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Article published In: Language, Culture and Society
Vol. 6:2 (2024) ► pp.137–157

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The politics of positionality and naming practices in socio-cultural relations

ORCiD logo with link | University of New South Wales
 | Deakin University Australia
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Open Access publication of this article was funded through a Transformative Agreement with UNSW Sydney.

Published online: 17 February 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/lcs.24019.weu
Abstract
This paper explores power/knowledge relations of nomenclature practices associated with non-Indigenous positionality statements. Focusing on the ways in which knowledge shapes meaning and understanding, and calls for decolonising scholarly practices, we interrogate the socio-cultural-political nexus of positionality statements to highlight some inherent challenges that ought to be addressed in contemporary research spaces. Taking a post-structuralist discursive approach, we examine four common self-referential non-Indigenous positioning words — settler, colonist, white, and non-Indigenous — to discuss the linguistic implications for relationality to, and with, First Nations Peoples and standpoints. To demonstrate the importance of understanding nuances of language, examples of positionality statements are provided throughout, and explanations provided that highlight the potential implications for cross-cultural mean making. Our purpose in writing on this topic is to provocate that positionality statements, when written and/or spoken with considered and informed use, are critical to decolonising the harmful practices and assumed superiority of the western ways of thinking and doing.
Article outline
  • 1.Positionality statements
  • 2.The problem with positionality
  • 3.De/colonising research positionality
  • 4.Implied connotations of common non-Indigenous naming practices
    • 4.1Settler
    • 4.2Colonist
    • 4.3White
    • 4.4Non-Indigenous
  • 5.The importance of nomenclature and positionality
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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