{"id":4293,"date":"2022-08-12T07:41:52","date_gmt":"2022-08-12T11:41:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/?p=4293"},"modified":"2022-08-12T07:41:52","modified_gmt":"2022-08-12T11:41:52","slug":"thinking-about-positionality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/urban\/2022\/08\/12\/thinking-about-positionality\/","title":{"rendered":"Thinking About Positionality: A Discussion with URBAN Trainees"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our Impact Intern, Aika Ulanova<\/a>, recently sat down with URBAN trainees Kathryn Rodgers<\/a> and Alina McIntyre<\/a> to moderate a discussion on the concept of positionality in the workplace from various perspectives. Positionality is the idea that our personal views, values, identities, and social context shape how we view ourselves in the world and how the world views us. Kathryn and Alina were completing their URBAN internships at the time of the conversation. Below, you will find a mixed media piece containing text and audio that captures what they discussed!<\/p>\n

For clarity purposes, this discussion has been condensed and edited.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Alina McIntyre<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Kathryn Rodgers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Aika Ulanova<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Could you briefly introduce yourselves: background, research focus, etc.?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kathryn: <\/strong>I’m a rising second-year Ph.D. student at Boston University’s School of Public Health in the Environmental Health department. I have a master’s in Public Health and I’ve worked in environmental health research for the last 10 years. My focus now is on understanding risk factors for chronic kidney disease in an occupational cohort in central America.<\/p>\n

Alina: <\/strong>I am originally from the Midwest but made my way over to the East Coast for school. I started off in Community Health in Spanish, and then I was really interested in environmental work. So I got my master’s in Environmental Health and now I’m here at BU getting my Ph.D. in Environmental Health. I’m a rising third-year and my work primarily focuses on air quality and heat in Chelsea and East Boston, Massachusetts. I do a lot of exposure work with that community.<\/p>\n

Aika: <\/strong>I’m a rising sophomore at BU studying Data Science and Biochemistry. This summer, I decided to intern here with BU URBAN to get a better view of what program management on the graduate education side looks like. For the past few years, I mainly spent my summers doing lab research, and this summer I wanted to experience something completely different. And it’s been super fun so far!<\/p>\n

After the brief introductions, Aika wanted to know more about what motivated Kathryn and Alina to become URBAN trainees.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Click to hear Alina’s response:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\/urban\/files\/2022\/08\/audio1715453237-AudioTrimmer.com-1.m4a<\/a><\/audio>\n

Click to read the transcript:<\/paragraph>
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So. When I applied to BU, the Ph.D. program, once I was accepted, I was pretty certain I would also then apply to URBAN. I heard from other Ph.D. students that it was a great opportunity to kind of have an interdisciplinary lens on the work you do. And I was also really interested in the policy applications, like translating what we’re doing as researchers into policy-relevant, you know, whether it be like read literature or just, you know, I don’t know what have you, but it’s just been a really perspective widening opportunity. So that’s yeah. Long story short. That’s why.<\/em> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Click to hear Kathryn’s response:<\/strong><\/p>\n\/urban\/files\/2022\/08\/audio1715453237-AudioTrimmer.com-2.m4a<\/a><\/audio>\n

Click to read the transcript:<\/paragraph>
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So I joined the URBAN program because I think, having worked in public health for the last 10 years, I can see that public health is often, you know, one side of a problem. And so it’s not even that there’s a coin where it’s climate and public health, but it’s so interdisciplinary by nature. Like a lot of public health problems are also related to climate and also justice and racism and you know, sorry, rambling now. You know, things like incarceration. So anyway, these problems that we face are really interdisciplinary by nature. So I wanted to join the URBAN program to … see other perspectives and how public health can strengthen research that focuses, you know, on relevant problems that have, you know, other relevant facets to them..<\/em>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

\"GreenRoots,<\/p>\n

Alina is currently working on an internship with Green Roots<\/a>, which is an environmental justice grassroots organization in Chelsea, MA. Alina has been working with the organization through the Chelsea and East Boston Heat Study, which is a partnership between Green Roots and Boston University School of Public Health. She started her work with Green Roots in her first year doing her Ph.D. and continues her work related to air quality, heat, and community organizing.<\/p>\n

\"MassachusettsKathryn’s internship this summer is with The Massachusetts Climate Action Network (MCAN).<\/a> She is working to understand baseline environmental justice and health vulnerabilities that a population faces in Massachusetts on the North Shore where a new power plant is being proposed to be built. Kathryn is trying to understand what the health burdens are that the community is already facing.<\/p>\n

After getting to know more about Kathryn and Alina’s internships, the conversation was then directed towards tackling positionality and trying to answer the following questions: How do you approach the topic of positionality? How do you personally think about it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Read below to learn how Kathryn and Alina approach positionality.<\/p>\n

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