Critical Reflexivity Research Articles

Kazakh cultural values and ethical choice of social work students

ABSTRACT The recognition of cultural relativism in social work ethics has grown. Kazakhstan’s society is largely collectivist and interdependent with a predominantly Muslim population and traditional values, therefore social work students must be prepared for uncertainties and ambiguities, including those related to contradictions between global professional and local cultural values. The study aimed to explore social work students’ adherence to Kazakh cultural values in ethical choice and the effect of some student-related variables on it. The participants (n = 141) were asked to complete a scale that included a series of specific practice situations in which social workers must make an ethical choice between global social work values and cultural values. The data were analyzed using ANOVA procedures. Results indicated that Kazakh cultural values determined moderately the ethical choice of students, and adherence to them varied with students’ gender, rural/urban and regional background, and religiosity. Significant interactions were found; the effects of regional background, religiosity, and year of study were influenced by rural/urban background, and vice-versa. The findings emphasize the importance of strengthening social work students’ awareness and critical reflexivity regarding possible incongruities between professional and cultural values, as well as the need to consider students-related variables in ethics teaching.

Media Literacy and Its Implications for The Understanding of Truth and Reality: A Philosophical Exploration

In an era characterized by an overwhelming abundance of information and media channels, the concept of truth and reality has become increasingly complex. Media literacy, the ability to critically analyse, evaluate, and understand media messages, plays a crucial role in navigating this complexity. This paper explores the philosophical dimensions of media literacy and its implications for the understanding of truth and reality. Drawing on interdisciplinary perspectives from philosophy, communication studies, and cognitive science, this study investigates the intricate relationship between media literacy and the construction of truth and reality. By delving into various philosophical frameworks, including epistemology, ontology, and phenomenology, the research examined how individuals' media literacy skills shape their perceptions and interpretations of truth and reality. Additionally, the study examines how media literacy influences individuals' ontological understanding of reality. It explores how media messages shape and mediate individuals' perception of the world, examining the interplay between subjective experiences, social constructs, and media representations. Furthermore, the study investigated the potential for media literacy to foster a more nuanced understanding of reality, encouraging individuals to engage in critical reflexivity and challenge their preconceived notions. The findings of this study showed that media literacy plays a pivotal role in enhancing critical thinking skills and mitigating truth distortion in a post-truth society.

Experiences of supporting adults with literacy gaps

Abstract This paper uses a thematic narrative analysis approach to explore the experiences of individuals who support those living with literacy gaps in Australia. Themes of collective shame and responsibility surrounding adult literacy gaps, as well as the communicative expertise and critical reflexivity developed by supporters in their roles, are prominent in their narratives. As part of a more extensive study that also explored the experiences of people living with literacy gaps, the findings of this paper highlight the need for more research into this area, particularly underscoring the importance of including first-hand accounts from those directly impacted by literacy gaps and recognizing adult literacy supporters as a unique population.

Affectionate Research

Abstract This paper delves into the dynamic relationship between research and the researcher within Kurdish Studies, focusing on emotions, responsibility, and solidarity. Drawing from personal experiences and employing decolonial intersectional feminist methodologies, the author presents their research on state violence and resistance in Kurdish cinema. Through this exploration, the paper underscores the pressing need for intersectional queer-feminist research within Kurdish Studies and elucidates the connection between theoretical and methodological choices and the author’s personal experiences in academia and activism. Additionally, the paper discusses applying feminist intersectional approaches as a methodological lens and emphasises their benefits in understanding positionality and shifting subject positions. By highlighting the imperative for critical reflexivity and diversification of onto-epistemological methods in the field of Kurdish Studies, this paper advocates for a transformative and inclusive approach to knowledge production.

How can I improve my practice as a science teacher through the development of my pedagogical ‘inquiry’ skills?

Since my days as a novice teacher, I have always asked myself: ‘How do I improve what I am doing?’ When I started my doctoral studies, I engaged in critical reflection and reflexivity on my pedagogical practices, and, in the spirit of Alice in Wonderland, became “curiouser and curiouser” about ‘inquiry’ and why it requires a prominent position in my practice. It tells the story of the development of my knowledge, understanding, and educational practice as I researched to improve my pedagogical ‘inquiry skills’. This article builds on my doctoral studies. The process of writing this article has enabled me to develop my understanding of Living Educational Theory Research, drawing on my Action Research work, and share my explanation of the importance of conducting it. Using my lived experiences of my doctoral studies, I narrate what I have done to explore and answer questions, with particular regards to pedagogical practices of inquiry in my home country of Malaysia. This article explains how, my epistemic beliefs and values, pedagogical knowledge, and practices as a science teacher improved. I now see myself, as a teacher-researcher, working towards and living my values, and recognising the impact that this has had on my current practice as a teacher educator. I continue to reflect upon, question, and evaluate what I do as I constantly seek to live my values in my practice.

Radicalisation studies: An emerging interdisciplinary field.

This research note provides an overview of Radicalisation Studies as an emerging interdisciplinary field aimed at developing more holistic understandings of how and why individuals and groups turn to extreme ideologies and political violence. It traces the evolution of radicalisation research across core social science disciplines, including sociology, psychology, anthropology, and political science. While this burgeoning scholarship has expanded knowledge, persistent gaps remain due to studying radicalisation in disciplinary silos. To address this fragmentation, the research note proposes an integrated Radicalisation Studies approach grounded in critical social theory and reflexivity. This paradigm synthesises concepts and mechanisms from across disciplines to investigate the complex interplay between individual vulnerabilities, group dynamics, and broader socio-political contexts in generating radicalisation. The note outlines theoretical foundations, guiding research questions, and methodological strategies for this new field focused on mixed-methods, multi-level analysis. Radicalisation Studies holds promise for advancing theoretical integration, contextualised explanations, critical perspectives on radicalisation discourse, and evidence-based preventative policies. While challenges remain in institutionalising this emerging field, Radicalisation Studies has the potential to steer research towards greater interdisciplinarity and the nuanced understandings necessary to elucidate this complex phenomenon. The research note aims to spur debate on constructing Radicalisation Studies as a viable scholarly enterprise.

The place of philosophy in nursing.

Philosophy adds humanness to nursing and facilitates holistic care. Philosophies like Ubuntu which purports that a person is only a person through other people and emphasises community cohesion and caring for each other can add humanness to nursing. Because Ubuntu validates subjective experience and its meaning in the lifeworld, it exemplifies the basis of holistic and individualised caring in nursing. Although nurses can make their own philosophy through critical reflexivity, the convergent point is the goal of meaningful caring that is, sustaining health and the well-being of patients and significant others. Philosophy transcends job description, it encompasses visceral experience, personal beliefsand goals, resulting in purpose and deeper meaning to the nursing profession of caring as emulated by Florence Nightingale. While contemporary philosophy has been met with criticism as being detached from human concern, narrowly focussed and technical, it evokes critical thinking and promotes sociality in nursing practice. The Covid-19 pandemic vividly brought philosophy to the fore as nurses sacrificially and vulnerably rose to the challenge of caring not only for the sick, but also for families who through infection control measures were deprived of sociality. This paper argues that philosophy adds humanness and substance to nursing in the context of COVID-19.

How Social Justice Shapes Youth Development: Centering Youth Voice across Shifts in Out-of-School Time

Abstract Out-of-school time (OST) has great significance as a youth development space that can support students’ exploration of social justice. Such opportunities for exploration are especially important in times of social distress and upheaval, such as those experienced during the school shutdowns and racial unrest associated with the global pandemic. Framed in a context of inequities for educationally marginalized youth, this qualitative case study provides a glimpse into the OST experiences of students before and after the onset of COVID-19. Authors explore navigating justice-related topics with youth in both an in-person and virtual format of the OST program. In addition to interviewing youth participants, the authors use a critical reflexivity approach to examine experiences facilitating OST spaces that serve youth of color. Findings point to the importance of youth-driven programming that centers youth voice and reimagines engagement for youth in OST programs. The discussion highlights implications for education and social work professionals in the service of social justice youth development outcomes.

Conceptualising reflexivity within critical discourse of social marketing

PurposeThis paper aims to understand what reflexivity means and explores which types of reflexivity could be applied within social marketing practice as a critical approach to overcoming failures.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is a critical literature review.FindingsThe study proposes a typology for a reflexive approach to social marketing practice to overcome failures. The typology is built on self and critical reflexivity, simultaneously allowing social marketers to reflect on external and internal factors that may affect the individual's role and could negatively affect social marketing practice unless otherwise considered. The types of reflexivity discussed are not prescriptive; instead, the authors intend to provoke further discussion on an under-researched but vital area of social marketing.Research limitations/implicationsThe proposed typology is conceptual; an empirical investigation to gain social marketer's views would further enhance the effectiveness of the applications of the typology.Practical implicationsSocial marketers could use the proposed typology for future practice.Originality/valueThis is the first study that conceptualises various types of reflexivity within social marketing practice to overcome failures.

Towards a model of Teachers’ Continuing Professional Development (CPD): a border crossing journey with embedded contradictions, ethical dilemmas and transformative possibilities

ABSTRACT Shulman (1989) argued how ‘outrageously complex’ teaching is and how reform imperatives driving standards should not lead to standardisation and the subsequent loss of soul. We assert that framing a model of teachers’ Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is similarly ‘outrageously complex’, a multifaceted construct that has professional, personal and political ends and purposes and is concerned with needs beyond that of the individual teacher, such as the teaching profession, schooling system, economic and social needs, as well as the wider public-interest values of the state. For this study, we worked as a community of inquiry, drawing from theoretical pluralism in order to conduct an abductive analysis of existing models of teachers’ CPD. Our model of teachers’ CPD offers an explanatory framework that positions teachers’ values, goals and dreams at the centre, involves a relational border crossing journey rather than a final destination, and necessitates ethics (philosophy), critical reflexivity and the empirical as productive ways of staying with the embedded contradictions, ethical dilemmas and transformative possibilities of an advanced professional practice. We present this new model of CPD not as a final analysis but rather as a theory worthy of further research and consideration.

Embedding Reflexivity in Social Work Research through the Critical Reflexive Framework

Abstract Following the global pandemic, there is a need for more cross-national social work research which speaks to the increased and widespread, intra and international, effects of global social phenomenon. Achieving this aim requires social work researchers to be responsive to the intersection of complex lives, complicated problems and dynamic structural contexts. It is, therefore, important that researchers recognise how their identity and positionality within the research project spans several terrains such as social, political and value systems, as well as integrating multiple social categories and social roles. However, a review of the existing literature shows that the lack of conceptual guidance for ‘doing’ reflexivity means that researchers can sometimes pay insufficient attention to the influence that they have on the people and topic being studied. Drawing on the combined concepts of identity, translocational positionality and epistemic privilege, we aim to strengthen conceptual guidance by advancing the Critical Reflexive Framework (CRF). Following an illustrated example of the CRF, we argue for its widespread adoption to enhance the rigour, integrity and quality of social work research. We conclude that such high-quality research is essential to promote the emancipatory elements of social work practice which occurs in contexts of complexity, uncertainty and flux.

A Conceptual bridge where critical reflexivity meets the leadership warrior mystique archetype

The objective of this paper is to present a conceptual integration of critical reflexivity and leadership archetype theory to capture the traits and characteristics of leaders leading in extreme contexts. Casting a historiometric glance at wars, battles and conflicts led by women warriors alongside their men in Africa during the trans-Atlantic trade period in the 15th to the 19th century, this paper argues that there is no context where leadership qualities are more discernible and pivotal than in extreme contexts. The paper offers the dance metaphor and archetypes as a theoretical bridge and a tool to problematise leadership performance in extreme contexts. Dance as an operative metaphor makes visible the invisible virtuosity of a leader. The paper builds an argument that dance mobilises a visual expression of mental, emotional, spiritual and physical reflexivity. Epistemically, the paper take a stance that the warrior mystique archetypical energy of an effective leader is relative, and is imprinted in a leader’s “inner theatre” within cultural contexts facilitated by reflexivity capabilities. The paper concludes by demonstrating the contingent and fluid nature of leadership in extreme contexts, and how its practices enable the development of a special kind of nimbleness, agility, kinetic, intuitive, visual, mystique warrior leadership capabilities, required to lead influentially and impactfully in transformative and liberating ways.

Antiracism in appreciative inquiry: Generative tensions and collective reflexivity.

Appreciative inquiry is an action research methodology focused on revealing an organization's positive core. As a cross-racial team of antiracist researchers, we were drawn to appreciative inquiry due to its congruences with community-based research perspectives on power-sharing and co-constructing knowledge. Our collaborative reflexivity brought us to question whether Appreciative inquiry's hyper-focus on positivity would fit our antiracist research paradigm. We articulate reflections of how antiracism theory informed our approach to Appreciative inquiry in a study on the experiences of predominantly racialized settlement workers in schools during the COVID-19 pandemic. We explain how we negotiated tensions between Appreciative inquiry's focus on positivity and our antiracist framing, in a Canadian settler colonial context where institutional expectations to ignore racism and collapse diversity, loom large. Without a theoretical framework that attends to racism and power, Appreciative inquiry may not fulsomely address participants' transnational knowledges, nor experiences outside of a positive/negative binary. In our elucidation of how critical reflexivity on racism allowed us to integrate antiracism into Appreciative inquiry, we demonstrate the value of first-person action research for expanding the social justice aims of research.

Confucianism in multicultural China: ‘official knowledge’ vs marginalised views

ABSTRACT In this study, we discuss the Confucian tradition in today’s multicultural China from two perspectives: that of the mandatory school curriculum, which represents ‘official knowledge’, and that of students from ethnic minority and/or religious backgrounds who are located on the cultural margins in China. The analysis draws on curricular narratives of the Confucian tradition for six major school subjects and semi-structured interviews with a group of university students from non-Han ethnic minority and/or religious backgrounds, whose lived experiences are rarely included in the national curriculum narrative. The analysis suggests that the interpretation of the Confucian tradition is a monopolising and dominant discourse that reinforces the cultural hierarchy between different cultural groups. However, the students appear to regard the Confucian tradition as only one culture and worldview in China, which can benefit from the critical reflexivity of other cultures.

Critical Reflexivity and Positionality on the Scholar-Practitioner Continuum: Researching Women's Embodied Subjectivities in Sport.

The sports world has many prejudices that have been converted into common sense. Some relate to the idea of athletes being strong or pretty but endowed with little intelligence. There is another view, perhaps a little more accurate, around the reification of consciousness in the name of the automation and maximum outcome of the body. Both views are informed by Cartesian thinking, perpetuating the mind-body dichotomy. Such a dichotomy is spread in several other areas in our society, expressed as binaries. We meet a binary when conducting research as well, disembodying the researcher as someone who is neutral, objective, and highly rational, and someone who, in synthesis, performs good mental work, but who must not let feelings intrude. On the contrary, we argue that we are embodied beings who are often not able to (and maybe should not) become detached from previous experiences and knowledge when conducting research. Even though this can present itself as a challenge, we consider that a fluid non-binary positioning encompasses actions holistically and leads to tasks being performed on a continuum. The purpose of this paper is to explore the reflexive process embedded in carrying out a PhD project committed to studying the production of the embodied subjectivities of a group of women high-level athletes in karate. The researcher inserted in the researched environment was not a high-level athlete; however, she had several experiences competing at the amateur level in different countries and faced experiences that were, to some extent, similar to those of the elite athletes. She used her previous experiences as a karateka, researcher, and woman to inform her research-doing since the intersectional social issues faced by her and lived queer feelings motivated her research questions. She plunged into a process of self-reflection and counted on the guidance of the other authors to organise her learning in order to use it in her scholarship. That was, primarily, an experience of "practice" of subjectivity through examining others' production of subjectivity, besides strengthening a positionality that lacked self-confidence. Thus, we explore issues around the researcher-practitioner theoretical-practical continuum of research-doing, presenting a journey that became empowering.

Exploring the Systemic Structures That Affect Access to Physical Therapist Services for Non-Indigenous Black People in Australia.

Physical therapy is generally considered to be a white profession in Western nations. Australia's increasingly diverse population, driven largely by growth in immigration, invites Australian health systems to be responsive to factors that may impact on non-white Australian population's access to health care. Here, the authors sought to explore non-Indigenous Black people's perspectives of physical therapy in Australia. Eligible participants (n = 12) took part in semistructured, in-depth interviews and were prompted to discuss their experiences and perceptions of physical therapy. Interview data were analyzed using critical discourse analysis, underpinned by critical race theory. Participants were on average 29.4years (SD = 12.9) from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Participants described mostly positive experiences with physical therapists, but they noted that it was not widely accessed by their communities, with 2 key discourses underpinning these discussions. Discourse 1, "physiotherapy is a solution for white people," established physical therapy as primarily accessed by and welcoming of white people. "Whiteness" and the perpetuation of Western norms in physical therapy resulted in little consideration of other cultural practices. Participants' discussions also pointed to the intersections of systemic racism and social inequities such as low income and language barriers, impacting Black people's engagement with physical therapy. Discourse 2, "physiotherapists are white," was mostly concerned with how the perceived "whiteness" of professionals and lack of Black physical therapists impacts cultural safety and comfort when accessing physical therapy. Our results suggest that Westernization and whiteness persist among discourses surrounding physical therapy. Such discourses are likely to inform Black people's perceptions and experiences of physical therapy. Our analyses suggest avenues to enhance the cultural diversity of the profession and improve physical therapy accessibility for Black people in Australia by providing culturally appropriate material, including critical reflexivity, epistemic and cultural humility in the curricula, recruiting staff from diverse backgrounds, and providing outreach services to underserved populations. These findings highlight the need for increased cultural safety and diversity within the physical therapy profession to improve equity.

A Collaborative Autoethnography of Emotional Labour and the Role of Compassion in Community-Engaged Participatory Action Research

ABSTRACT Emotional labour (EL) is an integral and inextricable, organic aspect of human interaction and research. This paper offers the reflections of activist researchers on the nuances of EL and compassion when conducting community-engaged participatory action research in low-income settings. The authors employed critical collaborative autoethnography and reflexivity to disentangle their reflections on EL. The results comprise their testimonials (journal entries and reflections), while the discussion focuses on several themes that reflect a rich tapestry of collective experiential learnings and conversations. The EL process manifested the following themes: labour of love, looking inward: reflections of disquietude; internal and external conflict, emotional engagement and human loss; and emotional labour. The authors recognise that EL must transcend privilege, positionality and power dynamics, and that researchers must espouse compassion, empathy, mindfulness and active listening when interacting with individuals in an organisation and/or with community members. This recognition may promote solace, humaneness and efficiency when expanding EL within the context of community-engaged participatory action research.

Connectivity: Person-Centred Research Principles to Inform Constructivist Grounded Theory

Person-centred approaches to practice recognise the global call to humanise healthcare, where people are valued and their preferences and needs are respected (WHO, 2015). Researchers must also embrace person-centred approaches to further inform person-centredness as the foundation of healthcare policy and practice. Healthcare researchers, policymakers, leaders, educators, and multi-disciplinary practitioners are invited to consider how person-centred methodologies enhance the value and authenticity of research. Person-centred research principles to guide researchers are available (Dewing et al., 2021; McCormack et al., 2017), and one approach proposes an overarching research principle of connectivity; the being, doing, and knowing of the researcher throughout the development, implementation, and dissemination of the research study (Jacobs et al., 2017). An exploration of the principles of attentiveness and dialogue, empowerment and participation, critical reflexivity, and loving kindness that inform connectivity (Jacobs et al., 2017; van Leishout & Peelo-Kilroe, 2021) is presented here. No single methodology is associated with person-centred research, and researchers are encouraged to consider how to incorporate person-centred principles in many different contexts. This paper explores the innovative use of person-centred principles to underpin a constructivist grounded theory (CGT) study illuminating the person-centred nursing process of engaging authentically (McCormack & McCance, 2021). Synergies and connections between the person-centred research principles and Charmaz’s CGT approaches are explored, and further considerations are highlighted. We contend that person-centred research principles support CGT research, explicitly building on Charmaz’s relational approaches and enabling a rigorous foundation for engaging in research, where valuing and respect are central.

Impossible Realities and Intellectual Property: Specters of Value in Amie Siegel’s Provenance

Abstract In this essay, I treat intellectual property claims as “impossible realities,” as these have recently been defined by Susan Coutin and Barbara Yngvesson. Drawing from their joint legal ethnography of migration, deportation, and transnational adoption, I extend their observations about the routine mismatch between personal history, physical location, and legal description in order to understand the shifting value of design objects under various regimes of law and heritage. I trace how legal claims, aesthetic judgments, and historical understandings combine and conflict to create the contemporary value of furniture produced in the 1950s and 60s for the Indian modernist city of Chandigarh, and explore further shifts of value as the furniture circulates in a global market for what might be called “modernist antiquities,” and is potentially subject (in Europe) to copyright and trademark claims by the descendants of the designer Pierre Jeanneret. Further, a recent film by the artist Amie Siegel (American, b. 1974) explores the provenance and value of this furniture and provides a novel means of analyzing these shifts. Siegel has put her film up for sale at the same kind of auction where this furniture is sold, offering a reflexive critique of the paradoxes and (legal) impossibilities created by the relocation, restoration, and revaluation of this furniture. The history of the Chandigarh furniture and Siegel’s film together provide an avenue of commentary on the categories of IP, emerging subjects of regulation (like design copyrights), and the fraught relation of IP claims to both capitalist and postcolonial histories that make objects (and persons) bear different values in different locations.

Medical invalidation in the clinical encounter: a qualitative study of the health care experiences of young women and nonbinary people living with chronic illnesses.

Medical invalidation is a well-documented phenomenon in the literature on chronic illnesses, yet there is a paucity of research capturing the perspectives of young adults living with chronic illnesses, and especially of those who are gender diverse or from groups that face broader societal marginalization. Our study sought to answer the following question: How do young women and nonbinary adults living with chronic illnesses characterize their experiences of medical invalidation and its impact on their health and well-being? This was a patient-oriented qualitative study informed by feminist disability theory. Eligibility requirements included self-identifying as having a chronic illness, self-identifying as a woman or nonbinary person receiving health care in Manitoba, and being between the ages of 18 and 35 years. Participants took part in online arts-based workshops and subsequent focus group discussion in November 2021. Eight women and 2 nonbinary individuals participated. Medical invalidation was experienced by all of the participants at different points in their illness journeys and took a variety of forms depending on their social location and their particular illness, positioning invalidation as an issue of in/visibility. We identified several consequences of medical invalidation, including internalizing invalidation, overcompensating for their illness, avoiding care and, ultimately, symptom intensification. We also present participants' recommendations to avoid medical invalidation. This study provides insight into the phenomenon of medical invalidation, understood as the act of dismissing, minimizing or otherwise not taking patient concerns seriously. We suggest person-centred care may not be enough, and critical reflexivity may help avoid unintentionally invalidating patient experiences.