Chapter 2: Using Theoretical Lenses to Support Relational Inquiry

Hermeneutic Phenomenological Lens Intrapersonal Interpersonal Contextual How are people making meaning of their health/illness situations? How are different people interpreting situations differently? How are people situated and constituted? Hermeneutic Phenomenological Lens How are different interpretations shaping situations and interpersonal relations? How is the way people are situated/constituted shaping their interpretations and meaningful experience?

Critical Lens How do relative positions of power shape understanding? Intrapersonal Interpersonal Contextual How do relative positions of power shape understanding? How are social structure and arrangements shaping people, situations, and interpersonal relationships? Critical Lens How are power dynamics shaping each interpersonal relationship?

Possibilities of a Critical Feminist Filter Intrapersonal How do gender, race, class, age, ability, size, and other forms of social positioning shape understanding? Interpersonal How do gender, race, class, age, ability, size, and other forms of social positioning shape each interpersonal relationship? Contextual How are gender, race, class, age, ability, size, and other forms of social positioning shaping people and situations?

Possibilities of a Postcolonial Lens Key tenets: Explicit emphasis on colonial and neo-colonial relations; the continuities of history Attention to global relations Attention to material relations Attention to the intersections among racism, material relations, and colonial power

Postcolonial Theory in Action Revisit, remember, and interrogate the colonial past and its aftermath in today’s context Critically analyze the experiences of colonialism and their current manifestations Deliberately decenter dominant culture so that the perspectives of those who have been marginalized become starting points for knowledge construction Expand understanding of how conceptualizations of race, racialization, and culture are constructed within particular historical and current neocolonial contexts

Possibilities of a Poststructural Filter Each individual’s understanding? How does language shape… Every interpersonal relationship and interaction? Social structures and arrangements?