CHYS 3P32-Lecture 2: Learning Theoretical Lenses & Analytic strategies

positivism

• empirical observations

• predict general patterns 

• power lies within the experts 

• scientific method is dominant in this world 

indigenous ways of knowing

• oral histories

• land-based knowledge

• relational and holistic interconnectedness-with the land, each other and histories and ancestors

interpretive

• theory of meaning

• social constructivist

critical

• uncovering the real structures in the material world

• help people conditions and build a better world

critical race theory 

• racism is endemic and cannot be untangled form power structures and institutions

• racism exists in the education system

• challenges dominants ideologies & normative values 

  • witness/white supremacy as the norm 

  • questions the use of ‘colourblindness’ and neutrality as an explanation 

• need to consider racism alongside other forms of oppression 

  • ex. gender, class, ability 

critical disability scholarship

• disability-perosnal experience and sociopolitical issue 

  • emerged from disability rights movement 

  • idea that disability is a sociopolitical movements 

  • challenges how we know mental wellbeing and mental ‘illness’

  • deconstructing norm views and saying that I don’t need fixing 

• critiques medical models and pathologizing of individuals 

  • treat disability with a diagnostic perspective emphasis on individual deficiency 

  • challenges dichotomies of ability vs disability 

feminist theory

• centrality of gender

  • shaping consciousness and institutions 

  • distribution of power 

• women’s distance and shared disadvantages within patriarchal society: sexism 

• patriarchy: 

  • power rests with men 

  • men are privileged through greater access to institutional power, higher incomes, higher labour force participation, greater access to social and cultural resources 

  • men allowed to do things women aren’t allowed to do 

  • some groups of men marginalizes ex. gay, ment with mental health issues 

• differences among feminist scholars and activists is how power is viewed, intersectionality 

queer theory

• queer as historically derogatory term

  • connected to sexual behaviour and denigration

  • reclaimg as a political identity, practice and theory

  • concerned about rejecting binaries

• rejection of sex and gender biases

  • celebrating all aspects of sex, beyond reproduction

• deconstructing discourse 

intersectionality 

• fluidity in identity 

  • gender cannot be separated from race, sexuality, class

  • no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live in single-issue lives

• offers a lens to explore the intersections of social categories to see how experience is mediated by power

  • materials effects of the social categories framing our lives

  • our identities shape our lives

  • ability to dominate and liberate

• conteztiualize our analysis of anx’s of lenity within discussion of institutional privilege and oppression

(Edwards & Esposito, 2019; McGregor, 2003) dePersuasion through text

·       How text or a sentence is framed – the writer creates a perspective or slant that influences the reader’s perception

o   Text and language in things is intentional

·       Agency and power relations – who is depicted in power and over whom? Who is depicted as powerless and passive?

·       Omission – omitting information about agents of power

·        Connotations – choosing ‘protestor’ instead of ‘protector’ (Landback movements)

·        Tone of the text – convey certainty and authority

·       Do the words spoken ring true? Quoting in first person vs. in third person offers legitimacy to first person

·       Text should reveal how a particular artifact co-constructs, maintains, resists, and/or transforms systems of domination.

discussion in lecture

• how images, colours and depictions can apply certain theory to them

• ex the hair picture

  • man from queer show

  • a hairstylist

  • has their own hairline

  • how does this defy societal norms

• exploring power, privilege and dominant ideologies in the media