Positioning Self in Figured Worlds: Using Poetic Inquiry to Theorize Transnational Experiences in Education

• In Event: 47.097 - Sheraton Roundtable Session Eight - Grand Centre
  In Roundtable Session: 47.097-7 - Out of the Box: Performance and Arts-Based Approaches in Narrative Inquiry

Abstract

This study explores the process of using Holland, Lachiotte, and Skinner’s (1998) “Figured worlds” identity and agency theory to explore two scholars’ transnational experiences crossing borders. Using narrative and poetic inquiry as a means to represent our shared experiences as a methodology to (re)position how identity work is theorized and analyzed across broader contexts. In this study, we discuss our own traumatic experiences in schooling and migratory lifestyles through poetic transcription and analysis to better situate our social justice pedagogy. We seek to shed light on these shared marginalized experiences that appeal to emotion as hard truths and evidence that policies need to change. Further, we learned the skill of navigating different sociopolitical borders based on this migratory lifestyle.

Authors

• Gumiko Monobe, Kent State University - Kent

• Joy L. Wiggins, Western Washington University