Resistance and Community-Building in Lgbtq+ Engineering Students

Sherard, Max K.; Julien, Christine; Borrego, Maura

doi:10.1615/jwomenminorscieneng.2021035089

Cited by 12 publications

(15 citation statements)

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“…Despite prevailing notions that queer spaces would give solace for my erasure in engineering (Yang, Boklage, et al, 2021;Yang, Sherard, et al, 2021b), all was not well in the land of the queers either. Instead, I encountered discourses of erasure under the dominant ideology of homonormativity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…That said, I purposefully began my short story in the cleanroom, a space where I did find fulfilment and joy from engineering, to highlight how marginalized students (including me) may find that engineering is an "overall positive" experience (Yang, Sherard, et al, 2021a, 2021b. While academic literature often perceives LGBTQ+ engineering students as having overly marginalizing, negative experiences in engineering, this dominant narrative may obscure resistance and joy (Yang, Sherard, et al, 2021b). In the short story, I cite several ways engineering fulfilled me: despite experiencing marginalization, I can look through the "necessary evils" toward my broader personal goals.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous work has found that LGBTQIA+ engineering students and professionals experience a cisheteronormative, chilly climate in engineering (Cech & Rothwell, 2018;Cech & Waidzunas, 2011, 2022B. Hughes, 2017;Yang, Sherard, et al, 2021a, 2021b. Cis-heteronormativity is defined as the dominant cultural assumptions that normalize heterosexuality and the male-female gender binary and stabilize traditional conceptions of sex, gender, and sexuality.…”

Section: Current Study: Multiple Dimensions Of Engineering Race and Q...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Engineer, Asian, and Gay AF: Counterstory as Means for Methodological Activism and Intersectional Healing in Engineering Education

Yang

2024

Studies in Engineering Education

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Background: Recent calls for methodological activism have highlighted the need for new methodologies that empower marginalized students for social change. However, what these methodologies may look like in practice remains unclear.Purpose: This paper presents counterstory as one activist methodology that responds to the call for methodological activism. Counterstory both addresses the complexities of intersectional oppressions within multiply marginalized students' lives and provides avenues for theorizing about resistance, (re)affirmation, restoration, joy, and healing from traumas of oppression for marginalized engineering students to achieve liberation. Method:To demonstrate counterstory in action, I construct an autoethnographic counterstory in short story format based on my lived experiences as a gay, Asian-American doctoral engineering student.Results: I showcase how counterstory operates to challenge dominant discourses about spaces and identities, highlighting how unique modes of intersectional erasure, resistance, and healing can be elicited from the construction of counterstories.Conclusions: Counterstory provides engineering education researchers with a critical methodological framework to continue unpacking systems of oppression in engineering while (re)centering marginalized student voices, agency, resistance, healing, and joy in academic literature. I provide ways for researchers and practitioners to use counterstory to work alongside marginalized students to fight for social justice.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Current Study: Multiple Dimensions Of Engineering Race and Q...mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Engineer, Asian, and Gay AF: Counterstory as Means for Methodological Activism and Intersectional Healing in Engineering Education

Yang

2024

Studies in Engineering Education

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“…Overall, making changes, without putting (unpaid) burden on individual LGBTQIA+ people, can be difficult but is essential to improve academic climate and repair the pipeline for LGBTQIA+ people in STEM. This work can leverage and build on existing guidance and efforts (Ackerman et al, 2018;Atherton et al, 2016;BrckaLorenz et al, 2021;Butterfield et al, 2018;Cech et al, 2016;Cooper et al, 2020;Cross et al, 2020;Farrell et al, 2016;Farrell et al, 2018;Fisher, 2021;Freeman, 2020;Garvey, BrckaLorenz, et al, 2018;Guerra et al, 2016;Shane, 2022;Sinton et al, 2021;Unsay, 2020;Wallace & York, 2020;Wong, 2018;Yang et al, 2021).…”

Section: Next Participants Highlighted Institutional Trainings and Ed...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Workplace Experiences of LGBTQIA+ Academics in Psychology, Psychiatry, and Neuroscience

Pagliaccio¹

2022

Preprint

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People identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, or asexual (LGBTQIA+) often face workplace bias or discrimination. Unique dynamics in academic neuroscience, psychology, and psychiatry warrant specific investigation. Participants (N=534) completed an online survey assessing identity and workplace experiences. Many respondents were not out about their identity at work (46%) despite most being out personally (81%). Positive workplace climate was critical to outness (OR=4.13, t=6.78, p<.001), career satisfaction (b=0.47, t=8.57, p<.001), and mental health (b=-1.48, t=-3.50, p=.001). Experiences of exclusionary behavior (24%) and depression (37%) were exceedingly common. Qualitative responses called for explicit LGBTQIA+ inclusion in diversity and classroom curricula, structural and financial support for LGBTQIA+ people, and greater support for intersectional identities and trans individuals. Respondents expressed a pervasive sentiment that academic institutions should avoid putting undue, unpaid burden of diversity work on minoritized individuals while promoting meaningful structural change rather than creating the appearance of inclusivity.

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“…Yang et al state, "We define building community as the practice of creating spaces, fostering interpersonal networks and relationships, and uniting around an identity or cause that makes way for individual personal growth, group survival, and/or collective political action. These definitions of creating space and community-building operationalize specific techniques of resistance used by marginalized peoples to challenge dominant social and cultural forces that define an oppressive institution [27]." Gabe, found most of their social support in an Asian American student organization on campus and was able to be open about their non-binary identity with their friends.…”

Section: Finding Social Support Outside Of Engineeringmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Importance of Spatiality and Intersectionality: Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Undergraduate Engineering Experiences Through Critical Collaborative Ethnographic Site Visits

Johnson,

Bothwell

2024 Collaborative Network for Engineering &Amp; Computing Diversity (CoNECD) Proceedings

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Engineering as a field is dominated by toxic masculinity, heteronormativity, whiteness, and cisnormativity. There is a dearth of research about transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) student experiences in engineering, and much of the available research on TGNC STEM student lives does not account for the nuanced intersections of marginalized identities that can affect a student's performance and sense of belonging in engineering or larger STEM environments. In addition, STEM-related research into marginalized populations' experiences is often done without the use of feminist, queer, trans, and anti-racist research methodologies that consider power imbalances between the researcher and the participant and the implications of conducting research on and with underrepresented populations. This study addresses these research gaps. We used critical collaborative ethnographic site visits to center TGNC positionality and community-centered research ethics. The four-day site visits presented here involved two mechanical engineering students at a prestigious private university on the East Coast of the United States. Activities included formal semi-structured interviews as well as less formal interactions with each participant, such as attending classes, visiting important campus and community spaces, and hanging out with the participants' friend/peer groups. The visiting researcher also explored the college campus and the broader community on his own to more deeply understand the politics and context of the local environment. As predicted by significant findings from previous phases of this research, the uniqueness of each student's identity, location, political worldview, and support system significantly impacted their educational paths in engineering. The two TGNC student participants, both with multiple intersecting marginalized identities, had incredibly different experiences in the same mechanical engineering program, leading one participant to resounding success and the other to leave STEM altogether. The findings from this critical collaborative ethnographic site visit suggest that barriers to success and a sense of belonging for TGNC students in engineering must be considered through the use of intersectional critical theories.

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Resistance and Community-Building in Lgbtq+ Engineering Students

Cited by 12 publications

References 0 publications

Engineer, Asian, and Gay AF: Counterstory as Means for Methodological Activism and Intersectional Healing in Engineering Education

Engineer, Asian, and Gay AF: Counterstory as Means for Methodological Activism and Intersectional Healing in Engineering Education

Workplace Experiences of LGBTQIA+ Academics in Psychology, Psychiatry, and Neuroscience

On the Importance of Spatiality and Intersectionality: Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Undergraduate Engineering Experiences Through Critical Collaborative Ethnographic Site Visits

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