Positionality as Praxis: Embodiment, Imagination, and Liberation in Evaluation

Ayesha S. Boyce et al.

American Journal of Evaluation2026https://doi.org/10.1177/10982140261426358article
ABDC C
Weight
0.37

What the paper says

This second issue in the four-part series on positionality in evaluation advances understanding of positionality as embodied practice, theoretical intervention, and liberatory praxis. Building on dialogic and relational foundations, the articles ground how evaluators’ identities, bodies, histories, and contexts of practice shape evaluation design, relationships, and use. Centering Blackness and drawing on Black feminist, Afrofuturist, and Pan-African traditions, contributors challenge narrow, procedural approaches to positionality and instead position identity as data, theory, and praxis. Through empirical, poetic, and theoretical contributions, the issue demonstrates how positionality operates as a sustained negotiation of power, responsibility, and accountability within unequal systems. Collectively, the articles call the field to recognize positionality as a dynamic and consequential dimension of ethical, justice-oriented evaluation practice.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/10982140261426358

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@article{ayesha2026,
  title        = {{Positionality as Praxis: Embodiment, Imagination, and Liberation in Evaluation}},
  author       = {Ayesha S. Boyce et al.},
  journal      = {American Journal of Evaluation},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/10982140261426358},
}

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Evidence weight

0.37

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.16 × 0.4 = 0.06
M · momentum0.53 × 0.15 = 0.08
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.