{"id":617,"date":"2023-04-26T20:03:33","date_gmt":"2023-04-27T03:03:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/respectmagazine\/?p=617"},"modified":"2023-04-30T11:38:51","modified_gmt":"2023-04-30T18:38:51","slug":"the-power-of-place-in-positionality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/respectmagazine\/2023\/04\/26\/the-power-of-place-in-positionality\/","title":{"rendered":"The Power of Place in Positionality"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Power of Place in Positionality <\/strong><\/span>by Kelly Grace Yuste<\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n

The place I stand and view everything from is a significant factor of how I understand the world \u2014 this is what \u2018Power of Place\u2019 means to me.<\/span><\/h2>\n

My understanding of it is inspired by Sebastian Conrad\u2019s concept of positionality, an idea that is significant to learn about in terms of understanding subjects in a global context. Conrad contends that national histories are inevitably based on \u201caxiomatic assumptions\u201d influenced by local beliefs (Conrad, 2016, 162-163). Similarly, I believe that an individual\u2019s worldview is heavily influenced by the people they grew up with and by the \u2018place\u2019 they grew up in.<\/span><\/p>\n

To illuminate \u2018Power of Place\u2019: The cultural norms in the h<\/span>ome I grew up in were a mold that I, along with my beliefs, etiquette, and behaviour, was shaped by. <\/span><\/h2>\n

The Philippines, my home, is a Catholic-dominated nation that is not yet open to certain progressive, inclusive, and diverse ideals we enjoy here in BC or Canada.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n

When I was still settling into permanent life in BC, making connections and gaining experiences, I was faced with certain situations that made me realize I had to unlearn a few toxic habits and ideologies from the place I grew up in.<\/span><\/p>\n

One significant example is that because most Filipinos are indoctrinated into the Christian\/Catholic faith by their families, churches, and\/or schools, my peers and I grew up in a box believing that the Christian god was the only real god and that the Christian reality was the only reality. From my positionality at the time, I viewed the world from a Christian perspective. But when I moved here to UBC Okanagan, I saw that everyone was living their own lives with their own different beliefs. Most people I\u2019ve met do not care for a god. It was a subtle shock to me \u2014 there is so, so much life, diversity, and adventure outside of the religion I was indoctrinated to believe in. Realizing this made me feel like I was opening up the box I was trapped in and looking around to see what else thrived in the world. These people came from \u2018places\u2019 where either another religion dominated, or no religion at all dominated.<\/span><\/p>\n

Moreover, since I personally understand that coming from my particular hometown gave me nuanced beliefs and behaviours, I can understand that some people have their own nuances shaped by the \u2018places\u2019 they come from.<\/span><\/p>\n

I think that understanding where someone\u2019s \u2018place\u2019 is (or <\/span>was<\/span><\/i>) supports an understanding for the way they act and think.<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

And when we start to learn the \u2018Power of Place\u2019, we start to learn how to accept and appreciate people coming from diverse \u2018places\u2019 and positionalities.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Reference<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

Conrad, Sebastian. (2016).<\/span> What is Global History?<\/span><\/i>\u00a0Princeton University Press.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

About the Image<\/span><\/h5>\n

I took this photograph by the Okanagan Lake. Looking at this photo, I tell myself that this is home. And it subtly surprises me, because I only moved here in the summer of 2021. I grew up in a totally different country. I suppose I wholly accept Kelowna as my home in an attempt to deconstruct the toxic habits of my past that formed in the Philippines. To me, Kelowna represents a break from the past and a new beginning. Sometimes, what you learn from your \u2018place\u2019 needs to be unlearned.<\/span><\/p>\n

About the Contributor<\/span><\/h5>\n

Kelly Grace Yuste (she\/her) is an Art History &\u00a0Visual Culture student with Chinese and Filipino cultural roots. She\u00a0is passionate about decentering subjects, people, and cultures\u00a0from traditional nationalistic boundaries, informed by her global art\u00a0history studies which give focus to cross-cultural connections and\u00a0hybridities. She is currently the President of the Asian Student Association at UBCO, celebrating\u00a0Asian culture on campus.<\/span><\/p>\n

Image by Kelly Grace Yuste<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Power of Place in Positionality by Kelly Grace Yuste The place I stand and view everything from is a significant factor of how I understand the world \u2014 this is what \u2018Power of Place\u2019 means to me. My understanding of it is inspired by Sebastian Conrad\u2019s concept of positionality, an idea that is significant … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “The Power of Place in Positionality”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90551,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[8],"class_list":["post-617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-issue-3"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/respectmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/respectmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/respectmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/respectmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90551"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/respectmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=617"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/respectmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":746,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/respectmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617\/revisions\/746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/respectmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/respectmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/respectmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}