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Promises and perils of positionality statements

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2024

Kendall A. King*
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota, USA
*

Abstract

Positionality statements have increasingly become the norm in many strands of social science research, including applied linguistics. With reference to current research, theory, and the author’s own work, this paper reviews some of the promises and perils of such statements, including their performativity and lack of reflexivity. The author concludes by arguing that positionality statements need to offer both more and less, to be better targeted, and be more effectively and widely utilized within the field of applied linguistics.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press.

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