#BlackGirlMagic: The identity conceptualization of Black women in undergraduate STEM education

Abstract

Much of the research in science education that explores the influence of a racial and gendered identity on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) engagement for Black women situate their identities primarily as responses to the oppression and struggles they face in STEM. In this study, we use Phenomenological Variant Ecological Systems Theory as a strengths‐based approach to investigate 10 undergraduate Black women’s perceptions of race and gender on their STEM identity development and engagement. The qualitative analysis of interview and journal data revealed these women enter STEM experiences cognizant of their race and gender identities, naming them in isolation and intersectionally as a potential risk or as being protective, positive, and empowering for their STEM engagement. These findings illuminate the importance of Black women self‐authoring their identities in STEM contexts, both in naming what is salient and defining what those names mean, and have implications for STEM retention and matriculation efforts.

The effect of first high school science teacher's gender and gender matching on students' science identity in college

“…Background factors include gender differences in parental support (Alexander, Johnson, & Kelley, ; Crowley, Callanan, Tenenbaum, & Allen, ), teacher support (Patall et al, ), and prior enjoyable science experiences (Dou, Hazari, Dabney, Sonnert, & Sadler, ; Jones et al, ; Maltese & Tai, ; Moller, Stearns, Southworth, & Potochnick, ; Riegle‐Crumb, Moore, & Ramos‐Wada, ). Social factors include a discriminatory (Griffith, ; Hall & Sandler, ; Solnick, ), segregated (Archer, Dewitt, & Osborne, ; Charles & Bradley, ; Morton & Parsons, ; Sikora & Pokropek, ), and harassing study or work space (Clancy, Nelson, Rutherford, & Hinde, ).…”

Racial Code Words, Re‐Memberings and Black Kids’ Civic Imaginations: A Critical Race Ethnography of a Post‐Civil Rights Leader

“…Brown (2010) defined cultural memory as the “discourses, texts, and artifacts that inform how students and teachers can imagine a groups’ historical experience” (55). I begin with data from interviews with Jasen that offer insight into the cultural and familial knowledges (Akiva et al ; Carey ; Morton and Parsons ; Yosso ) that he drew upon to make sense of race, history, and civic leadership.…”

Examining African American Girls’ Literate Intersectional Identities Through Journal Entries and Discussions About STEM

“…Morton and Parsons (2018) used five journal prompts via email to obtain detailed information from 10 Black undergraduate women about the identities they subscribe to, the sources of those identities, and how those identities were perceived in the women’s STEM and undergraduate research experiences. The prompts focused on experiences in and outside of STEM and were housed in a secured server rather than in a shared community with others.…”