The Ontological Turn in Higher Education Research: Implications for Justice and Equity

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 15
  In Roundtable Session: Reflecting on Methodologies, Ontologies, and Perspectives Toward Equity

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to outline “the ontological turn” in social research and how it might inform research on higher education, particularly regarding justice and equity. The ontological turn is a collection of political philosophies that push thinking beyond the epistemological (i.e., theory of knowing) arguments found in critical and post-structural theories generally and ask about the role of ontology (i.e., theory of being) in explaining and designing reality. We examine key developments across the ontological turn and put them in conversation with more dominant developments in higher education research for studying race/racism and general issues of inequality/inequity. We ask how the ontological turn might support studies seeking to engage Critical Race theories, Decolonial theories, and Critical theories.

Authors

• Ryan Evely Gildersleeve, University of Denver

• Brenda J Sifuentez, Lewis & Clark College