voices from the margins

A cacophony of voices call for inclusion of voices from the margins in the production of research texts (e.g. Kumashiro, 2002, 2004; Lather, 1993, 2006; Lather & Smithies, 1997; Tuhiwai Smith, 1999). Only a few, however, include the more-than-human in this call (e.g. Abram, 1996, 2006; Bell & Russell, 2000; Fawcett, 2000; Fudge, 2002; Haraway, 1991a, 2004a,b; Harvey, 2006b; Russell, 2005).

Perhaps that is because to hear those voices requires a quieting of the mind (Bai, 2003, 2009) and engagement in non- or trans-rational (Astin, 2002) ways of knowing. Furthermore, given academic conventions around what counts as legitimate knowledge, to reference those voices in ways that give credit to their sources, is not (as yet) possible. Or is it? ∞

Perhaps these sources are not readily acknowledged because those who engage in cross-border conversations do not privilege rationality, and it to not be able to explain one's insight in the language of rationality within academic contexts often puts one at risk of ongoing marginalization. As Haraway (1991b) claims, "situated knowledges are always 'marked' knowledges" produced within particular, often oppressive histories of "masculinist, racist, and colonialist dominations" (p. 111). Meaning too, is acquired in specific contexts among specific communities of people, through particular textual and social processes (Scott, 1988). Appreciation for multiple ways of knowing is increasing in some contexts, however.