Using an Epistemic Injustice Lens to (Re)construct a Doctoral Mentoring Relationship in Science Education

• In Event: From Injustice to Inclusion: Advancing Social Justice in Graduate Education: Centering Justice in Graduate Education: Reimagining Mentorship, Community, and Institutional Change

Abstract

This autoethnographic paper explores the author’s experiences navigating a science education doctoral program at a research university in the United States. It problematizes social identity and power dynamics inherent in mentor-mentee relationships in higher education. Drawing from the epistemic injustice framework, this work presents the author’s critical reflection in the form of poetic narratives and invites the reader to pause and reflect on (in)justices embedded in mentoring. This work introduces a new theoretical and methodological approach to examining narratives of disruptive mentor-mentee relationships in the diversifying landscape of higher education. It concludes by emphasizing the overlooked vulnerabilities in mentor-mentee relationships in graduate education and calls for a focus on social justice and equity in learning and teaching spaces.

Author

• Ayça K. Fackler, University of Missouri