Cited by 2Participatory Visual Research MethodsPosthumanist Ethics and ActivismCritical and Liberation Pedagogy

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 6 of the 6 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 17 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.

The Margin Speaks: On the Radical Possibilities of Embodied Knowledge as Decolonial Pedagogy

Open access
McKinson, Kimberley·2022·Cultural Anthropology

Abstract

In this essay, I argue for an engagement with students' embodied knowledge as a means by which to rethink what it means to “do anthropology” as well as produce knowledge. I center auto-ethnography and photovoice as emancipatory teaching strategies that ask students to think about their own lived experiences as knowledge, their own communities as sites of theory making, and their own voices as the authority. This essay takes seriously the classroom at the academic margins as integral to the renewed calls to decolonize anthropology.

Overview

AI snapshot

Written from the paper’s full text.

TL;DR

The essay argues that decolonizing anthropology should begin in the MSI classroom and that embodied knowledge practices—auto-ethnography and photovoice—can center minoritized students’ lived experience as theory and evidence. It illustrates this through student work from two John Jay College courses.

Key findings

  • The paper argues for looking to the MSI classroom and minority scholars “intellectually forged in this critical geography,” rather than assuming radical pedagogical renewal will emerge only from Predominantly White Institutions and elite graduate programs.
  • John Jay College is described as a public, urban CUNY senior college and a federally recognized MSI/HSI: 47 percent Hispanic, 18 percent white, 17 percent Black, 15 percent Asian, and 3 percent other, with 450 veterans enrolled and 45 percent first-generation students; students’ families have a median household earning of $41,900.
  • Auto-ethnography is presented as allowing students to take their own bodies as “constitutive of evidence, analysis, and knowledge”; a Romani student’s essay, “Mi Sijum Romani (I am Romani),” illustrates racial/ethnic misrecognition and self-affirmation.
  • Photovoice is presented as producing countervisual and counter-hegemonic knowledge; an Afro-Dominicana student’s photo and reflection on New York’s Fifteenth Congressional District—described as the poorest district in the United States according to the 2010 census—asks how “the best city in the world” disregards its poor.

Methods

  • Design: a reflective pedagogical essay centering auto-ethnography and photovoice as emancipatory embodied teaching and learning strategies.
  • Data/sample: the author’s upper-division course “Class, Race, Ethnicity, and Gender in Anthropological Perspective” and “Urban Anthropology” at John Jay College, including a student auto-ethnographic essay and a student photovoice image/reflection.
  • Main analysis: qualitative discussion of student work, situated in the Black feminist CUNY teacher-activist tradition of Audre Lorde, Toni Cade Bambara, and June Jordan, and in literature on auto-ethnography and photovoice.

Limitations

  • The paper states no limitations.
  • Evident from the text: it is a single-instructor, single-institution reflective account based on selected student examples, with no systematic sample, comparison, or learning-outcome measures.
  • Evident from the text: the student examples are drawn from published department newsletter pieces, and the essay does not establish generalizability to other classrooms or institutions.

Model-written summary. Check it against the paper before relying on it.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.14506/ca37.3.03

Cites

6 of 6 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

0 of 17 cited sources checked · 0 supported · 0 flagged

  • Findingcitation
    § Abstract

    My lower-income students come from families with a median household earning of $41,900.

    “While these demographic figures are helpful in statistically describing the composition of John Jay College's student population, they do not fully capture the realities of my lower-income students, who come from families with a median household earning of $41,900 (Aisch et al. 2017).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Aisch et al. 2017

      Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  • Findingreasoning
    § COUNTERVISUAL LENSES

    In my classroom, using photovoice has forced my working-class students to pay attention to, represent, and agentively confront the everyday bodies, practices, infrastructures, and aesthetics of life in New York City.

    “In my classroom, the experiential exercise of using photovoice has forced my working-class students to pay attention to, represent, and agentively confront the everyday bodies, practices, infrastructures, and aesthetics of life in New York City as they track back and forth between John Jay's campus in midtown Manhattan and their homes located in less affluent parts of the city.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim
  • Findingown data
    § WHO D'YA THINK YOU ARE?

    Auto-ethnographic praxis provided the Romani student with permission and means to sit with problematic stereotypes mapped onto her body.

    “Auto-ethnographic praxis provided this student with both the permission to and means by which to sit with problematic stereotypes of race and ethnicity that had been effectively mapped onto her body.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim
  • Findingown data
    § WHO D'YA THINK YOU ARE?

    Through her auto-ethnography, the Romani student managed to come to and articulate her most honest truths.

    “In addition, it was through her auto-ethnography that this student managed to come to and articulate her most honest of truths.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim
  • Premisecitation
    § Abstract

    Past CUNY teacher-activists-notably, Black feminist poets and writers such as Audre Lorde, Toni Cade Bambara, and June Jordan who taught at the university in the 1960s and 1970s-offer an example of radical teaching and learning.

    “The pedagogical strategies of past CUNY teacher-activists-notably, Black feminist poets and writers such as Audre Lorde, Toni Cade Bambara, and June Jordan who taught at the university in the 1960s and 1970s-offer an example of radical teaching and learning.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Lavan and Tomás Reed 2017

      Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  • Probably not a substantial claim. 32
  • It may state two separate claims as one. 10
  • The quote only partly states this claim. 1
  • Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper may give no reason why it holds.

    Findingnone given
    § COUNTERVISUAL LENSES

    My course 'Urban Anthropology' has provided a space to productively explore embodied and decolonial pedagogy in the MSI classroom.

    “My course”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • Probably not a substantial claim. It may state two separate claims as one.

    Findingreasoning
    § WHO D'YA THINK YOU ARE?

    Working on auto-ethnographic essays challenges students to take on the dual role of subject/ethnographer and embrace an intentionally embodied methodological praxis.

    “The process of working on auto-ethnographic essays challenges my students to take on the dual role of subject/ethnographer and embrace an intentionally embodied methodological praxis.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim
  • Probably not a substantial claim.

    Findingreasoning
    § WHO D'YA THINK YOU ARE?

    Auto-ethnography provides students with the opportunity to take their own bodies as constitutive of evidence, analysis, and knowledge.

    “Quite importantly, auto-ethnography provides my students with the opportunity to take their own bodies as constitutive of evidence, analysis, and knowledge.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim
  • Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.

    Findingreasoning
    § COUNTERVISUAL LENSES

    The student from the Fifteenth Congressional District could acknowledge the realities of life in this community by embodying such a praxis.

    “It was by embodying such a praxis that my student from the Fifteenth Congressional District could acknowledge the realities of life in this community.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.

    Findingcitation
    § COUNTERVISUAL LENSES

    According to the 2010 census, the Fifteenth Congressional District is the poorest district in the United States.

    “The student informs the viewer that according to the 2010 census, this is the poorest district in the United States.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites 2010 census

      Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  • Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.

    Findingnone given
    § WHO D'YA THINK YOU ARE?

    Many of my students struggle with the question 'who d'ya think you are?'

    “It is a question I have seen many of my students struggle with.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds.

    Findingreasoning
    § COUNTERVISUAL LENSES

    Her lens does not settle on pathologizing this place and its inhabitants.

    “However, her lens does not settle on pathologizing this place and its inhabitants.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.

    Findingnone given
    § WHO D'YA THINK YOU ARE?

    Many students have been hesitant to embrace the ways their working-class and ethnic experiences can allow for a remapping of anthropological knowledge in the classroom.

    “Many have been hesitant to embrace the ways in which their own working-class and ethnic experiences can allow for a remapping of anthropological knowledge in the classroom.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.

    Findingnone given
    § WHO D'YA THINK YOU ARE?

    The Romani student wrestled with the question 'who d'ya think you are?' in her essay.

    “It is this same question that my Romani student wrestled with in her essay.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • Probably not a substantial claim. It may state two separate claims as one.

    Premisecitation
    § WHO D'YA THINK YOU ARE?

    Lorde's question 'who d'ya think you are?' emphasizes the importance of 'I' and asks students to understand learning as 'a process of individuation which can build deep self-knowledge.'

    “This simple question emphasizes the importance of”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Lorde 2017, 3

      Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  • It may state two separate claims as one.

    Interpretationcitation
    § WHO D'YA THINK YOU ARE?

    Auto-ethnography allowed the Romani student to define herself in ways that will be of use in the world and to identify with her multiple selves, establishing an activist practice deeply seated in self-knowledge.

    “Auto-ethnography allowed this student to do precisely what Lorde (2017, 16) asked of her own John Jay students decades earlier-to”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Lorde 2017, 16

      Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  • Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence.

    Interpretationreasoning
    § WHO D'YA THINK YOU ARE?

    The United States' black/white racial paradigm is neither complex nor sophisticated enough to convincingly grapple with the question 'who d'ya think you are?'

    “Her words stand as a reminder that the United States' black/white racial paradigm is neither complex nor sophisticated enough to convincingly grapple with the question”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.

    Premisecitation
    § COUNTERVISUAL LENSES

    The camera phone's banality should be understood not only in terms of images it produces but also in terms of its use.

    “However, as they note, the camera phone's banality should not only be understood as related to the images that it produces, but also in terms of its use.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Pink and Hjorth 2012 source
  • Probably not a substantial claim. It may state two separate claims as one.

    Premisecitation
    § Abstract

    Their teaching was committed to disrupting disciplinary boundaries, identifying knowledge bases outside of the university that flourished inside poor multi-ethnic neighborhoods, and creating a partisan liberatory relationship to collective studies.

    “Furthermore, theirs was an example of teaching committed to”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Lavan and Tomás Reed 2017, 8

      Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  • Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper may give no reason why it holds. It may state two separate claims as one.

    Interpretationnone given
    § ALIVE AT THE MARGINS

    The margin can and must be allowed to speak.

    “It subscribes to the unquestionable truth that the margin can and must be allowed to speak.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper may give no reason why it holds.

    Interpretationnone given
    § ALIVE AT THE MARGINS

    This pedagogical work is steeped in a celebration of the inherent emancipatory and decolonial possibilities that come alive at the margins.

    “It is steeped in a celebration of the inherent emancipatory and decolonial possibilities that come alive at the margins.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence.

    Interpretationreasoning
    § WHO D'YA THINK YOU ARE?

    The student forces the reader to consider that race, in its lived implications, is very much real.

    “Yet she also forces the reader to consider the ways in which race, in its lived implications, is very much real.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence.

    Premisecitation
    § COUNTERVISUAL LENSES

    Scholars must not simply take student visuals as documentation, but as evidence of students' abilities to agentively construct their own embodied realities.

    “He suggests that scholars must not simply take student visuals as documentation, but rather as evidence of students' abilities to agentively construct their own embodied realities.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Shankar 2016 source
  • Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence.

    Interpretationreasoning
    § COUNTERVISUAL LENSES

    The student reveals the true counter-hegemonic power of her lens, turning it around to rest on those with whom the burden of change rests.

    “In so doing, the student reveals to the viewer the true counter-hegemonic power of her lens, deftly turning it around to rest on those with whom the burden of change rests.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.

    Premisecitation
    § WHO D'YA THINK YOU ARE?

    Lorde dedicated one module of her course 'Race and the Urban Situation' to 'the internalized stereotype.'

    “In the outline for her undated course,”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Lorde 2017

      Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  • Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper may give no reason why it holds.

    Interpretationnone given
    § ALIVE AT THE MARGINS

    This pedagogical work is grounded in a recognition of the wholeness of the students who thrive intellectually at the margins.

    “Instead, this pedagogical work is grounded in a recognition of the wholeness of the students who thrive intellectually at the margins.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.

    Premisecitation
    § Abstract

    CUNY has long been a pioneer in the development of democratic and open pedagogy.

    “CUNY has long been a pioneer in the development of democratic and open pedagogy (Fabricant and Brier 2016).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Fabricant and Brier 2016

      Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

  • Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.

    Premisecitation
    § COUNTERVISUAL LENSES

    The camera phone itself must be read as 'an embedded part of the ordinary-the routine, habitual and often-tacit practices in which we engage as we move through, sense and perceive environments.'

    “That is, the camera phone itself must be read as”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Pink and Hjorth 2012, 147 source
  • Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.

    Interpretationreasoning
    § COUNTERVISUAL LENSES

    She reminds the viewer that even in the face of poverty, this place and these residents are to be admired.

    “She reminds the viewer that even in the face of poverty, this place and these residents are to be admired.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • It may state two separate claims as one.

    Interpretationreasoning
    § Abstract

    These teacher-scholar-activists unapologetically centered minority students and their everyday embodied experiences and positioned the MSI classroom as a place of radical intellectual possibilities.

    “In this spirit, these teacher-scholar-activists unapologetically centered minority students and their everyday embodied experiences and forcefully positioned the MSI classroom as a place of radical intellectual possibilities.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim
  • Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence.

    Interpretationreasoning
    § COUNTERVISUAL LENSES

    Her photo and writing command the viewer to destabilize and reframe their foreign gaze.

    “Rather, her photo and writing command the viewer to destabilize and reframe their foreign gaze.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.

    Interpretationreasoning
    § COUNTERVISUAL LENSES

    There is utopia to be found here, as her title reminds us.

    “There is utopia to be found here, as her title reminds us.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. It may state two separate claims as one. The quote only partly states this claim.

    Interpretationreasoning
    § COUNTERVISUAL LENSES

    Her final question subtly criticizes those who control New York City's resources, those who market the city as 'the best,' and those who focus on Manhattan skyscrapers over Bronx housing.

    “Her final question to her viewer subtly criticizes those who control New York City's resources, those who market the city as”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds. It may state two separate claims as one.

    Interpretationnone given
    § ALIVE AT THE MARGINS

    This pedagogical work is not predicated on displacing the margins nor on remaking students in the image of the privileged few at the center.

    “This work is not predicated on displacing the margins nor on trying to remake my students in the image and likeness of the privileged few who exist at the center, with the hope that through some form of scholarly transubstantiation they will be made whole.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper may give no reason why it holds.

    Interpretationreasoning
    § ALIVE AT THE MARGINS

    Each time they practice auto-ethnography and photovoice, my students actively (re)write anthropology from the MSI classroom.

    “Each time they practice auto-ethnography and photovoice, my students actively (re)write anthropology from the MSI classroom.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper may give no reason why it holds. It may state two separate claims as one.

    Interpretationreasoning
    § WHO D'YA THINK YOU ARE?

    The declaration 'Mi Sijum Romani (I am Romani)' must be read as an act of self-affirmation, an embrace of a U.S.-specific notion of ethnic identification and pride, and a defiant rejection of Romani misrecognition in favor of recognition of the 'I.'

    “The declaration”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • Probably not a substantial claim.

    Interpretationown data
    § WHO D'YA THINK YOU ARE?

    The student's racial experiences illuminate anthropological theorizations about the myth of race.

    “In exploring the shifting landscape of her racial and ethnic identity, the student's racial experiences illuminate anthropological theorizations about the myth of race.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim
  • Probably not a substantial claim. It may state two separate claims as one.

    Premisecitation
    § COUNTERVISUAL LENSES

    Photovoice is a methodology that centers community and places the camera in the hands of those historically excluded from and harmed by audiovisual modalities.

    “As a methodology that centers community, photovoice places the camera in the hands of those historically excluded from and harmed by audiovisual modalities (Shankar 2016).”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Shankar 2016 source
  • Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.

    Premisecitation
    § COUNTERVISUAL LENSES

    The banality of the camera phone allows for new types of co-present visuality and sociality.

    “Sarah Pink and Larissa Hjorth (2012) have argued that it is the banality of the camera phone that allows for new types of co-present visuality and sociality.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Pink and Hjorth 2012 source
34 of 34
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    John Jay College is a federally recognized Minority Serving Institution (MSI) and Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI).

    “The college is a federally recognized Minority Serving Institution (MSI) and Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI).”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Many of John Jay's students live at the intersection of racism and poverty and juggle school, long commutes, parenthood, and jobs necessary for household economic survival.

    “Many of these students live at the intersection of racism and poverty and work each day to juggle school, long commutes, parenthood, and jobs that are necessary for them to contribute significantly to the economic survival of their households.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    John Jay College is attended by students who have learned how to survive at the margins of society, as well as at the academic margins.

    “John Jay College is attended by students who have learned how to survive at the margins of society, as well as at the academic margins.”
3 of 3

Citations

Cites

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Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Chang, Heewon 2008 Autoethnography a Method. Walnut Creek, Calif.: Left Coast Press.

Cited by

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Metadata

Authors
McKinson, K.
Affiliations
Vanderbilt University (US)
Corresponding author
McKinson, Kimberley
Venue
Cultural Anthropology
Published
2022-08-18
Volume
37
Issue
3
ISSN
  • 0886-7356 (ISSN-L)
  • 1548-1360
OpenAlex
W4294957975
Cited by
1
References
6
Citations by year
2026: 1
FWCI
0.00
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by-nc
Locations
Cultural Anthropology (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Participatory Visual Research Methods
  • Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Posthumanist Ethics and Activism
  • Social Sciences › Education › Critical and Liberation Pedagogy
Keywords
embodied knowledge, decolonial pedagogy, decolonizing anthropology, autoethnography, photovoice, emancipatory education, student lived experiences, knowledge production

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