Hoʻokele: Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Engineering Students Navigating the New Troubled Waters of Identity and Meaning

Austin Peters; Susan Lord

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Conference: 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Publication Date: August 23, 2022
Start Date: June 26, 2022
End Date: June 29, 2022
Conference Session: Social Identities and STEM Experiences: Equity, Culture & Social Justice in Education Division Technical Session 6
Page Count: 9
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--41769
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/41769
Download Count: 294

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Paper Authors

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Austin Peters University of San Diego

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Austin Morgan Kainoa Peters is a current B.S./B.A. Integrated Engineering student at the University of San Diego's Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering graduating Spring '22. Peters was born and raised in Wailuku, Maui, Hawaiʻi, and plans to attend Purdue University's PhD program in Engineering Education beginning Fall '23.

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Susan Lord University of San Diego

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Susan Lord is Professor and Chair of Integrated Engineering at the University of San Diego. She received a BS from Cornell University in Materials Science and Electrical Engineering (EE) and MS and PhD in EE from Stanford University. Her research focuses on the study and promotion of diversity in engineering including student pathways and inclusive teaching. She has won best paper awards from the Journal of Engineering Education and IEEE Transactions on Education. Dr. Lord is a Fellow of the IEEE and ASEE and received the 2018 IEEE Undergraduate Teaching Award. She is a coauthor of The Borderlands of Education: Latinas in Engineering. She is a co-Director of the National Effective Teaching Institute (NETI).

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Abstract

Native Hawaiians have a deeply rooted history grounded in engineering before the colonization of these islands. Through a keen observation of nature, relational thinking, and technological ingenuity, Native Hawaiian ancestors traversed the oceans without instruments, served large populations through sustainable agriculture, and achieved a myriad of other engineering feats. After Western contact and colonization, this holistic and interrelated engineering identity was lost and a strong disconnect between Native Hawaiian populations and Western engineering was created. To bring this population and ideas back into the engineering space, a cultural change in engineering is necessary to be open to epistemologies of marginalized groups. Due to the insufficient amount of literature on the student experiences of Native Hawaiians in engineering education, we explore literature on Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders (NHPI) in engineering education, STEM education and higher education using a framework developed by Kanaka ʻŌiwi (Native Hawaiian) scholar, Manulani Aluli Meyer. Meyer’s Native Hawaiian Epistemology describes seven core themes that help to demonstrate how the systems of Western engineering culture and NHPI culture put NHPI students in constant conflict. For example, the current culture of engineering education does not acknowledge important values of NHPI populations including place-based knowledge, importance of family and community, and respect and humility towards elders. In worst cases, NHPI funds of knowledge are discredited as folklore not suitable for engineering or NHPI students are assumed to only possess stereotypical cultural knowledge. Simultaneously, the oral tradition of mo’olelo or storytelling will be used to recount the wayfinding and navigation history in Native Hawaiian culture. This story helps to exemplify the shift in perception that engineering and Native Hawaiian culture are not two combatting systems, but two assets of a Native Hawaiian students intersectional identity that can help these students to rediscover their meaning and engineering prowess. As more specific epistemologies or marginalized groups such as the Native Hawaiians are brought into the engineering space, the structures in place that inhibit diversity and inclusion can be converted to create a place of shared knowledge and acceptance.

Keywords: Underrepresentation, student experience, race/ethnicity, critical theory

Citation
Format

Peters, A., & Lord, S. (2022, August), Hoʻokele: Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Engineering Students Navigating the New Troubled Waters of Identity and Meaning Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--41769

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Native Hawaiians have a deeply rooted history grounded in engineering before the colonization of these islands. Through a keen observation of nature, relational thinking, and technological ingenuity, Native Hawaiian ancestors traversed the oceans without instruments, served large populations through sustainable agriculture, and achieved a myriad of other engineering feats. After Western contact and colonization, this holistic and interrelated engineering identity was lost and a strong disconnect between Native Hawaiian populations and Western engineering was created. To bring this population and ideas back into the engineering space, a cultural change in engineering is necessary to be open to epistemologies of marginalized groups. Due to the insufficient amount of literature on the student experiences of Native Hawaiians in engineering education, we explore literature on Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders (NHPI) in engineering education, STEM education and higher education using a framework developed by Kanaka ʻŌiwi (Native Hawaiian) scholar, Manulani Aluli Meyer. Meyer’s Native Hawaiian Epistemology describes seven core themes that help to demonstrate how the systems of Western engineering culture and NHPI culture put NHPI students in constant conflict. For example, the current culture of engineering education does not acknowledge important values of NHPI populations including place-based knowledge, importance of family and community, and respect and humility towards elders. In worst cases, NHPI funds of knowledge are discredited as folklore not suitable for engineering or NHPI students are assumed to only possess stereotypical cultural knowledge. Simultaneously, the oral tradition of mo’olelo or storytelling will be used to recount the wayfinding and navigation history in Native Hawaiian culture. This story helps to exemplify the shift in perception that engineering and Native Hawaiian culture are not two combatting systems, but two assets of a Native Hawaiian students intersectional identity that can help these students to rediscover their meaning and engineering prowess. As more specific epistemologies or marginalized groups such as the Native Hawaiians are brought into the engineering space, the structures in place that inhibit diversity and inclusion can be converted to create a place of shared knowledge and acceptance. 

Keywords: Underrepresentation, student experience, race/ethnicity, critical theory

AU  - Austin Peters
AU  - Susan Lord
CY  - Minneapolis, MN
DA  - 2022/08/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Hoʻokele: Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Engineering Students Navigating the New Troubled Waters of Identity and Meaning
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/41769
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--41769
ER  -