Positionality, Institutional Corrections, and Intersectionality Frameworks

Instructor Background, Positionality, and Biases

• Ubiquity of Personal Biases:

  • $100\%$ of individuals possess personal biases and underlying assumptions.

  • Bias is a universal phenomenon present across all individuals in academic and professional settings.

• Academic and Professional Background:

  • Overall career duration spans $25$ years.

  • First professional academic engagement took place at Wilfridore.

  • Subsequent professional engagement was held at Windsor for $15$ years.

  • Current institutional position has been held for $9$ years.

• Positionality Regarding Addictions:

  • Professional background in addictions is grounded strictly in academic study.

  • Expertise does not originate from personal lived experience with addiction.

Corrections and Institutional Work Experience

• Client Population and Offense Categories:

  • Worked directly within medium to maximum security facilities with male inmates.

  • Offense histories of the inmate population included:

  • Drug dealing

  • Domestic violence

  • 7-Eleven robberies

• Institutional Dynamics and Parole Letters:

  • Inmates treated facility social workers extremely well because social workers in correctional facilities write official letters for their parole evaluations.

  • Compliance and positive impressions were frequently driven by the goal of securing a favorable parole letter.

• Rationale for Leaving Institutional Corrections:

  • Departure from the correctional system was prompted by the recognition that inmates were going along with processes primarily to obtain parole documentation rather than achieving genuine therapeutic transformation.

Instructional Philosophy and Environmental Context

• Personal Disclosures and Boundaries:

  • Identifying one's positioning is a key analytical requirement.

  • Individuals maintain absolute rights to set personal boundaries and withhold private information, sharing only what they are completely comfortable disclosing.

• Course Content and Evaluation:

  • Concepts designated as personal favorites are selected specifically for their direct relevance to the discipline.

  • Topics highlighted as key concepts are guaranteed to appear on formal course assessments.

• Description of Physical Setting:

  • Institutional spaces described as rectangular, stale, and lacking environmental enrichment.

  • Characteristics include bare walls devoid of any pictures, artwork, or decorative visual materials.

Intersectionality and Theoretical Frameworks

• Power Flower Analytical Tool:

  • The Power Flower is utilized to map individual identity markers, privilege, and marginalization.

• Definition of Intersectionality:

  • Intersectionality occurs when an individual belongs to more than one marginalized social group.

  • The framework analyzes how overlapping identities intersect to compound lived experiences of marginalization and systemic power.

• Theoretical Origins and Authorship:

  • The term intersectionality was explicitly coined by Crenshaw.

  • Analysis of intersectionality draws from work by two primary academic authors.

Questions & Discussion

• Question: When introducing oneself formally to build familiarity, does an individual retain the right to withhold personal details rather than disclosing everything?

• Response: Yes, $100\%$ absolute right. When identifying social positioning, individuals are expected to share only what they feel comfortable disclosing publicly.