Multilevel Discourse Analysis of African American Girls' Experiences in Science

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session 34
  In Roundtable Session: (En)gendering Experience in STEM: Examining Girls and Minoritization in the Sciences

Abstract

This research argues that the lack of African American women in science careers is the result of a nuanced and complicated process and can only be adequately addressed through consideration of multiple levels of discourse. Data were collected on the macro (school wide), meso (classroom), and micro (individual) level. Critical discourse analysis was used to explore what macro-level discourses were circulated at the school, how these discourses impacted the seventh grade science class and after school program, and how individual students negotiated these discourses. Results indicated that the privileged Discourses in the classroom positioned students outside of science and that discourses of accountability, control, and order, led to students equating a science person with a good student.

Author

• Katherine Wade, The University of Memphis