HDFS 380S Service Learning · Positionality Exercise

Who You Are Shapes
What You See

Work individually through each phase, then pause to discuss with your group of 3 to 4 before moving on.

Progress
Phase 1 · Individual · 8 minutes

Ground Yourself

Look back at your completed worksheet. From the 11 identity categories, choose 3 to 4 where you noticed the strongest advantages or challenges for yourself.

"The relative position in society you hold and the advantages and disadvantages you experience." Davis and Harris, 2013
Select 3 to 4 identity categories that felt most significant on your worksheet
Phase 2 · Individual · 10 minutes

Pick Your Career Scenario

Choose the HDFS setting that most resonates with your professional goals. Then reflect on your specific assets and blind spots within that context.

Choose one career scenario
Phase 3 · Individual then Group · 15 minutes

Critical Tension Scenarios

There are two scenarios below. Reflect individually on both for about 5 minutes, then discuss with your group for 10 minutes. One person should be ready to share a key insight with the class.

Scenario A: The Community Pushback

The Situation

You are presenting findings from your service-learning placement to families and community members in the neighborhood you served. Several participants in the project are in the room. One raises their hand and says: "That's not how we see it. You came in, watched us for a semester, and now you're telling us what our community needs?"

  1. How does your positionality as a university student shape the power dynamic in this moment?
  2. What identities (race, class, language, educational background) are likely visible to that community member? How might they be reading you?
  3. What would a positionality-informed response look like? What would you actually say?

Scenario B: The Measurement Mismatch

The Situation

You are analyzing data from your placement site and notice that a standardized "family functioning" scale your agency uses consistently scores families from a particular cultural or ethnic background as "low functioning." Your supervisor says the scale is validated and widely used. You suspect the tool doesn't capture this community's strengths.

  1. Whose positionality is embedded in the design of this scale? What assumptions does it make about what "healthy family functioning" looks like?
  2. How does your positionality shape whether you even notice this problem, or feel empowered to raise it?
  3. What would it look like to advocate for change here, and what risks does your positionality create or protect you from in doing so?
Phase 4 · Individual · 12 minutes

Draft Your Positionality Statement

A positionality statement is a brief, honest declaration of who you are and how that shapes your work. It appears in research papers, grant applications, and practice portfolios. Read the sample statements below, then use the 3-part scaffold to write your own.

Strong statements are specific (not vague), reflexive (show self-awareness), and relevant (connect identity to the actual work).

Sample Positionality Statements: Read Before You Write

Sample A: Early Childhood / Home Visiting

"I am a White, middle-class woman who grew up in a suburban community in the Midwest with English as my only language. I bring this background to my work as a home visitor serving predominantly Latinx families in an urban setting. My social position affords me institutional trust and fluency in navigating bureaucratic systems, but I recognize that I may default to deficit-oriented frameworks shaped by my own upbringing and formal education, particularly around family routines, discipline, and the role of extended kin. To counteract these tendencies, I engage in regular reflective supervision, consult with bilingual community liaisons, and ask families directly how they define wellbeing for their children rather than imposing external benchmarks."

Sample B: Family Therapy / Mental Health

"As a first-generation college student and the child of immigrants from West Africa, I bring insider knowledge of acculturation stress, intergenerational expectation gaps, and the ways families navigate between cultural worlds. This lived experience helps me build rapport with immigrant families who often feel misunderstood by mental health systems. At the same time, I must be careful not to over-generalize from my own experience or assume that families from other immigrant communities share my frame of reference. I address this by centering the client's own narrative, seeking cultural consultation when working with communities outside my background, and remaining accountable to ongoing training in culturally responsive practice."

Sample C: HDFS Research

"I am a cisgender, heterosexual man with a middle-class upbringing and no personal experience of poverty. My research focuses on father involvement among low-income families, a community I study from the outside. I acknowledge that my gender may open some doors with fathers who feel their experiences are rarely centered in family research, while my class background may lead me to underestimate structural barriers to involvement. To mitigate this, I use community-based participatory methods, involve fathers as co-interpreters of data, and submit my analysis to member-checking before drawing conclusions."

Sample D: Youth Services / LGBTQ+ Context

"I identify as a queer, Latina woman and have personally navigated both the joys and costs of coming out in a conservative, religious family environment. Working with LGBTQ+ youth in similar family contexts, I bring empathy and a non-pathologizing lens to their experiences. However, I am aware that my own resilience narrative, one of finding affirmation and thriving, may not resonate with every young person I serve, and I must guard against projecting my own journey onto theirs. I address this through trauma-informed, youth-centered practice and by regularly consulting with colleagues whose identities and experiences differ from my own."

Now Write Yours: Use the 3-Part Scaffold

Press Ctrl+P (Windows) or Cmd+P (Mac) to save your work as a PDF with all your responses included.