Discursive geographies in science: space, identity, and scientific discourse among indigenous women in higher education

Abstract

Despite completing undergraduate degrees in the life sciences, few Indigenous women choose to pursue careers in scientific research. To help us understand how American Indian students engage with science, this ethnographic research describes (1) how four Navajo women identified with science, and (2) the narratives they offered when we discussed their experiences with scientific discourse. Using intensive case studies to describe the experiences of these women, my research focused on their final year of undergraduate study in the life sciences at a university in southwestern US.

A Cultural Perspective of Conceptual Change: Re-examining the Goal of Science Education

“…(p. 125) The metaphor of border crossing implies a static dichotomy between the non-school culture and school culture. It has been found to be inadequate in explaining American Indigenous women's experience in making sense of Eurocentric science in the context of indigenous knowledge (Brandt, 2007(Brandt, , 2008a(Brandt, , 2008b. A different theoretical framework is necessary for an explanation.…”

Authentic science experiences as a vehicle to change students’ orientations toward science and scientific career choices: Learning from the path followed by Brad

“…As well, this participation allowed him to engage in native activism, that is, to expand his action possibilities while maintaining his political and epistemological commitments and hence developing his cultural identity as Aboriginal in a way he feels comfortable with. Thus, Brad's engagement in the practice of nature conservation featured ''locations of possibility,'' which were theorized in a study on identity and scientific discourse among indigenous women (Brandt 2008). In such locations, students and instructors: value connected knowing; acknowledge each other's history, culture, and knowledge; begin to speak to each other subject-to-subject; and challenge normative views of schooling.…”

Identity and biography as mediators of science and mathematics faculty’s involvement in K-12 service

“…Individuals' development of science-related identities and their agency within STEM fields are mediated by the cultural resources available to them within the multiple sociocultural contexts they inhabit (Brandt 2008;McKinley 2008;Oliveira et al 2006;Rahm 2007;Tonso 2006). For example, Oliveira et al (2006) demonstrate how a science professor and his students' discursive interactions allow for the construction of multiple and fluid identities in relation to scientific expertise.…”

“…For example, Oliveira et al (2006) demonstrate how a science professor and his students' discursive interactions allow for the construction of multiple and fluid identities in relation to scientific expertise. Brandt (2008) also examines how the features of various discursive spaces, what she calls locations of possibility, mediate undergraduate American Indian young women's production of scientist identities that resonate with their cultural identities. Looking at another marginalized group in the sciences, McKinley (2008) examines the power relations inherent within Maori women scientists' contemporary experiences of producing hybrid identities given the troubling history of colonization and globalization.…”