Discourses of Belonging: Intersections of Truth, Power, and Ethics in Evaluation With Migrant Youth

Abstract

This article problematizes methodological practices, specifically the use of surveys as tools of measurement in evaluation with migrant youth. Drawing from Foucault’s Genealogy of Ethics, we investigate the knowledge created about particular minoritized groups through the author’s current evaluation, the power relations involved, and the ethical dimensions of evaluation. We argue that ethical questions for evaluators are entangled in an era of neoliberal, audit culture in educational research. We offer a theoretical orientation for productive critique of methodological practice.