Proposal Title
Social justice as praxis: grounding doctoral dissertation research through critical reflexivity
Abstract
“Social justice” has become a new buzzword today in social sciences and higher education. However, to genuinely embrace social justice praxis (Freire, 1968), we need a deeper understanding about the nature of knowledge production and to engage in critical analysis of power and oppression. This starts with the researcher’s own reflexivity (Peshkin, 1988) – to examine how our own privileged and marginalized identities and positionalities in the social, cultural and economic milieu have shaped the very motivation, conceptualization, and practice of our research and scholarship. To this end, this panel features a group of doctoral students in the Counseling and Psychology PhD Program at Lesley, who aspire to engage in transformative social inquiry. The panelists will share their direct experiences wrestling with the meaning of social justice as they ground and navigate their dissertation research.
The panelists’ research interests traverse a wide range of social phenomena and prominent social issues today. This includes studies on the effect of benevolent sexism and internalized oppression, sexual health and heteronormativity, parents’ disenfranchised grief regarding children’s transgender transition, black counselors’ experiences at the intersection of race and gender, the experience and needs of the chronic homeless population, children’s experiences with disability labels, as well as people who encounter medical trauma. In those various contexts, the panelists will foreground how they navigate intersecting identities, their insider/outsider roles, ethical quandary regarding visibility/invisibility, inclusion/exclusion, the role of language, manifestations of power relations, and possibilities to prompt social change through research.
Start Date
27-3-2019 10:00 AM
End Date
27-3-2019 10:50 AM
Room Number
U-Hall 3-098
Presentation Type
Panel
Disciplines
Counseling Psychology | Education | Social and Behavioral Sciences
Social justice as praxis: grounding doctoral dissertation research through critical reflexivity
“Social justice” has become a new buzzword today in social sciences and higher education. However, to genuinely embrace social justice praxis (Freire, 1968), we need a deeper understanding about the nature of knowledge production and to engage in critical analysis of power and oppression. This starts with the researcher’s own reflexivity (Peshkin, 1988) – to examine how our own privileged and marginalized identities and positionalities in the social, cultural and economic milieu have shaped the very motivation, conceptualization, and practice of our research and scholarship. To this end, this panel features a group of doctoral students in the Counseling and Psychology PhD Program at Lesley, who aspire to engage in transformative social inquiry. The panelists will share their direct experiences wrestling with the meaning of social justice as they ground and navigate their dissertation research.
The panelists’ research interests traverse a wide range of social phenomena and prominent social issues today. This includes studies on the effect of benevolent sexism and internalized oppression, sexual health and heteronormativity, parents’ disenfranchised grief regarding children’s transgender transition, black counselors’ experiences at the intersection of race and gender, the experience and needs of the chronic homeless population, children’s experiences with disability labels, as well as people who encounter medical trauma. In those various contexts, the panelists will foreground how they navigate intersecting identities, their insider/outsider roles, ethical quandary regarding visibility/invisibility, inclusion/exclusion, the role of language, manifestations of power relations, and possibilities to prompt social change through research.
