Seen, unseen, and unforeseen dangers: what a White emerging scholar learned about positionality in research with racially diverse practitioners

Abstract

Framed by autoethnographic methods, I use Milner’s framework for researching around race and culture to critically analyze my work as a researcher with a group of diverse educational administrators. I identify seen, unseen, and unforeseen dangers that I experienced in my research as a white doctoral student and university professor, and consider how they impact my development as an educational researcher. I conclude with implications for doctoral students as emerging scholars interested in researching race as well as implications for researchers working with elites.

Keywords:

• Autoethnography
• race
• positionality
• whiteness
• educational leadership

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.