Positionality Paper

Exploring the Complexities Between Methodology, Paradigm, and Pedagogy

Imagine residing in a small suburb, otherwise known as Boardman, Ohio, which is located near a slightly larger city of Youngstown—notoriously recognized nationwide as a former locale of Mafia gangs, continuous shootings, and most notably, the steel mill era when the blast furnaces roared continuously day in and day out until Black Monday. Everything seemed to shudder and shift, almost as if the entire city was gyrating and careening into the abyss, which marked the cataclysmic finale to being one of the top five steel producing cities in the United States.

???????????Though I was born following the closure of the mills, Mafia activity, and a booming city, I can frequently recall many of these stories recollected through my parents’ eyes, other close family, and friends. Due to this notion, I learned from a young age that being raised in Youngstown and the surrounding suburbs meant that you always must possess grit, determination, and hard work. This character and work ethic places every Youngstown native in the ”Made of Steel” phenomenon, or more eloquently stated: “You can’t break a city built from steel.”

???????????My neighborhood is a conglomerate of primarily middle-class and upper-class families, the majority of whom are white and a smattering of African Americans, Asian Americans and mixed race. My parents taught me to always be respectful of everyone I met, regardless of culture, ethnicity, or ability; however, the world outside of home painted a stark contrast. Very few black students attended the Boardman Local School system where I made my mark. Due to there being few minority groups within Boardman, the outside world of white supremacy taught me to stray away from anyone who wasn’t white or possessed any differing qualities whatsoever. African Americans, Asian Americans, etc., were inferior and incompetent when it came to accomplishing any task. The same ideology held true for members of the disability community. The outside world proved time and time again that persons were inferior, incompetent, unable to thrive, and most significantly, didn’t possess the capacity to accomplish a complex task or walk down the street. This practice was commonplace, and my parents would discern the rumblings of those who believed we, the largest minority group, were considered as the “other.” This stark reality, or so I thought, posed challenging for me over many years. Finally, I enrolled in a program where I received the philosophy that would allow me to alter my perspectives of blindness and even racial identity. I enrolled in Blind Industries and Services of Maryland and over a ten-month period, I gained all of the skills necessary to survive as a blind person.

???????????My Masters level classes have provided a foundation to alter my course of action, cultural, social, and personal growth when I chose to pursue a career in the Art Education/ Museum Education field. Both of my parents are former Art Educators, and thus, I’ve come to embrace the arts as a springboard for cultural advancements required to alter the United States’ worldview. From a young age, painting, sculptures, photographs, and a plethora of other visual arts fascinated me, and I pondered several queries: Why are members of the disability community infrequently represented in the arts? Are any Art Educators represented in the arts, and if so, what is the likelihood of being hired in the art field? These ponderings frequently surfaced and went unanswered until I joined the National Federation of the Blind, where the epiphany arose through presentations and a documentary representing several blind persons in various fields. I was fascinated by the blind Art Educator, and I realized with the appropriate training, blindness skills, and blind role models, that nothing is impossible.

???????????Another breakthrough concerning my epistemology, paradigms, and theoretical perspectives was challenged and nurtured when I decided to take an Early American Literature course from Youngstown State University that provided the framework for shattering the surface of African Americans during the founding of our country through their literary works, experiences, and oppression. At this juncture I could sense through auditory and literary clues my professor’s positionality, paradigm, and field of interest was challenging the whiteness and cultural lens that remains dominant. Her lectures and choices of literature allowed the entire class to reach beyond the traditional teaching principles by the dominant, white society. Most significantly, she provided me the conviction, positive philosophy, as well as digging deeper within myself through conversations and critiques that nothing is impossible regardless of ability. Though years have passed since this course, we still remain in touch.

???????????A similar situation arose upon my enrollment in a Masters level Disability Studies Independent Study course, and I experienced a theoretical and paradigmatic shift, which would alter my career path and further my research interests and academic pursuits. I acquired the core theories of the Social and Medical Model of Disability and how ableism, which is vastly similar to the crux of whiteness and racism, paints the picture of pathological altruism—in other words—Pathological Altruism, an Introduction provides the following clarification:

In essence, pathological altruism might be thought of as any behavior or personal tendency in which either the stated aim or the implied motivation is to promote the welfare of another. But instead of overall beneficial outcomes, this altruism instead has irrational (from the point of view of an outside observer) and substantial negative consequences to the other or even to the self. (Oakley et al., 2011, p.3)

I was now ready to conquer the negative perspectives and stereotypes awaiting me concerning accessibility and disability, and along the way, the foray and curiosity of the visual arts and Assistive Technology allowed me the opportunity to step into the museum field.

???????????The conceptualization and implementation of paradigms, epistemology, and theories continued to evolve and expand through two breakthrough events: being hired at The Butler Institute of American Art, and most significantly, making the decision to enroll in the Art Education Masters program at Ohio State. Prior to my hiring, my knowledge of the pedagogies, paradigms, and teaching in the Art Education field was extremely limited, but my quest remained: to meld my broad array of interests and passions into one career path and continuously deepen and expand my thirst for knowledge. Over the past two semesters thus far, with the wide breadth and scope of knowledge from faculty and coursework, I’ve adopted the teaching philosophy of allowing all museum visitors and employees to feel they have entered a welcoming environment through continued accessibility initiatives, expanding the artistic representation of all minority groups, and provide the building blocks to erase past and present oppression and strife placed on differing races and cultures one step at a time. This can only be achieved through ongoing collaboration with The Butler staff and the Youngstown community as a whole. I’m ready to face any obstacles and challenges that may arise at any moment, and I possess the tools, aspirations, and ability to arise from failure and uncertainty. I initially ventured from the “ignorance is bliss”.

???????????Finally, I have ventured from the “Ignorance is Bliss” phenomenon due to my limited knowledge of race, cultural identity, and various emotions surrounding the Educational Survival Complex to the following quotation from the article “Is Ignorance Bliss? Pre-Service Teachers’ Attitudes Toward Multicultural Education” by stating:

In the United States, the number of school-aged students from diverse backgrounds is increasing, yet, according to research, the majority of teachers and those in teacher education programs continue to be predominantly Caucasian, middle class and English monolingual speakers. Studies have shown that many of those entering the field of teaching have a lack of knowledge of the experiences, needs, and resources of culturally and linguistically diverse student populations.?(Cho, DeCastro-Ambrosetti, 2005-2006,p.24)

I’ve come to realize that similar sentiments and perspectives profoundly impact every minority group, and it is my mission to uncover and place their stories, experiences, and identity at the forefront of The Butler’s mission as the museum has previously upheld, but now, more than ever, this must be achieved through diversity, equity, and inclusion. I’ve also adopted the Constructivist and Critical Paradigm, which allows me to straddle multiple world views and thought processes while examining the social, historical, and thought-provoking past and present experiences of the disability community—my main area of focus—and how the arts and technology can vastly improve critical thinking strategies, differing perspectives, and allowing the capacity for anyone to embrace the arts in their own way and shatter the status quo. In the article “Developing Understandings of Disability through a Constructivist Paradigm: Identifying, Overcoming (and Embedding) Crip-Dissonance”, Olsen and Pilson affirmed: “Grue (2016) advocates that the social meaning of disability should be studied further, given that understandings of disability are ‘undermined by narrow construals of the category of disability, and a social meaning connoting marginality and exclusion’ (Grue 2016: 962).” This philosophy and paradigm paves a way for my immersion in qualitative research and the underpinnings of art education, disability studies, and assistive technology can challenge the current worldview held by a large majority of the United States population.

???????????As the years pass and I continue to experience further events within my career, my studies, as well as the world outside of my comfort zone, I am pushed to the brink of eliminating the status quo through inspiring others in my actions, thoughts, and words. I continue to remain at the forefront of exploring avenues and pathways that must be uncovered and provide a worldview that is vast and reaches into the depths of space and time.

References

Oakley, B., Knafo, A., & McGrath, M. (2011). Pathological Altruism—An Introduction. Pathological Altruism, 4–8. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199738571.003.0014

Cho, G., & DeCastro-Ambrosetti, D. (2006). Is Ignorance Bliss? Pre-Service Teachers’ Attitudes toward Multicultural Education. High School Journal, 89(2), 24–28. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ720876

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Olsen, J., & Pilson, A. (2022). Developing Understandings of Disability through a Constructivist Paradigm: Identifying, Overcoming (and Embedding) Crip-Dissonance. Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research, 24(1), 15–28. https://doi.org/10.16993/sjdr.843