315 In Implications of Sense of Place and Place-Based Education for Ecological Integrity and Cultural Sustainability in Contested Places, Steven Semken and Elizabeth Brandt explore the construct of place and suggest that place-based educa- tion can serve as a mutually advantageous transaction between people and place in contested areas. In this chapter, I extend the implications they have introduced and contend that a critical theoretical perspective is required in work with contested places and displaced people in order to recognize the multitude of complexities involved. Building from their work, I suggest using polyvocal and polysemic research in and around contested places as a means to acknowledge multidimen- sional intersubjective perspectives while also emphasizing connections to place. Introduction Steven Semken and Elizabeth Brandt discuss foundations of place-based education and posit that such an approach can be advantageous in contested places for sup- porting ecological integrity and cultural sustainability. Their review of the literature on place-based education and sense of place is thorough and clearly represents the myriad possibilities for exploring the ways in which people make meaning and form attachments to particular places. I bring my perspectives grounded in socio- cultural theory to further these ideas as I explore their discussion of the contested area of Superior, Arizona, and I elaborate on the implications that they introduce, with the aim of exploring the complexity and tensions inherent in endeavors toward education in contested spaces. I conduct science education research framed through critical perspectives, and as such I consider issues of power and seek to recognize and encourage multiple Chapter 26 Envisioning Polysemicity: Generating Insights into the Complexity of Place-Based Research Within Contested Spaces Christina A. Siry D.J. Tippins et al. (eds.), Cultural Studies and Environmentalism, Cultural Studies of Science Education, Vol. 3, DOI 10.1007/978-90-481-3929-3_26, © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010 C.A. Siry University of Luxembourg