreet venues for behaviors such as substance use. While these activities may be frowned upon, they underscore the role of stairwells as liminal spaces—neither fully private nor entirely public.
Acoustically, stairwells are unique. Their echo chambers amplify footsteps, conversations, and music, creating an auditory experience distinct from other parts of a building. Musicians and sound designers have occasionally taken advantage of these qualities, using stairwells to record or experiment with soundscapes.
Take the Stairs
Rather than seeing stairwells in a purely utilitarian manner, it’s essential to view them as areas that are more than mere conduits. Stairwells are versatile spaces with functional, cultural, and artistic significance.
Whether as places of exercise, artistic expression, social connection, or even acoustic exploration, stairwells have the potential to enrich the lives of those who pass through them.
By rethinking their significance, we can consider stairwells’ potential to inspire and connect, revealing their place as integral spaces in urban architecture and planning.
Photo Credit
Title: Never ending stairwell?
(Baltic Newcastle upon Tyne)
Photographer: Dave Collie
https://jeffreyianross.com/wp-content/uploads/36915889240_7eef15d50d_o-scaled.jpg19202560Jeffrey Ian Rosshttps://jeffreyianross.com/wp-content/uploads/jeffrey-ian-ross-logo-04.pngJeffrey Ian Ross2025-01-26 13:59:212025-01-26 14:22:11Stairwells Are More Than Passageways
Over the past few decades, several critical theories (e.g., Colonialism/Anti-Colonialism, CRT, Gender, Intersectionality, etc.), research methodologies (e.g., Reflexivity, Lived Experience, etc.), and intellectual discourses have significantly shaped scholarship, pedagogy, and, public debate.
When applied thoughtfully and in their intended manner, these theories, methods, and discourses can be powerful tools for understanding complex and sensitive topics and become transformative tools for change. These paradigms have offered new lenses for examining power structures, systemic racism, inequality, identity, and historical narratives.
However, when these paradigms are misused, they can distort discussions, dominate conversations, and drown out plausible alternative explanations. It is not enough to condemn privilege and complain about systemic oppression; we need to go beyond to achieve transformative change.
Defining Positionality
One area where these terms are often misapplied is in the introduction of positionality statements. A positionality statement (also known as a reflexivity or identity statement) is a declaration that scholars, researchers, or practitioners may provide that outlines their personal and professional background, values, beliefs, and experiences that can influence their work. It also acknowledges the cultural, economic, ethnic, gender, political, racial, or social background of the individual that may affect the subject of their study, practice, or analysis. These expressions are commonplace, especially among researchers engaging in auto-ethnography and reflective practices.
Research presentations and publications that utilize this approach often begin with the student, instructor, or researcher explaining how their unique circumstances have shaped their perspectives and how this, in turn, affects their research. While these declarations provide valuable context, excessive focus on personal narratives can sometimes end the discussion and detract from doing rigorous research. When positionality statements dominate the discussion and stop there, they risk shifting the focus from substantive and reflective findings to me search (i.e., an excessive focus on self-disclosure).
Risks of Overemphasis
Understandably, positionality statements are one way to condemn privilege. However, highlighting personal experiences of discrimination or marginalization differs from using this reflective experience to conduct analytical and rigorous research. In a pedagogical situation, when positionality statements from instructors and students dominate classroom discourse, without thoughtful consideration and analysis of solutions to combat discrimination or marginalization, the opportunity to learn new concepts, relevant scholarship, and strategies may be lost.
Although some audiences may find such disclosures engaging, others may feel they distract from the central purpose of scientific research (e.g., “a way of testing theories and hypotheses by applying certain rules or methods of analysis to observations and interpretations of reality under strictly delineated circumstances”).
Achieving Balance
As with any ingredient in a recipe, balance and proportion are key. Overloading the introduction of a research paper or presentation with personal context—like adding too much salt—can overwhelm and obfuscate the final product. The trick is to briefly acknowledge positionality, reflect on its influence, and then move on to the substance of the study. Unfortunately, many struggle to achieve this balance.
A related challenge arises from a common misunderstanding of auto-ethnography. Some researchers, mainly those new to qualitative methods, believe that storytelling about personal experiences with minimal interpretation suffices. However, true auto-ethnography requires rigorous analysis that situates personal experiences within broader social, cultural, or historical contexts. Merely recounting lived experiences without connecting them to the research questions (including hypotheses and/or theory) does not constitute robust scholarship.
This issue extends to “lived experience,” which refers to the knowledge and insights gained through direct personal encounters. To note, everyone has “lived experiences.” While this concept holds value in fields such as anthropology, criminology,criminal justice, education, etc., where firsthand accounts can illuminate systemic issues, it should neither replace nor overshadow empirical research. Personal narratives must be integrated thoughtfully, constantly enhancing—rather than dominating and overshadowing—the study’s central argument.
Summing Up
In short, positionality statements are sometimes misused or overemphasized to the detriment of substantive research. To address this, students, instructors, and researchers should exercise better caution in using these statements and focus on their direct relevance to the investigative process and, subsequently, findings. For instance, a brief paragraph outlining key aspects of positionality, accompanied by a reflection on how these factors influence the theory and methodology, is often sufficient.
Moving forward, positionality statements should balance personal context and rigorous scholarship, ensuring they support rather than detract from the work’s overall impact.
Photo credit:
Photographer: Poussin Jean
Title: Balance scale set, with weights
https://jeffreyianross.com/wp-content/uploads/Balance_a_tabac_1850-1-e1737220612307.jpg281300Jeffrey Ian Rosshttps://jeffreyianross.com/wp-content/uploads/jeffrey-ian-ross-logo-04.pngJeffrey Ian Ross2025-01-19 05:50:082025-01-19 06:49:57The Proportionality of Positionality Statements
Seven Popular Myths About Contemporary Street Culture
/by Jeffrey Ian RossStreet culture has received considerable attention in the popular press, on social media, and increasingly in scholarly circles.
One of the things where less attention is spent is on a reasonably acceptable definition. In short, Street Culture can be defined as “the beliefs, dispositions, ideologies, informal rules, practices, styles, symbols, and values associated with, adopted by, and engaged in by individuals and organizations that spend a disproportionate amount of time on the streets of large urban centers (Ross, 2018, p. 8).
That said, many questionable myths exist about street culture. These beliefs prevent us from adequately understanding its contributions, limitations, and possibilities for use.
Some popular misconceptions about street culture are listed as least to most important.
Myth 1: Street Culture is Unique to Particular Locations
Many assume street culture is inherently tied to specific communities and neighborhoods because they encounter distinct styles, behaviors, and symbols in those urban areas. However, while some elements—such as streetwear trends, graffiti styles, or body modifications—may have originated in particular locations, they are not exclusive to them. The mobility of individuals, the influence of global media, and the commercialization of subcultural aesthetics have contributed to the widespread dissemination of elements of street culture beyond its points of origin. Rather than being static and place-bound, street culture evolves as it travels, adapting to new environments and merging with local traditions. For instance, hip-hop, which emerged in the Bronx, has been reinterpreted in cities worldwide, leading to distinct regional expressions. Similarly, once rooted in specific urban communities, sneaker culture has become a global phenomenon shaped at the very least by athletic endorsements, hype culture, and corporate branding.
Myth 2: Street Culture is Primarily an American Phenomenon
It may seem like an American phenomenon if one equates street culture solely with the origins of hip-hop and its associated elements (rap, beatboxing, breakdancing, etc.). However, street culture is far more expansive, encompassing diverse expressions like graffiti, skateboarding, parkour, and informal economies. These forms appear worldwide, from Brazil’s pichação and France’s parkour to South Africa’s pantsula dance and Japan’s bosozoku subcultures. Rather than being confined to the United States, street culture emerges in response to urban conditions, social struggles, and creative activities across economically privileged and marginalized communities.
Myth 3: Street culture is restricted to the disadvantaged, excluded, poor, or marginalized sectors of an urban population.
Popular media often portrays street culture as the domain of marginalized and socioeconomically disadvantaged people, frequently linking it to gangs or criminal activity. Although street culture can emerge from economic hardship and social exclusion, reducing it to these conditions ignores its broader appeal and diversity. Many aspects of street culture require significant financial investment, contradicting the assumption that it is solely for the disadvantaged.
For example, lowrider culture—commonly associated with street culture—involves customized cars costing tens of thousands of dollars. Similarly, the sneaker industry, driven by streetwear trends, includes luxury collaborations where shoes sell for hundreds or even thousands of dollars. High-fashion brands frequently draw inspiration from street aesthetics, and affluent individuals participate in street culture by incorporating elements like designer sneakers or graffiti-inspired couture.
By framing street culture as exclusively tied to poverty, we overlook its fluidity and how individuals across socio-economic classes engage with and contribute to it. While some forms of street culture originate in marginalized communities, they are neither confined to nor defined solely by them.
Myth 4: Street Culture is Limited to Urban Centers
Pop culture often reinforces a common perception that street culture exists only in large cities, particularly in low-income areas. Although this view has some merit, street culture thrives in various environments and adapts to different social and spatial contexts. First, street culture extends beyond major cities into suburbs and near suburbs. While neighborhoods like the banlieues of Paris or the Jane-Finch corridor of Toronto share socio-economic conditions with some parts of inner cities—dense populations, high unemployment, and significant immigrant and refugee communities—street culture also emerges in smaller towns and rural regions through informal economies, graffiti, and underground music scenes. Second, street culture manifests in diverse urban spaces beyond the stereotypical “streets.” It influences social interactions in bars, gyms, nightclubs, restaurants, and transportation hubs, shaping behaviors and hierarchies. In schools, students navigate status through language, dress, and affiliations, while in correctional facilities, power dynamics often mirror street norms in a hypermasculine form. These settings demonstrate how street culture is not tied to geography but to social structures that emerge in different institutions.
Myth 5: Street Culture is the Purview of Youth Culture
Media portrayals often highlight youth-centered movements such as hip-hop, graffiti, and skateboarding, reinforcing that street culture is inherently youthful. While younger generations pioneered these movements, street culture is not age-specific. Many older individuals actively shape and sustain street culture in often overlooked ways. These include street vendors, small business owners, homeless and unhoused communities, elderly street performers, artists, older graffiti writers, and urban creatives. Why, then, does the myth that street culture is the domain of youth persist? This can be boiled down to three overlapping factors: Media Representation, Historical Association, and Marginalization of Older Participants. Street culture is not bound by age—it is shaped by all who navigate, inhabit, and contribute to public spaces. While youth may bring innovation and energy to various aspects of street culture, they are not the only participants.
Myth 6: Street Culture is Mostly Streetwear
Street culture is often reduced to streetwear—sneakers, baseball caps, and T-shirts—produced by brands like BAPE, Stüssy, and Supreme. While these brands capitalize on the aesthetic and energy of urban life, this oversimplification serves a commercial purpose and obscures the broader, more complex concept of street culture. Beyond fashion, street culture includes the ideologies, practices, and interactions that shape life in urban public spaces. This encompasses graffiti, street art, street food, and the social dynamics—ranging from community-building to informal economies, as well as the tensions of policing and resistance—that give urban environments their vibrancy. Street culture is not simply a style; it is a lived experience and a form of expression that extends far beyond retail.
Myth 7: Individuals associated with street culture are engaged in creative or artistic activities.
There is a widespread belief that people who engage with street culture are inherently creative, participating in dance, music, graffiti, street art, and fashion. This myth excludes a significant portion of those involved in street culture, such as individuals who work on or adjacent to the streets, those experiencing homelessness, and street vendors. While these groups may not be traditionally seen as engaging in “artistic” or “creative” activities, they contribute to the fabric of street culture in vital, often overlooked ways. For many, street culture is about survival, resilience, and adaptability—qualities that require significant creativity, even if they don’t manifest in the expected forms of music or graffiti. Street vendors, for example, may not be regarded as artists in the conventional sense. Still, their resourcefulness in marketing their goods, navigating social dynamics, and creating vibrant local economies reflects a creative engagement with their environment.
Why do people hold on to these beliefs about Street Culture?
Many misconceptions about street culture stem from mass media’s (especially news and social media) portrayals, which often reduce it to crime or exoticized subcultures. These representations homogenize the lived experience of those who create and sustain street culture.
Until we critically examine these beliefs, myths, and representations, street culture will continue to be misunderstood, limiting its recognition as a legitimate and complex social phenomenon.
While most communication channels do not engage in this kind of analysis, the academic fields of urban anthropology, geography and sociology, and criminology often provide valuable frameworks (or counternarratives) for understanding street culture beyond the mainstream. Indulging in these academic disciplines may open doors of understanding to people interested in learning about street culture at a deeper level.
Photo Credit
Photographer: Nate Bolt
Title: b-boy executing a freeze
Stairwells Are More Than Passageways
/by Jeffrey Ian RossThe built environment has numerous underappreciated liminal spaces, and stairwells are among them.
If we examine these structures more closely, we notice many types. They vary based on their placement in a building (e.g., internal versus external), how many sides are surrounded by walls (e.g., open versus closed), their design (e.g., monumental, spiral, split scissors, cantilevered, etc.), and what they are made out of (e.g., concrete, wood, metal, stone, etc.).
While these differences define their physical characteristics, stairwells’ functions and roles go far beyond their structural diversity.
Although these spaces are often seen as purely functional, they also offer a range of benefits and roles in urban life.
Looking Beyond the Obvious
First, stairwells can serve a fitness purpose. Sometimes, people walk or run up and down the stairwells of structures as part of an overall exercise routine. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when gyms were closed and outdoor activity felt risky, some people turned to stairwells to get their steps in. The repetitive, vertical challenge they offer makes them ideal for cardiovascular workouts, and their accessibility ensures they remain a convenient option.
In popular culture, stairwells often serve as dramatic settings. Films like Die Hard and The Joker have used these spaces for tension-filled action scenes, including foot chases, daring stunts, amazing physical stunts, and gunfights. Their confined, vertical nature is ideal for storytelling, emphasizing movement and suspense.
Stairwells also have a social and cultural dimension in everyday life. Residents of crowded or government-assisted housing may find stairwells provide a temporary escape from noisy and overcrowded apartments. They can also act as informal gathering spots, especially in inclement weather, offering a semi-private space for conversations, social interaction, and community-building.
For some people, stairwells become places of reflection, where they can find a moment of solitude amidst the bustle of urban life.
Stairwells may also have a subversive edge. Graffiti writers and street artists occasionally use them as canvases, transforming sterile, functional spaces into vibrant galleries of self-expression and resistance. This kind of urban art improves the aesthetic nature of these areas and reclaims them, imbuing them with cultural and subcultural significance.
Conversely, stairwells are sometimes sites where illicit activities occur. Their semi-private nature makes them discreet venues for behaviors such as substance use. While these activities may be frowned upon, they underscore the role of stairwells as liminal spaces—neither fully private nor entirely public.
Acoustically, stairwells are unique. Their echo chambers amplify footsteps, conversations, and music, creating an auditory experience distinct from other parts of a building. Musicians and sound designers have occasionally taken advantage of these qualities, using stairwells to record or experiment with soundscapes.
Take the Stairs
Rather than seeing stairwells in a purely utilitarian manner, it’s essential to view them as areas that are more than mere conduits. Stairwells are versatile spaces with functional, cultural, and artistic significance.
Whether as places of exercise, artistic expression, social connection, or even acoustic exploration, stairwells have the potential to enrich the lives of those who pass through them.
By rethinking their significance, we can consider stairwells’ potential to inspire and connect, revealing their place as integral spaces in urban architecture and planning.
Photo Credit
Title: Never ending stairwell?
(Baltic Newcastle upon Tyne)
Photographer: Dave Collie
The Proportionality of Positionality Statements
/by Jeffrey Ian RossOver the past few decades, several critical theories (e.g., Colonialism/Anti-Colonialism, CRT, Gender, Intersectionality, etc.), research methodologies (e.g., Reflexivity, Lived Experience, etc.), and intellectual discourses have significantly shaped scholarship, pedagogy, and, public debate.
When applied thoughtfully and in their intended manner, these theories, methods, and discourses can be powerful tools for understanding complex and sensitive topics and become transformative tools for change. These paradigms have offered new lenses for examining power structures, systemic racism, inequality, identity, and historical narratives.
However, when these paradigms are misused, they can distort discussions, dominate conversations, and drown out plausible alternative explanations. It is not enough to condemn privilege and complain about systemic oppression; we need to go beyond to achieve transformative change.
Defining Positionality
One area where these terms are often misapplied is in the introduction of positionality statements. A positionality statement (also known as a reflexivity or identity statement) is a declaration that scholars, researchers, or practitioners may provide that outlines their personal and professional background, values, beliefs, and experiences that can influence their work. It also acknowledges the cultural, economic, ethnic, gender, political, racial, or social background of the individual that may affect the subject of their study, practice, or analysis. These expressions are commonplace, especially among researchers engaging in auto-ethnography and reflective practices.
Research presentations and publications that utilize this approach often begin with the student, instructor, or researcher explaining how their unique circumstances have shaped their perspectives and how this, in turn, affects their research. While these declarations provide valuable context, excessive focus on personal narratives can sometimes end the discussion and detract from doing rigorous research. When positionality statements dominate the discussion and stop there, they risk shifting the focus from substantive and reflective findings to me search (i.e., an excessive focus on self-disclosure).
Risks of Overemphasis
Understandably, positionality statements are one way to condemn privilege. However, highlighting personal experiences of discrimination or marginalization differs from using this reflective experience to conduct analytical and rigorous research. In a pedagogical situation, when positionality statements from instructors and students dominate classroom discourse, without thoughtful consideration and analysis of solutions to combat discrimination or marginalization, the opportunity to learn new concepts, relevant scholarship, and strategies may be lost.
Although some audiences may find such disclosures engaging, others may feel they distract from the central purpose of scientific research (e.g., “a way of testing theories and hypotheses by applying certain rules or methods of analysis to observations and interpretations of reality under strictly delineated circumstances”).
Achieving Balance
As with any ingredient in a recipe, balance and proportion are key. Overloading the introduction of a research paper or presentation with personal context—like adding too much salt—can overwhelm and obfuscate the final product. The trick is to briefly acknowledge positionality, reflect on its influence, and then move on to the substance of the study. Unfortunately, many struggle to achieve this balance.
A related challenge arises from a common misunderstanding of auto-ethnography. Some researchers, mainly those new to qualitative methods, believe that storytelling about personal experiences with minimal interpretation suffices. However, true auto-ethnography requires rigorous analysis that situates personal experiences within broader social, cultural, or historical contexts. Merely recounting lived experiences without connecting them to the research questions (including hypotheses and/or theory) does not constitute robust scholarship.
This issue extends to “lived experience,” which refers to the knowledge and insights gained through direct personal encounters. To note, everyone has “lived experiences.” While this concept holds value in fields such as anthropology, criminology, criminal justice, education, etc., where firsthand accounts can illuminate systemic issues, it should neither replace nor overshadow empirical research. Personal narratives must be integrated thoughtfully, constantly enhancing—rather than dominating and overshadowing—the study’s central argument.
Summing Up
In short, positionality statements are sometimes misused or overemphasized to the detriment of substantive research. To address this, students, instructors, and researchers should exercise better caution in using these statements and focus on their direct relevance to the investigative process and, subsequently, findings. For instance, a brief paragraph outlining key aspects of positionality, accompanied by a reflection on how these factors influence the theory and methodology, is often sufficient.
Moving forward, positionality statements should balance personal context and rigorous scholarship, ensuring they support rather than detract from the work’s overall impact.
Photo credit:
Photographer: Poussin Jean
Title: Balance scale set, with weights