“It's Not Just an Assignment”: A Duoethnography on the (Op)positionality of Evaluator Identity

This piece is grounded in the critical feminisms within standpoint epistemology and decolonial theories. We present our histories and experiences as methodologists and evaluators using a collaborative and dialogical method, duoethnography. After reviewing one another's written memos, we engaged in conversation through voice memos and face-to-face interactions. Together, we analyzed and compared these incidents and experiences to locate how our identities of power, privilege, and oppression motivate the theories and practices we use as evaluators. We then distilled these memos and conversations to narratively present personal insights and vignettes that explore our (op)positionality as evaluators. Continually questioning one's past and present role as an evaluator, and as one's full self, requires comfort with uncertainty. This uncertainty can aid evaluators in efforts to deconstruct deeply held and often oppressive ways of being and knowing as they move toward more liberatory forms of evaluation.