{"id":16157,"date":"2025-11-04T19:07:30","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T01:07:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dept.writing.wisc.edu\/blog\/?p=16157"},"modified":"2026-09-03T12:50:45","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T17:50:45","slug":"academic-writing-in-the-borderlands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dept.writing.wisc.edu\/blog\/academic-writing-in-the-borderlands\/","title":{"rendered":"Academic Writing in the Borderlands"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Andrea Hernandez Holm<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Introducing Positionality<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Many writing assignments, genres, and reference styles require that writers include positionality statements. Some genres are entirely informed by positionality, even if we don\u2019t recognize them. For example, personal statements ask the writer to explain what experiences have shaped their perspectives, objectives, and goals. Positionality can still be a difficult concept to grasp because we typically consider it only in the immediacy, and in relation to our own experiences
\u2014my positionality is informed by who I am<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the region of the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands, positionality reflects many and diverse communities and stories. In a climate complicated by social, political, cultural, and personal factors, it has also often been a site of contention where inequities anchor themselves in the economy, education, interpersonal relationships, and more. It is important that students, here temporarily or permanently, consider these issues and their relationship to them. How you conduct yourself while you\u2019re here matters. How you leave this place matters. How you do your research matters.<\/p>\n\n\n

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It can be helpful, instead, to think of positionality as a concept large enough for identity to fit within. Positionality is informed by identity, but also by the many other experiences we have in life and, as student researchers and writers, the \u201cwho I am\u201d is entangled with who our institutions, funders, and supporters are; who the individuals and communities we work with are; and who the communities that surround our physical locations are as well. All of these elements contribute to our positionalities as academic writers and are reflected in and upon the knowledge that we produce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From our daily work with students and faculty, my writing center recognized a need to support improved understanding of life as a scholar in the Borderlands. In 2022, I led the staff to develop Academic Writing in the Borderlands (Academic Borderlands), a program in which we could speak to student writers about the role positionalities have on the production of knowledge by researchers and writers at the university\u2013 themselves included.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Borderlands<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

My university is a research-1, land-grant institution, which means that it has top-ranked research programs and, historically, has been charged with the responsibility of providing accessible educational opportunities to the local community. It is also a Hispanic Serving Institute (at least 25% of our students identify as Hispanic) in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands and is situated within the traditional homelands of two Native American tribal nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our aim with Academic Borderlands was to help students begin to explore the concept of positionality and how it applies to their own academic experiences studying and producing knowledge in the Borderlands. We were awarded funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Our staff of four welcomed 30 undergraduate and graduate students in multiple academic disciplines and engaging in various research topics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The program had three components. The first was a week-long institute at the beginning of our spring semester. During that time, students participated in workshops and writing sessions that incorporated instruction, activity, and discussion. They also met individually with a tutor for one-on-one consultations about writing projects and concerns. Students then had the option to continue meeting with tutors individually or to join small group tutoring for the remainder of the semester. The program also included four guest speakers over the three-month period. These were advanced graduate students and faculty members in higher education, family and community medicine, and Spanish who spoke to their experiences as scholars writing and researching in the Borderlands. The presentations were open to the public as well. In addition, the project included an online classroom that housed resources about academic writing, research, the Borderlands, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learning Our Positionalities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A foundational element of our writing center pedagogy is that teaching and learning flow in both directions during our work with students. Our goal in the Borderlands project wasn\u2019t to create definitive language around borderlands concepts, but to generate conversation, critical thinking, and inspiration for further consideration. We wanted to know what students know and build that knowledge out into a resource that could help at whatever stage of the writing process they might be in. Therefore, questions were integrated into every lesson and interaction. These questions were for students to engage, but for us to engage as well. For example, we asked:<\/p>\n\n\n\n