1st Edition
The Routledge International Handbook of Positioning Theory
This handbook is the first of its kind to explore Positioning Theory. Taking inspiration from the groundwork set by Rom Harré and collaborators such as Bronwyn Davies, Fathali Moghaddam, Luk Van Langenhove, and others the book explores the emergence, historical context, and disciplinary applications of Positioning Theory and its basic precepts as a social psychological theory.
This volume encompasses over twenty chapters across four sections, assimilating cross-disciplinary insights that try to understand the theoretical underpinnings, methodological applications, and contemporary relevance of Positioning Theory. Part 1 explores the movement of scholarly figures and their numerous works on the subject. It discusses the foundational origins and the historical contexts of the existing theories on positioning and new directions for scholarship. Part 2 examines the methodological and narrative investigations used for data analysis in positioning research, navigating through the epistemological orientations and theoretical landscapes of Positioning Theory. Part 3 explores numerous applications across disciplines to consider the reach and influence of positioning within and across multiple disciplines. Lastly, the authors contemplate the future directions for Positioning Theory.
Featuring researchers from leading research institutions from across the globe, the book is important reading for scholars interested in positioning and Positioning Theory. We recommend this handbook for graduate-level courses in social psychology, communication, discourse studies and related disciplines.
Part One: Conceptual Foundations and Explorations
01 An Introduction to Positioning Theory Past and Present
Mary McVee,and Luk Van Langenhove
02 Positioning, Narrative Practices, and Positioning Theory
Michael Bamberg
03 Positioning Theory, Speech Acts and Normative Orders–The Background of Ordinary Language Philosophy and Influence of Austin, Ryle and Strawson
Bo Allesøe Christensen
04 Positioning and Personhood
Jack Martin
05 Positioning and Goffman
Cynthia Gordon
06 Positioning Theory and Dialogicality
Ivana Markova
07 Pragmatism and Positioning Theory
Svend Brinkman and Bo Allesøe Christensen
08 Positioning Theory and the Proposals of Foucault, Deleuze and Guattari: A Tool for Analysing Micro-Political Resistances
Francisco Tirado and Ana Gálvez-Mozo
Part Two: Methods and Analytic Frameworks
09 Examining Varieties of Positioning: Considerations from the Past to the Present and into Future
Pauline Harris, Rick Fisher, Thilina I. Wickramaarachchi, and Cynthia Brock
10 Positioning Theory, Narrative, and Narrative Analysis
Mary McVee, Kristian Douglas, and Zhiyi Liu
11 Conversation Analysis and Positioning Theory
Pasi Hirvonen
12 Positioning Theory and Interactional Ethnography: Complementary Approaches to Examining Positions and Positioning Processes
W. Douglas Baker, Krisanna Machtmes, and Judith Green
13 Toward Integrative Methodological Frameworks of Positioning Theory, Social Semiotics, and Multimodality
Katarina Silvestri, and Mary B. McVee
Part Three: Applications Across Disciplinary Topics
14 Positioning Theory as Design Principle to Negotiate Rights and Duties and Center Equity in Literacy Research
Katherine K. Frankel, Susan S. Fields, and Ashley Houston-King
15 Positioning as Praxis, Developed in Mathematics Education Contexts
Beth Herbel-Eisenmann, David Wagner, Anita Movik Simensen, Hilja Lisa Huru, and Annica Andersson
16 Positioning in Science Education
Maria Varelas, Felicia Mensah, and Maria Rivera Maulucci
17 Positioning, Preschool Children, and Cultural Psychology
Carolin Demuth, and Bo Allesøe Christensen
18 Positioning Theory in Online Environments
Vanessa Paz Dennen
19 Using Strategic Communication Discourse Processes in Positioning Practice
Melanie James, and Deborah Wise
20 How Positioning Theory and the Capability Approach to Welfare Economy Supplement One Another
Steen Brock and Bo Allesøe Christensen
21 Positioning and Masculinity
Nigel Edley
22 Positioning Theory in the Context of Intergroup Peace and Conflict
Susilo Wibisono and Winnifred R. Louis
23 Positioning, Emotions, and Emotional Positioning
Johanna Lönngren, and Maria Berge
Part Four: Future Directions and Reflections
24 Positioning Theory: Reflections and Future Directions
Mary B. McVee, Bo Allesøe Christensen, Luk Van Langenhove and Cynthia Brock
Biography
Mary B. McVee is a Professor of Literacy Education, and Director of the Center for Literacy & Reading Instruction (CLaRI) at the University at Buffalo, USA. Her research explores racialized positioning in teacher narratives. Her current research with teachers and multilingual children explores positioning and multimodal interactions in the context of engineering design.
Luk Van Langenhove is Emeritus professor at the Brussels School of Governance of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium and Honorary Professorial Fellow at the University of Warwick, UK. He has published widely on regional integration, social sciences theory, positioning theory and psychology.
Cynthia Brock is a Professor at the University of Wyoming where she holds the Wyoming Excellence in Higher Education Endowed Chair in Literacy Education. Brock’s scholarly research agenda centers on studying the literacy learning opportunities of elementary children from diverse backgrounds and the pre- and in-service teachers with whom they work.
Bo Allesøe Christensen is associate professor and co-director of the Center for Cultural Psychology at Aalborg University, Denmark. His research interest explores and develops the theoretical and methodological background of positioning theory within 20th century linguistic philosophy and microsociology.
"This Handbook is a precious pearl in amidst the ever-increasing flow of empirical papers all claiming adherence to the Positioning Theory. Often these empirical studies do not go beyond locating the assumed positions in a societal or personal matrices, failing to analyze their dynamic interdependencies and transformations in time. This Handbook stands out among the multitude of uses of the Positioning Theory in its thorough analysis of the dynamic side of the positions as these generate change in the mind and society. The contributions in the Handbook innovate the theory and leads to new alleys for its use. The collective of authors in this Handbook is living up to their duty to revolutionize the social sciences not letting their discourses become shallow reflections of everyday language use, and they fully exercise their right for deep penetration into the intricacies of social and personal psychological phenomena in their search for general principles of psychology and sociology."
Jaan Valsiner, Aalborg University, and Editor, Integrative Psychological & Behavioral Sciences
