Standpoint Theory Research Articles

New ethnographic perspective on relational ethics in the field of Artificial intelligence

This article was created on the wave of the ubiquitous and already-saturated topic of ethics in the field of artificial intelligence. We were motivated by the proliferation of rules within this field and by a posthumanism critique of this topic. We attempt to nurture a new research platform for a social science analysis of the “How of ethics” issue by providing an argument for the study of algorithms and ethical issues by expanding the usability of the concept of niche construction and environmental perspectives in ethnographic studies. From a design perspective, this means expanding the quest related to the ethical matter by intensifying the inquiry in a design that includes not just the design process but also a more comprehensive environment. Inspired by current trends in evolutionary anthropology, science studies, and the philosophy of science, we are in line with approaches that reaffirm ethical issues from standpoint theory in the current scientific debate about trust in science. The results of our historical perspective on the issue of value neutrality point out that the position where the tool is not neutral does not mean that it is biased but that it is deeply involved in the network of relationships that influence it to be biased, and that threatens its autonomy. By providing argumentation based on the issue of ethics, we have nurtured the so-called ecology of practice and connoisseurs as a new practice and perspective that ethnography can take on the issue of accountable, ethical, and trustable science.

Identity politics and the democratization of democracy: Oscillations between power and reason in radical democratic and standpoint theory

Identity politics and the democratization of democracy: Oscillations between power and reason in radical democratic and standpoint theory

Decolonising Art and Design Education through Standpoint Theory, Embodied Learning and Deep Listening

AbstractUnderstanding and advancing pluralist worldviews through education is a tenet of decolonisation. This paper explores the importance of a decolonial pedagogical framework in visual art and design education by disrupting epistemic injustice through employing creative body‐based learning (CBL). This approach focuses on relationality and inter‐subjectivity through embodied strategies that create encounters to explore pluralist worldviews. Finally, by employing the cognitive, affective and aesthetic domains within a learning design, the paper argues for a decolonising approach to visual art and design education that embodies deep listening, dialogic meaning making and standpoint theory.

Reclaiming the Landbodymind Erotic: Queer First Nations “Storytelling Wholeness” and “Some Properly Hot Gay Sex”

This paper explores a series of recent works of speculative fiction and poetry by queer First Nations writers—including Ellen van Neerven, Laniyuk, Alison Whittaker, SJ Norman, and Jazz Money—to touch on the depth and breadth of Blak Queer embodiment, erotics, joy, and imagination. The focus is on reading these texts vulnerably, with an ethic of companion-thinking in respect to Indigenous Standpoint Theory, attentive to my relationality and responsibilities as a queer white colonial-settler situated on stolen Aboriginal Land. Thinking in company with queer First Nations creative writing and erotics in this way redefines the horizon of possibility in imagining a world beyond what Wiradjuri transgender/non-binary scholar and artist Sandy O’Sullivan (2021 p.1) calls “the colonial project of gender (and everything else).”

An Exploration into the Lived Experiences of Young People Forced to Beg and Sell Goods in Kampala, Uganda

ABSTRACT Children and youth in Uganda are susceptible to forced labor. To gain insight into their lived experiences, we employed an explanatory sequential mixed methods framework, administering 530 surveys then interviewing a subset of 36 survey takers. Through the lens of child standpoint theory, we examined participant demographics, type of work and entry points, abuse, and help seeking/barriers to leaving. Key findings include the following: 1) Participant demographics were largely males under 17 years; 2) parental death and socioeconomic strain in the home led to participant’s vulnerability to forced labor; 3) participants frequently begged and/or sold food or goods, collected scrap metal, bottles, or plastic; 4) employers (exploiters) were mostly parents, other family members, or others that children encounter in Kampala; 5) abuse ranged from physical, sexual, verbal, financial and psychological at the hands of employers, individuals on the streets, and authorities; and 6) participants avoided reporting abuse to authorities for lack of trust, fear of employer, or unawareness of how/where to report. We argue for child/youth-centered research and the training of stakeholders on youth and children’s rights and protections, more funding for child welfare programming and the institution of mandated laws, policies, procedures, resources, coordination and enforcement mechanisms aimed at reducing child forced labor.

Gendered AI: German news media discourse on the future of work

AbstractIn recent years, there has been a growing public discourse regarding the influence AI will have on the future of work. Simultaneously, considerable critical attention has been given to the implications of AI on gender equality. Far from making precise predictions about the future, this discourse demonstrates that new technologies are instances for renegotiating the relation of gender and work. This paper examines how gender is addressed in news media discourse on AI and the future of work, focusing on Germany. We approach this question from a perspective of feminist technology studies and discourse analysis, exploring a corpus of 178 articles from 2015 to 2021 from German newspapers and newsmagazines. The findings indicate that critical AI and gender knowledge circulates in public discourse in the form of specific discursive frames, thematizing algorithmic bias, automatization and enhancement, and gender stereotypes. As a result, we show that, first, the discourse takes up feminist and scholarly discourse on gender and discusses AI in a way that is informed by social constructivism and standpoint theories. Second, gender appears as a—to some extent intersectional—diversity category which is critical to AI, while at the same time omitting important perspectives. Third, it can be shown that there is a renegotiating of the ideal worker norm taking place, and finally, we argue that the gendered frame of the powerful men developer responsible for AI’s risk is a concept to be challenged.

Missing women news coverage and implications of standpoint theory

Missing women news coverage and implications of standpoint theory

RETRACTED: Indigenous businesses in Australia: A supply chain management perspective

The article presents the current position of supply chain management (SCM) of indigenous businesses in Australia and the approaches to connect it to the broader business. A comprehensive literature review was carried out on SCM of indigenous business practices across four organisations identified in the Whanu Binal Entrepreneur Programme. A deductive approach was used in analysing the literature to express the business operations of four organisations in SCM concepts and theoretical perspectives. Indigenous businesses are managing their SCs without formally addressing the tools, techniques and systems, and are of small scale often less than AUD 5.0 million. The mainstream businesses with less than 5 million sales were found to have SC collaboration, and tools and systems used in the SCs. Indigenous businesses are strongly guided by its culture, supported by the Yarning in transferring knowledge across different generations of women supported by the Indigenous Standpoint Theory (IST). JEL Classification: J15, L26, L60

Theoretical innovation and perspectival realism

ABSTRACT How do new theories and conceptual frameworks in social science emerge? Developing and drawing upon ‘Social Perspectival Realism’ as a philosophy of social science, this essay proposes that new standpoints can lead to theoretical innovation. New standpoints afford perspectival shifts that reveal new empirics and bring new meanings to bear upon them. This conjuncture of new data and meanings afforded by perspectival shifts sets the basis for conceptual and theoretical innovation. This essay offers brief histories of two series of innovations to reveal these logics. The first series regard theories of capitalist social relations and value from Adam Smith to Karl Marx to more recent theories of racial capitalism. The second series of innovations include theories of the social self that began with William James and were carried through the early Chicago School and W.E.B. DuBois. Feminist Standpoint Theory will be discussed throughout, both as a theoretical mount and as an example of innovation in itself.

Being Black and Woman in a Racist and Sexist Society: Locating an Existential Standpoint Philosophy in Mamphela Ramphele’s Autobiography

ABSTRACT This article considers Anika Mann’s (aka Anika Simpson) arguments on race and feminist standpoint theory. Its intervention is to take up Mann’s claim that “being-in-situation is the ontological condition for achieving a standpoint.” Mann’s analysis is reformulated as an existential standpoint philosophy, rooted in experience, and aimed at the concrete, freedom, praxis, and achievement. The article uses the existential standpoint framework as a foundation to take up Mamphela Ramphele’s initial autobiography, Mamphela Ramphele: A Life (1995) to critically reflect on what the actions of nonsubservient Blackwomen reveal about the lived experience of being Black and a woman under Apartheid South Africa. It argues that Ramphele’s philosophical approach to unveiling “Apartheid racism as a system” integrates a standpoint theory with existential phenomenology.

Machina ex Dea, Dea ex Machina: Gaia/GAIA/All-Mother and Lugones’ “World”—Traveling in Horizon Zero Dawn (2017)

This paper demonstrates that through video game mechanics and internal narrative elements, Horizon Zero Dawn employs Greek mythology to encourage a perspective shift in the player who comes to inhabit the protagonist, Aloy's, worldview. While inhabiting Aloy, an outcast within her own storyworld, Horizon Zero Dawn subtly subscribes to the tenets of standpoint theory which privilege the perspective of the marginalized, and encourages the player to employ Lugones’ “world”-traveling, a skill in which marginalized knowers particularly excel. Horizon Zero Dawn thus engages with Greek mythology and uses the connection that is built between player and avatar to encourage the transcendence of the player situation and to employ Lugones’ “world”-travel in order to respectfully and lovingly engage with others, both within and without the game's storyworld.

Who knows? On the epistemic status of experience in sugar-dating research

Sugar dating has gained extensive media coverage over the last couple of years, often being depicted as a veiled form of prostitution / sex work. While similar dating arrangements encompassing some sort of economic compensation are well researched in an African and Asian context, sugar dating has only garnered attention from researchers in the Global North during the last decade, in the wake of a proliferation of websites facilitating the practice. In light of the contested nature of the phenomenon, in this article we critically assess how knowledge about sugar dating is constructed in the emerging literature on the topic in the Global North, with a particular focus on the role attributed to sugar daters’ own experiential accounts. Alongside furthering the discourse on sugar dating by unravelling the epistemological underpinnings of existing research, we utilise the case of sugar-dating research to elaborate on the continued relevance of feminist debates on the epistemological status of experience. We call for a more comprehensive theoretical examination of experience in sugar-dating research and posit that some versions of feminist standpoint theory, as well as strands in feminist phenomenology, provide valuable theoretical tools for navigating between understanding experience as an ideological construct and/or as a privileged foundation of knowledge.

Out of the shadows: An epistemological examination of family childcare in Canada

This paper critically examines the current knowledge base of family childcare through an epistemological lens. A brief literature review highlights what is known about family childcare, and standpoint theory is used to illustrate how I first became aware of the issues in the current system as a former family childcare educator. Then, an examination of the gaps in knowledge resulting from the current approach to knowledge creation in family childcare is outlined, with human ecology and social constructionism proposed as ideal paradigms for more holistic knowledge creation. Finally, a brief proposal for research designed to create a more informed path to understanding family childcare is offered to answer the question: What are the experiences of family childcare educators in Canada, and which supports and services are required to meet their unique needs?

Understanding social responsibility and relational pressures in nonprofit organisations

Relational pressures across multiple levels push organisations to behave socially responsibly or sometimes irresponsibly. But how do relational pressures across multiple levels influence social responsibility of small nonprofit organisations working with marginalised groups? Nonprofit organisations are increasing in importance owing to their role in development and representation of marginalised groups’ interests, yet their social responsibility is little understood. Using the lens of standpoint theory, we explore social responsibility of small disability arts organisations in the nonprofit sector in Australia drawing on 53 interviews involving actors at multiple levels, supplemented by site visits and observations. We find small nonprofit organisations’ social responsibility in a state of flux, influenced by differing priorities, expectations, and demands from various actors across levels. We provide insights into organisational social responsibility dynamics, identifying three major tensions that small arts organisations face – formality versus informality, agency versus representation, and access versus excellence – in seeking to be socially responsible. Our findings have relevance for organisations in the wider nonprofit sector, underscoring the need to explore their social responsibility from a relational perspective. Further, the resultant tensions from relational pressures, as identified in our study, provide important implications for organisational social responsibility advancing theoretical and practical knowledge in this emerging field.

In the Unrest of Implication: Museum Education Methods in Atmospheres of Scandalization

ABSTRACT In this essay, we explore ways in which cultural and museum spaces can be opened up to meaningful discussions about difficult topics and how this can be done through specific educational formats. We attempt to look critically at some of the assumptions that are around in critical museum education theory and practices, e.g. influences coming from standpoint theory. The goal is to understand our own unconscious biases as we develop methods to help address problematic issues such as racism and anti-Semitism. We argue that these biases are shaped by a logic of dichotomy that allows to position oneself on “the good side.” Especially in an atmosphere of scandalization, these dichotomies might hinder mutual learning situations. We propose using Michael Rothberg’s concept of the “implicated subject” to develop approaches and methods that move beyond dichotomous thinking patterns. We will try to illustrate our reflection process with three examples that also show that taking (one’s own) implication seriously has unsettling effects that can stall the development of methods that seek to open spaces also for conflictual discussions.

Seeking Out the Stakeholders: Building Coalitions to Address Cultural (In)equity through Arts-based, Community-engaged Research

Artists are an important, but under-recognized, aspect of rural community growth. This research article details a collaborative project between a statewide arts organization and academic researchers in West Virginia designed to document the needs of under-represented artists across the state. We share our theoretical approach that meshes stakeholder and standpoint theory and our research approach that uses participatory and arts-based methods such as asset-mapping and collage-based listening sessions. Ultimately, we provide a model for others interested in research projects that explicitly prioritize coalition-building throughout a project and demonstrate how cultural (in)equity shapes multiple facets of community life.

Juggling Identities: Komik Bunda’s Representation of “Good” Working Mothers During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Being a working mother during the Covid-19 pandemic has not been easy. Various tweets and posts on social media display the multiple roles that mothers have been expected to play. The dynamics of motherhood during the pandemic were incisively portrayed in Komik Bunda, a comic published on one of the leading parenting sites in Indonesia, haibunda.com. This qualitative study explores how working mothers negotiate their identities to adapt, persist, and innovate amidst the ups and downs of the pandemic situation in Indonesia. Critical content analysis is performed on 30 comic strips with the theme of motherhood during a pandemic, and the findings are analysed from the perspective of feminist standpoint theory, identity, and representation. This study indicates that women experience an excessive workload resulting from their multiple identities as mothers, teachers, and workers during the pandemic. Negotiation efforts, such as identity segmentation and conceptualising partners as secondary parents, emerged as ways to manage the tensions between identities. The discussion in this study shows that the tension between identities will continue as long as women are confined by the myths of “good” mothers and “ideal” workers promoted by the ideologies of neoliberalism and capitalism. This study concludes that identity negotiation is not only about the identity mothers choose to hold but also about the authenticity and balance displayed by working mothers during and after the pandemic. Keywords: Working mother, identity, feminist standpoint theory, representation, critical content analysis.

Fugitive freedom and radical care: Towards a standpoint theory of normativity

Epistemic standpoint theories have elaborated the effects of social situatedness on epistemic competence: Dominant groups are regularly subject to epistemic blockages that limit the possibility of cognition and knowledge production. Oppressed groups, on the other hand, have access to perceptions and insights that dominant groups lack. This diagnosis can be generalized: Not only our epistemic, but also our normative relation to the world is socially situated, that is, our values, virtues, moral sentiments are shaped by relations of domination. In this article, my goal is to sketch the general outlines of a standpoint theory of normativity. I do so by engaging with two lines of tradition. First, I review conceptions of fugitive freedom in the Black Radical Tradition, before I recapitulate the feminist debate around the concept of care work. The counter-hegemonic norms theorized in these traditions can be brought into dialogue because they are both based on similar presuppositions, namely, political struggle provoked by social contradictions.

Critical Framing Analysis: Violence Against Women on Online Media

The journalistic problem that arises when covering women issues at national and global levels showed that the dominant issues in the mass media were masculine. Women issues were dominant in alternative media. It was assumed that the alternative media use feminist journalism framing in its content. This research used media framing theory as the second level of agenda-setting theory that is supported by standpoint theory in critical paradigm to understand the phenomena. It used descriptive-qualitative approach with critical framing analysis design. The object of study covered 39 articles in February 2022 edition of Konde.Co and Magdalene.Co. The alternative media were chosen because they had feminist vision. The data was analyzed using Robert T. Entmant’s procedure, namely: define problem; diagnosis of causes; make moral judgments; and treatment recommendations. The results showed that almost all the existing articles applied the principles of feminist journalism. The framing of women-related news was more dominant particularly the issue of violence against women. This issue was dominant since until right now it is still happening actually in society. Violence is used by men to subjugate women. Patriarchal power relations are assumed to be behind this phenomenon. This research concluded that the framing of feminist journalism focused on violence against women in public domain committed by men abusers in the position as husbands, lovers, teachers, friends, medical workers, co-workers or public figures. Patriarchism gave men the privilege of using violence as a natural thing to do. Being a feminist man and empowered woman, as well as firm law enforcement were recommendations emphasized in this framing.

Colonial texts on Aboriginal land: the dominance of the canon in Australian English classrooms

From its conception in Australia, subject ‘English’ has been considered central to the curriculum. The English literature strand in the curriculum does not stipulate specific texts but is more explicit regarding what should be considered as an appropriate ‘literary text’. Curriculum documents emphasise the need for texts to have cultural and aesthetic value whilst suggesting that English teachers include texts that are chosen by students, texts from Asia, and texts by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander authors. Despite this, the influences of British colonisation manifests in Australian English teachers’ text selection as they continue to choose texts from the 'canon’. This paper is framed by Rigney’s principles of Indigenism and Indigenous Standpoint Theory (1999; 2017) and will draw on my own lived experience—as an Aboriginal student, English teacher, and now researcher—to examine the presence of colonialism in English and the consequent subordination of Indigenous perspectives. This paper will suggest some of the ramifications of prioritising colonial texts while teaching and learning on Aboriginal land and investigate how the construction of subject English could feel assimilative to Indigenous people. I will explore this by using my own experience of learning William Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’ as a student and of teaching Doris Pilkington’s ‘Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence’ as a teacher as examples.