The Importance of Knowing and Naming Your Social Location
“Before I can talk about my work or the way I approach my work, I need to name more about myself, who I am, and the lenses that inform the ways I move through the world. I do this by offering more of my social location...”
This is how I introduce myself in almost every professional setting or situation in which I have been given a platform. It is wordy, and it might feel like an over-explanation to some, but it feels really vital to me, and is always worth the time. Often, people ask questions about this practice of giving a social location. It isn’t something they have been exposed to before, or maybe they haven’t had someone frame it so directly.
In this article, I will share more about what this practice is and why I utilize it. In your roles as a BADT program participant, birth worker, facilitator, and so on, you may find that this practice aligns with the anti-oppressive values we hold at the center of our work.
So what is a social location?
Social location, or “social position,” refers to the placement of an individual in a particular culture, society, or social hierarchy. Someone’s social location accounts for the power dynamic(s) in which they play a part, the systems that they navigate, the resources they have access to, and the formative experiences that they carry with them.
Human beings are social creatures, and social capital is a real currency that influences the ways we live and experience the world around us. Of course, there is no objective way to measure social capital, but a social location can help to identify some of the key factors that may impact someone’s social mobility and access at a given point in time. Some elements of one’s social location may be dynamic and change or shift over time. For example, a class shift, coming out, or becoming Disabled.
Why give my social location?
Naming my social location gives me the opportunity to name the lived experiences that I have, and identify where there are gaps in my knowledge and awareness. In anti-racism spaces, it is often pointed out that white people - as a general social practice - do not name their whiteness, and that this contributes to white supremacy culture by upholding whiteness as the hierarchical “norm.” Thus, this practice of naming my whiteness, for example, helps me stay in touch with what it means to be white in various contexts. At first interaction, sometimes these practices can seem to be virtue signaling, but backed with substance, they go deeper.
A deeper practice of giving my social location asks me not only to name race, but also other socio-cultural identities and experiences that shape(d) me. I find that this is particularly powerful when coupled with other facilitation practices such as collaborative group agreements, PADs (predictions, acknowledgements, and disclaimers - a practice I learned from Lakeside Global Institute), or the standing invitation for people with lived experience/expertise to contribute their voices before others.
As someone who often finds themselves in a position of power as a facilitator and educator - which is a direct result of my social location and general approachability/palatability - giving my social location can support the collaborative, anti-oppressive container that I aspire to create.
It helps me and others in the shared space to check in with the intersections of our identities both individually and in relation to one another. None of our identities or experiences exist in a vacuum, and centering this practice in relational experiences - without becoming detrimentally comparative - can help to build trust.
What do I include?
“...my name is JB, and I use they or he pronouns. I am a white, transmasculine non-binary, pansexual, polyamorous person. I come from an agnostic upper-middle class upbringing, and was housing secure for my entire childhood, have always been food secure, and have always had at least some access to healthcare.
I am a US-born citizen who is two generations removed from immigration, English is my first language, I am not apparently disabled, and I have thin privilege. As a result of my privileges I was able to attend a private university without accruing student debt. I am also a person who is neurodivergent, mentally ill, in recovery from substance use, and a survivor of disordered eating, complex trauma, and abuse.”
Ways to explore social location
If this practice is new to you, I encourage you to think through your social location. This is particularly important for those of us who hold some/several/many identities that reflect dominant culture (i.e. white, cisgender, heterosexual, middle class, Christian, etc.), but can be meaningful for any/everybody.
Things to consider as a part of your social location: race, gender, sexuality, class and access to resources, upbringing, religion, Disability, body type, physical and mental health.
As you think through your social location, what stands out to you? What parts feel difficult to name and why? What parts feel more familiar or comfortable to name and why?
In BADT’s 12-week training programs, one of our very first assignments asks students to consider aspects of their social location by answering a list of sixteen questions. This assignment is historically very challenging and perspective-widening for folks.
We include it in the early weeks of the training in order to encourage students to orient themselves within their communities, so that they can more effectively integrate an awareness of power dynamics and privilege into their professional practices.
I’ve seen other folks use social location in a range of ways, and these are a few ideas for how you may like to engage with this practice:
Include some of your social location when creating introduction posts on social media.
and/or, at the beginning of workshops, facilitation spaces, and teaching opportunities.
and/or, in your website bio.
Most importantly, process your location with a friend/peer/colleague/counselor, possibly identifying areas for deeper exploration. Acknowledgement of social location without attention to the ways it influences our behaviors is empty action.
How else might you use this practice? Let us know over on our Instagram!
Connect with the BADT community
Conversations like this one are happening all the time within the BADT community-- in our classes, in our community app, and beyond. You can find our courses and workshops here; we’d love to share space with you! Sign up for our mailing list here to stay in the loop.
Jenna "JB" Brown (they/he) is a full-spectrum doula and community educator, with a passion for pelvises, humans, trauma-informed care, and restorative justice. As a trans non-binary person, he is practiced in the art (and awkwardness) of transition, and he brings this knowing and compassion to his work as a doula and educator, supporting individuals and families through their own transformations in conception, pregnancy, birth, postpartum and beyond. As a teacher and the lead course content creator at Birthing Advocacy Doula Trainings (BADT), JB works with students and professionals to be partners and accomplices in the movement to change the current birth environment locally, nationally and globally. In addition to work in the perinatal space, JB does advocacy, education, mentorship, and consulting work around gender, both for trans, gender non-conforming, and non-binary people, as well as folks looking to include these individuals in their work. http://www.loveoverfearwellness.com