Theory of the Margins: Liberating Research in Education

Abstract

Galileo studied physics through observation and experimentation rather than through moral and verbal instruction, as was the Western European tradition in the sixteenth century. Arguing against the politically powerful Catholic perspective of the time, Galileo supported Copernicus’ theory that the Earth revolved around the Sun. As he was opposing the mainstream knowledge of the time, Galileo was marginalized. Throughout Western history there have been people whose research was marginalized, those who did research in the fray. In some cases their work moved to the center (as with Galileo), in other cases it did not. Sometimes research is marginalized because its findings challenge the status quo in ways that are just not accepted. At other times, research is marginalized because its methods are not considered valid or reliable. In yet other times, research is marginalized because it attends to questions and persons whose life experiences are not considered important or worthy of research by those invested in the mainstream. Galileo’s research not only offered new facts from which to contemplate the workings of the universe, but also liberated our scientific investigations from the hegemony of existing European religious dogma. The focus of this chapter involves describing and promoting a link between research that is conducted at the margins and the potential for emancipatory effects.