Page 342 - Cultural Studies of Science Education

316 C.A. Siry

ways of knowing. My research is focused on dialogic encounters as ways to build
solidarity within a group, and I am concerned with the role of self and other, and the
ways in which we research about, and with, others. Central to my teaching and
research is a commitment to embracing polysemicity through cowriting and core-
searching, as I seek to support exploration of diverse lived experiences and work
toward multilogicality. It is through a multiperspectival logic that incorporates
pluralistic approaches to research that I envision recognition of the complexity of
issues in contested places and with displaced peoples in particular.

Framing Context with Critical Complex Lenses

Semken and Brandt provide a comprehensive overview of the evolution of place-
based philosophies and offer perspectives on the construct of sense of place.
Through a discussion of a proposed large-scale mining project in Superior, Arizona,
a “center of conflict over deeply held place-based values and beliefs,” they mention
that various forces in contested places can threaten both the ecological integrity and
the cultural sustainability of an area. They suggest place-based education to recon-
cile such conflicts, and attempt to connect the literature on sense of place with
work concerning displaced people. As their chapter comes to a close, they suggest
“place-based education can help each of the different opposing groups to under-
stand the stakes that each has in the dispute.” It is with this closing suggestion that
I begin, as I elaborate on the ideas introduced in their concluding paragraphs and
suggest a deeper recognition of the complexity of considering place-based research
in contested places.
Positioning the contextualized nature of research can emphasize the intricacies
of contested places and situate research within the broader sociocultural, political,
historical, and economic forces. This can serve to highlight the intensely personal,
temporal and subjective nature of sense of place. In the example of Superior, such
a contextualized emphasis can reveal the multifaceted issues and a wide variety of
perspectives surrounding the mine. The unequal power relations between a multi-
national company, displaced indigenous peoples, and a community struggling to
survive, have created a complicated situation with diverse stakeholders involved in
this dispute over the development of a new large-scale copper mining project. This
conflict includes a tribal coalition who have opposed the mine and proposed land
exchange as it involves sacred land that is spiritually integral. Further perspectives
come from the town’s residents, some of whom support the mine, and others who
do not. In addition, there are others who have a stake in this conflict, including rock
climbers, as well as environmentalists, who claim that the new mining will threaten
the ecology of the area (Access Fund 2008). Adding to the complexity of this issue
are recent budget cuts of the mining company, as well as a political corruption
scandal over the acquisition of land by the mining corporation (Jarman 2008).
Further complicating this disputed place is the history of the forced removal of
the indigenous peoples, which, as Semken and Brandt indicate, was grounded in