Critical Researcher Research Articles

The critical terrorism researcher: identity, positionality, and (de)coloniality

ABSTRACT Over the last two decades, Critical Terrorism Studies (CTS) has been crucial in contributing to critical research on terrorism that challenges the troublesome assumptions about “terrorism” developed in the field of Terrorism Studies, and which investigates the complexities that shape (counter-)terrorism in various socio-political contexts, especially so in the “post-9/11 era”. This has, however, also enabled the production of the identity of a uniquely critical terrorism researcher which, I argue in this article, is acutely underwritten by colonial epistemologies and assumptions that underpin “terrorism”. By drawing upon relevant insights from decolonial scholarship on the link between identity and knowledge production, especially through my engagement with Sylvia Wynter’s discourse on “Man and the coloniality of being”, this article aims to problematise the CTS researcher as a specific idea of Man (usually Western/white/bourgeoise/heterosexual) shaped by various descriptive statements including those about emancipation and inclusion that seeks to legitimise researchers in this sub-field as progenitors of genuine discourses about “terrorism”. By de-centring the CTS researcher through reflecting on my own research practices, choices and priorities, the article contributes to CTS debates on methodology as well as to the debate on “terrorism expertise”. It concludes by offering some reflections on the future of CTS.

Developing a teaching-research nexus in teacher education: recounts of an educator’s self-study

ABSTRACT This study shares perspectives on how a teaching-research nexus could be developed in teacher education practices. The focus is on one teacher-educator’s experience of learning to communicate the mutuality of teaching and research initiatives with a group of learner-teachers and colleagues during a college-based teacher education course in Eritrea. A self-study that includes interactions with critical friends, interviewing, and researcher diaries, facilitated in exploring the challenges and improvements in developing a teaching-research nexus while supporting the reflective collaborative practices of a group of learner-teachers. Using the analytic notion of turning points, we share findings on how the teacher-educator positions roles in the process of pedagogizing research, encountering uncertainties and finding practical resolutions while learning to support reflective practices, and a reframed notion of modelling. The study highlights a pedagogy of showing in contexts where teacher-educators are challenged to mediate between aspired and actual teaching practices.

Preservation Strategies for Biodiversity Data

Preservation Strategies for Biodiversity Data

‘비판성’의 새로운 탐색: 비판적 존재론과 브리콜라주 연구활동의 관점에서

The purpose of this study is to offer investigate conceptual foundations for critical research, so called, ‘critical ontology’ and ‘bricolage’ research activities, in the perspectives of a critical applied linguist. The critique, as reinterpreted as the arts of existence or critical ontology of ourselves, is placed in the on-going inquiry for the critical and qualitative researchers in this study. Critical understanding of ourselves is also suited with bricolage research. The concept of bricolage can be illustrated in a praxis of interpretation and understanding with getting together of rigorousness, complexity, and criticality. In this study, the combined characteristics of critical ontology and bricolage were to be discussed in the construction of a critical reseacher’ biographical growth. In the preliminary stage for the autobiographical research to find out the combined meaningfulness of the critical ontology and bricolage, I mapped out the prominent and turning knowledges which made myself identified as ‘critical researcher’ in my research career. My research trajectory, based on the published research papers and books of mine, were reflected and divided into the four (narrative, critical, discursive, cultural) major turns. It turned out that I have developed my identity of ‘a critical researcher’ through the perspectives of critical ontology and bricolage. It is hoped that the further writing of autobiographies plays as a autonomous channel for developing the sense of being a critical researcher. Possible areas of research are discussed. This article concluded with some suggestions for future directions of methodological development.

교원양성 변화의 방향

Purpose: This study is written with the purpose of examining the direction of changes in teacher education for the purpose of fostering teachers whose roles are diversifying. It was judged that the direction of change in teacher education would be possible through reflection on the past, awareness on the present, and practical action for the future.
 Methods: Critical literature study and researcher's insight were used for the paper.
 Results: The problems of the teacher education curriculum, analysis of the teacher education curriculum problems from a failure theory perspective, and research analysis results related to the reform plan of the teacher education system were presented.
 Conclusion: The conclusions of the study are as follows. First, teacher education institutions need to operate their own unique curriculum, and for this purpose, it is necessary to extend the teacher education period to some extent. Second, the integration and abolition of teacher education institutions requires a careful approach and sufficient time. Third, the role of instructors in teacher education institutions is very important. Fourth, the new practice of teacher education should be led by teacher education institutions.

AWWA Water Science Author Spotlight

<i>AWWA Water Science</i> Author Spotlight

Confronting Whiteness in Developmental Science: Disrupting the Intergenerational Transmission of White Racism.

This special section situates White racial socialization (WRS) in its rightful place-in the context of White supremacy. The first article offers a conceptual framework to guide research on White adolescents' racial identity development in this context. The second employs a critical ethnographic approach to explore White racial identity development among incarcerated White adolescents. Additional studies use qualitative, observational, and mixed methods to understand WRS practices in White families. The final article presents a conceptual model of digital WRS. Authors provide recommendations for future research, such as engaging in critical researcher self-reflexivity and focusing on content of racial socialization messages. Two commentaries highlight cross-cutting themes and urge developmental scientists to view this special section as a call to action.

Turning intimate spaces into digital classrooms: Public health students’ experiences of learning and doing critical qualitative research in pandemic times

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, burgeoning health researchers have been tasked with learning how to conduct critical qualitative health research from the intimate spaces of their homes. In this presentation, we, three public health students, highlight our experiences as learners and doers of critical qualitative methods to demonstrate the challenges and triumphs that co-exist with pursuing our academic goals during a global pandemic. We employ a critical, reflexive narrative approach to storying our experiences of learning and practicing critical qualitative health research methods from the (dis)comfort of our homes during the pandemic. Using diverse theoretical lenses, including embodiment and poststructuralism, we story our experiences of navigating the blurry boundaries created by our necessary participation in the digital world. We construct and present these stories using arts-based qualitative research methods that were introduced to us in our courses and readings through the Centre for Critical Qualitative Health Research. Stitching together words to create poetry, fabric to construct a quilt, and pictures and writing to articulate experiences, these stories explore how the transformation of our intimate space into an academic and research space impacts the experience of learning to be a critical qualitative health researcher. David uses creative analytic writing practices through memos and journals, paired with photography, to express his experience as a learner. He draws on embodiment, attuning himself to the body to better understand his experiences. Through the medium of poetry, Madison grapples with the reality of being a digital student - letting her anxieties, curiosities, and questions stumble out to make sense of her virtual self. Finally, Kristie uses quilting to construct a material representation of the Zoom experience, exploring the intimacy and alienation of the digital classroom. Through our stories, we hope to create space to deeply consider what it means to be an online learner and an online being. Through these three interwoven stories, we expose our vulnerabilities to carve out space to reflect on our needs and desires to thrive in digital learning environments.

Uczony jako intelektualista publiczny. Przykład religioznawstwa

The article discusses the role of public intellectuals, with particular emphasis on scholars specializing in the study of religions. While various functions and aims of public intellectuals are taken into account, the article focuses primarily on risks related to scholars’ engagement in public discourse. The history of the academic study of religion shows that many of its representatives were involved in various ideological endeavors, including political ideologies. It is argued that the main role of the public intellectual in the study of religion is not to be a functionary of religious institutions nor even an interpreter of religious traditions, but a critical researcher who impartially popularizes knowledge about religions and highlights the mechanisms underlying the dynamics of the religious world.

Place to Meet

This essay is a place where the everyday meets critical artistic practice meets theory. Within a critical artistic researcher’s everyday practice, critical theory is lived and practiced in modes that are material and felt. Building on the of critical theorists who write explicitly about their relationships with theory, three researchers write vignettes detailing small moments in their practice. The vignettes make visible the ways the everyday and critical theory interlock and show how critical artistic research asks us to consider ways of caring, being accountable, attending to, and growing sensibilities for living with critical theories.

We are friends? Navigating relationships with undocumented college students as co-researchers in participatory action research

This article focuses on the process of establishing, defining, and making sense of relationships with undocumented college students as co-researchers in participatory action research (PAR). Using memos and narratives with thick descriptions of critical moments that emerged during a qualitative higher education PAR study, the author examines the challenges and opportunities of engaging undocumented college students as co-researchers in all aspects of the research process. Through critical reflections of her positionality as a former undocumented immigrant and role as a critical higher education researcher, the author also provides recommendations for scholars interested in partnering with undergraduate students of minoritized identities as co-researchers in PAR projects and those seeking to humanize research methodologies as they investigate issues related to undocumented students.

"The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House": Ten Critical Lessons for Black and Other Health Equity Researchers of Color.

Audre Lorde's provocative admonishment, "The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house," is a fitting caution for Black and other scholars of color who seek to use traditional social and behavioral sciences research as a tool to achieve social justice and health equity in Black communities. Invoking Lorde, I use the "master's tools" as a metaphor for conventional theoretical and methodological approaches and "dismantle the master's house" as a metaphor for intersectional structures and systems of oppression that created and sustain health inequity in U.S. Black communities. Using a blend of personal narrative and insights from a 23-year career as a Black critical health equity researcher, I share 10 critical lessons for Black and other health equity researchers of color. And because the personal typically reflects the structural, I recommend system and structural-level mitigation strategies for departments, universities, extramural institutions (e.g., journals), and the government, for each critical lesson.

Understanding children’s perceptions of, and priorities for, healthy neighbourhoods in Aotearoa New Zealand: study protocol for a cross-sectional study

IntroductionNeighbourhood environments can have significant and enduring impacts on children’s physical, psychological and social health. Environments can impact health through promoting or hindering physical activity, active travel, and healthy eating...

Critical ethnography in schools: reflections on power, positionality, and privilege

This paper is a critical reflection of a critical ethnography, a study focused on how ‘healthy lifestyle education’ programmes were implemented and experienced in two primary schools. In an attempt to disrupt the status quo I employed a range of ethnographic methods: ‘hanging out’ with children and adults; building trusting relationships; having research conversations with participants; observing children and adults; and, journaling. However, the messy assemblage of diverse organisations, people, relations of power, discourses, truths, and practices, resulted in the emergence of ethical and methodological conundrums, including how to represent children’s voices, whether (or not) to ‘intervene’ during problematic pedagogical moments, and how to ‘act’ as a critical ethnographic researcher in schools. Applying a critical lens to my own methodology helped to ensure that I embarked on a continuous, reflexive process; one that enabled a critique of research methods and a negotiation of issues of power, positionality, and privilege.

The politics of critical policy sociology: mobilities, moorings and elite networks

ABSTRACT This article reflects on what doing critical policy sociology means in shifting theoretical, empirical and methodological contexts of education. We focus our analytical lens on two primary considerations. First, we reflect on the politics of criticality, examining differing claims and debates about what it means to do critical research and be a critical researcher of education policy, paying particular attention to how critical policy sociologists position their work in relation to elite power and policy networks. Second, we build on these foundations to consider the trend towards researching mobilities within critical policy sociology, arguing that contemporary ‘follow the policy’ research risks orienting researchers to the problems and agendas already established by elite policy agents and organisations, while obscuring the not-so-mobile forces that continue to define education policy and practice. We also raise questions about the elite networks and privileged levels of resourcing typically required to conduct this kind of research. In conclusion, we invite further discussion on the politics of knowledge production and challenges for policy sociologists seeking to be critical in shifting contexts.

Using the Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety (SEIPS) model to describe critical care nursing during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic (2020).

Using the Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety (SEIPS) model to describe critical care nursing during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic (2020).

Marxism and Political Economy in Education: An Interpretation of Jean Anyon's Critical Pedagogy

Jean Anyon (1941-2013) is a critical pedagogical researcher and social activist in the United States. All her life, she devoted herself to taking education as a breakthrough, exposing the ugliness of capitalist countries and promoting the equality of society and education. She uses Marxist theory to analyze the relationship between social class and school knowledge, hidden curriculum; education and mainstream ideology; and conflicts and resistances in education, emphasizing the theoretical and practical significance of Marxism in today's education. In order to find the deepest problem of education, Jean Anyon demonstrates the relationship between school education and macroeconomic policy from the perspective of political economics; the dialectical relationship between education reform and economic reform; and explains the reasons for education failure by quoting David Harvey's concept of "deprivation accumulation". Facing the cruel situation, Jean Anyon did not lose confidence, but found the "radical possibility" and put forward the concept of social change centered on education reform.

Beyond the Body Count

I position critical ethnographic researcher field notes as an opportunity to document the physical and ideological violence that white settler states and institutions on the school-prison nexus inflict on the lives of girls of color generally and Black girls specifically. By drawing on my own field notes, I argue that critical social science researchers have an ethical duty to move their inquiries beyond conventions of settler colonial empirical science when they are wanting to create knowledges that transcend traditions of body counts and classification systems of human lives. As first responders to the social emergencies in girls’ lives, researchers can make palpable spatialization of institutionalized forms of settler epistemologies to convey more girl-centered ways of speaking against quantifiable hierarchies of human life.

Deprogramming Deficit: A Narrative of a Developing Black Critical STEM Education Researcher

Deprogramming Deficit: A Narrative of a Developing Black Critical STEM Education Researcher

Nigeria’s University Age: Tim Livsey’s History of the Genesis of Nigeria’s Early Tertiary Institutions

Rarely does one come across a book that appeals to both the general reader and the critical researcher. In Nigeria’s University Age, Livsey has been able to do both admirably. His book provides a m...