Participation Type
Panel
Session Title
Session 1.05 Education
Presentation #1 Title
The Complexities of Insider/Outsider Positionalities in Educational Work in Appalachia
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
This panel challenges the dichotomy of insider/outsider positions by discussing how complicated positionalities impact the realities and possibilities in presenters’ work in education in Appalachian contexts. Presenters examine how their identities and work overlap and diverge in ways that reveal the complexity of positionalities. Brandi grew up in a rural community in West Virginia. Her background is blue-collar; however she was placed as middle-class in this community. As she studies social class and Appalachian identity with high school students she is positioned as a middle-class educator from a large town. She will address how she negotiates these tensions with students and educators from varied classes and locations. Sera grew up in New Delhi, India and has worked in Appalachia for the past five years. A women’s health educator, she has worked with college immigrant women researching their sociocultural adaptation experiences. She will discuss her shifting insider/outsider statuses as a female Indian researcher in Appalachia. She will also address her process of defamiliarization as an insider researcher working with immigrant women. Audra, originally from New England and the Midwest, will discuss the tensions and possibilities in her work with Appalachian adolescents and their literacy practices as a high school English teacher in southeastern Kentucky and now as an educational researcher in West Virginia. Specifically, how she navigates the discourses of insider/outsider and allies when developing and using critical place-based pedagogies. This panel highlights the complexity of positions across intersecting relationships, in hopes that the larger conversation on insider/outsider discourses is reimagined.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Brandi is a doctoral candidate in the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Education program at West Virginia University. Her research interests include social class, Appalachian culture and identity, cultural diversity and how these areas intersect with education.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #2
Sera is a doctoral student in the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Education program at West Virginia University. Her research interests include women’s health education, women’s literacy and identity in rural communities in India and the U.S.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #3
Audra is an assistant professor of English Education at West Virginia University. Her research interests include Appalachian adolescent cultural identity, literacy practices, social justice-based education, and critical place-based teacher education.
The Complexities of Insider/Outsider Positionalities in Educational Work in Appalachia
Jenkins Hall 100
This panel challenges the dichotomy of insider/outsider positions by discussing how complicated positionalities impact the realities and possibilities in presenters’ work in education in Appalachian contexts. Presenters examine how their identities and work overlap and diverge in ways that reveal the complexity of positionalities. Brandi grew up in a rural community in West Virginia. Her background is blue-collar; however she was placed as middle-class in this community. As she studies social class and Appalachian identity with high school students she is positioned as a middle-class educator from a large town. She will address how she negotiates these tensions with students and educators from varied classes and locations. Sera grew up in New Delhi, India and has worked in Appalachia for the past five years. A women’s health educator, she has worked with college immigrant women researching their sociocultural adaptation experiences. She will discuss her shifting insider/outsider statuses as a female Indian researcher in Appalachia. She will also address her process of defamiliarization as an insider researcher working with immigrant women. Audra, originally from New England and the Midwest, will discuss the tensions and possibilities in her work with Appalachian adolescents and their literacy practices as a high school English teacher in southeastern Kentucky and now as an educational researcher in West Virginia. Specifically, how she navigates the discourses of insider/outsider and allies when developing and using critical place-based pedagogies. This panel highlights the complexity of positions across intersecting relationships, in hopes that the larger conversation on insider/outsider discourses is reimagined.
