positionality

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noun

The quality of being positional.

Scrabble 18

Meanings

nounpositionality (countable and uncountable, plural positionalities)

plural positionalities

  1. countableuncountableThe quality of being positional.
  2. countableuncountablehuman sciencesThe social context one inhabits that shapes and defines a person's identity and perspective.

    In the post-civil rights era, some white men have adopted a marginalized positionality in an effort to reclaim the tacit social privileges of being white, heterosexual and male.

    2007, Sean Brayton, “MTV's Jackass: Transgression, Abjection and the Economy of White Masculinity”, in Journal of Gender Studies, volume 16, page 58
    1 more example

    Many of my liberal friends and acquaintances now seem to believe that being a good person means constantly reminding Black people that you are aware of their Blackness. Difference, no longer to be politely ignored, is insisted upon at all times under the guise of acknowledging “positionality.”

    2023 August 14, Tyler Austin Harper, “I’m a Black Professor. You Don’t Need to Bring That Up.”, in The Atlantic

Origin

Cite this entry
APA

positionality. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/positionality

MLA

“positionality.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/positionality. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “positionality,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/positionality.

Source: positionality on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.