Critical Affective Positioning Theory and Social Studies

Critical Affective Positioning Theory regards the different identities that we put out and the way that others read our identities, and how the way that others read our identity also affects how we portray ourselves as well. Our stable identity includes our race, gender, physical characteristics and family. Our flexible identity includes our interests/hobbies, jobs, moods, relationships and the context in which we are situated. Critical affective positioning theory regards this process of portraying and reading identities.

This is a wonderful strategy to incorporate with social studies as social studies is heavily based on social and cultural context. In our own class, we explored a problem with polar bears in a fictional city we lived in, where all of the students represented different groups of civilians. This included the oil drillers, researchers of polar bears, and citizens of the town. Here, we were able to divide into groups to discuss the problem, as well as come together and work as a 'city' to decide what should happen with the various problems presented in the scenario. This included the oil drillers feeling unsafe to the polar bears, the citizens being concerned about the oil drillers and the researchers needing money for research and resources. At first, we were told each group had $1 million dollars to solve their problems, but by the end, it turned out the whole city had $1 million, so all groups had to work together to decide where to allocate the money. This allows for role play for the students assuming the role of their character in the town, while exploring sociological problems and perspectives.