Commonality AND difference? Attempts to escape from theoretical dualisms in emancipatory research in education

Recent philosophical debates have questioned the bases of identity politics in educational research and elsewhere, drawing attention to complexity and diversity of identity. These arguments will be briefly rehearsed, with reference to feminist theory. The criticism that one facet of identity (e.g. gender) cannot be analysed in isolation from others has sometimes been addressed via the study of the 'intersection' or 'interaction' of these various facets. However, others have attacked such approaches, maintaining that such aspects of identity are inseparably intermeshed, and beyond analysis. The poststructuralist account of the self and diversity appears to offer an analytical approach which can address such problems, yet poststructuralist theory also problematises many of the fundamental assumptions underlying emancipatory research in education and elsewhere. This article seeks to debate these various issues, with reference to research in schools. It argues the validity of research concerning specific aspects of identity. Drawing on concepts from feminist theory and reader response criticism, it outlines an approach to such work which rejects the dualisms of relativism/realism, similarity/diversity.