International Journal of Qualitative Methods (Dec 2012)

Shifting Positionalities: A Critical Discussion of a Duoethnographic Inquiry of a Personal Curriculum of Post/Colonialism

  • Richard D. Sawyer EdD,
  • Tonda Liggett PhD

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1177/160940691201100507
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11

Abstract

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This article first presents a study of two educational researchers' history and curriculum of colonialism. Using a process of duoethnography, we engage in dialogic and collaborative personal ethnographies in which we contrast and analyze critical educational incidents and products (e.g., a high school report card, old personal photos, and current teaching lesson plans at the high school and college levels). We focus this process on the ideological scripts framing and informing our educational histories, as students and then as teachers, in order to unpack some of the cultural underpinnings of our views of teaching language arts for equity and diversity. Furthermore, in the article we critique the duoethnographic process, analyzing and discussing issues surrounding representation, trustworthiness, and self-reflexivity.