Loyola University ChicagoEpistemology, Positionality, and Social Justice An individual’s culture, upbringing, privileges, orientation etc. all help create one’s positionality, which affects how one views the world. In order to confront difficult issues, such as social justice, one must realize how their positionality effects their epistemologies, or beliefs. Takacs (2002) states that “when we develop the skill of understanding how we know what we know, we acquire a key to lifelong learning” (p. 28). From a personal interview with an activist, I concluded that it is important in social justice discussions to deeply examine our own identities, which garners us an understanding as to why we hold certain epistemologies. Part One On September 13th, 2017, I conducted an in-person interview with a …show more content…
I usually think of my own identity in terms of the broader picture; however, I learned that it is imoportant to analyze the smaller components of yourself to truly understand your epistomologies in this world. Particularly when one is involved in social justice discussions about power and privilege, it is vital to recognize the identities, which give us unconscious power in society. My interviewee also opened my eyes to different forms of activism. One generally thinks of an activist as an individual protesting in the streets. However, my participant is the assistant director for career education, who helps underprivileged groups’ access resources on campus, develops outreach programs for students, etc. While an activist may be on the frontlines of the battle, they also work behind the scenes to empower and ensure access to individuals. This made me think how I can incorporate social justice issues into my everyday life and future career. By developing a social justice “lens” I may be able to determine where there is room for helping certain groups and individuals in my line of