Engineering Education Reinforces Monolithic Constructions of Latino/a/e/x Identity and Stifles Critical Consciousness

• In Event: Mapping Racial Projects in Postsecondary STEM: Interrogating Scripts, Schemas, and Structures for Justice

Abstract

--Objective
Latino/a/e/x scholars in engineering education have made substantive contributions to our understanding of the lived experiences of Latino/a/e/x students (Perez-Felkner, 2024). However, most K-20 studies continue to group Latino/a/e/x students into broader categories, obscuring the heterogeneity in this population. As a result, our understanding of the intersectional experiences of these students remains limited, which reinforces monolithic representations of Latino/a/e/x identity (Revelo et al., 2024). Our study seeks to challenge the “myth of the monolith” by applying critical frameworks to explore how 5 Latinas in engineering construct their identities and navigate racialized STEM contexts. We ask (1) How do these young women understand themselves as racialized beings and (2) how does this shape their understandings of racial inequities in STEM?
--Frameworks
This study is guided by Critical Race Theory (CRT), which argues that race is a social construct (Delgado & Stefancic, 2012). We examine how racial ideology (Annamma et al., 2017) influences understanding of systemic inequities and consider intersecting identities to highlight heterogeneity in this sample (Crenshaw, 1989).
--Methods
This paper is part of a larger longitudinal phenomenological study funded by the NSF. We employed reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2022). Deductive coding identified reflections aligned with our frameworks (e.g., color-evasion), while inductive coding captured ideas beyond our frameworks (e.g., Latinidad). Authors 1and 2 independently coded transcripts with feedback from Author 3. Authors 1 and 2 coded to consensus, and Authors 1 and 3 developed themes.
--Data Sources
For this study, we analyzed interview data from 5 Latina participants who were interviewed in high school and college once a year, for 3 years. Interview topics included how participants self-identified in terms of race and whether they believed those identities informed their experiences in STEM, their experiences of encouragement and discouragement, and their understandings of inequality.
--Findings
We will present data that attends to how participants saw themselves as racialized beings in and out of STEM and how these conceptualizations of self either aligned with or challenged hegemonic ideologies and related discourses students are often exposed to in STEM learning environments. In doing so, we argue that those discourses likely influenced our participants’ experiences and perspectives, in ways they supported or hindered their critical consciousness raising. We do this not to critique these individual students, but to call attention to the systems of power and privilege in which they were embedded and had to navigate –– and our roles as STEM educators to disrupt these experiences for racially minoritized students in STEM.
--Significance
Obscuring the heterogeneity in the Latino/a/e/x population constrains critical consciousness raising and perpetuates colorism and anti-Blackness in STEM. By highlighting the role of hegemonic discourses and challenging the treatment of this population as a monolith, we shed light on one of the multi-level mechanisms that contribute to the maintenance of STEM as a racial project. In doing this, we call on STEM educators and researchers to challenge these practices and discourses and support the critical consciousness raising of all STEM students.

Authors

• Summer Rose Blanco, University of Georgia

• Tatiane Russo-Tait, University of Georgia