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expression is an examination of consciousness structures as horizons. These structures are ways
of being in the world. Much like history, they are continually present and dynamic.
Furthermore, Gebser brackets all meta-physics. Thus, as with history, there is no right and
wrong, no good and bad. The structures are simply ways of being in the world. They are the
horizons that inform our understanding of civilizational expressions, and all other terms, such as
right and wrong, are within the context of a particular horizon.
This approach, to a certain degree, allows for insider positionality of the researcher
without inappropriately engaging the inherent power structure in which the subject is spoken
“for” by the researcher.” As meta-physics are bracketed, the notions of “should” and “true” are
also bracketed. Through this bracketing, the power structures between and among research and
subject become transparent, easily seen and present.
Horizons in the Asian Indian-American Community
This essay is an examination of the horizons within the Indian-American community,
utilizing Gebser’s structures of consciousness. In the hermeneutic sense, horizon is not a thing
among things. Horizon is not a physical element that remains fixed and static. One’s horizons
are continually changing and expanding. Furthermore, our horizons are necessary to perception
in that they are what shape our perception. They are the sense-making tools with which we
perceive the world. Horizons also constitute the ways in which we are in the world. Horizon is
an opening for and a limiting of perceptual and interpretive options. Gebser (1985) presents
various structures of consciousness which are ways of being in the world. These structures are
hermeneutic horizons. These structures serve to illuminate the ways in which Indian-Americans
are in the; world and with hermeneutics, multiple horizons are also illuminated. However,
because of the continual sedimentation of multiple consciousness structures throughout one’s
Convention