“I’m Not Like a Human Being”: How the Teaming Experiences of African American Females Reveal the Hidden Epistemologies of Engineering Culture

Kaitlyn Anne Thomas; Kelly J Cross; Isabel Anne Boyd; Marie C. Paretti

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Conference: 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Portland, Oregon
Publication Date: June 23, 2024
Start Date: June 23, 2024
End Date: July 12, 2024
Conference Session: Equity and Belonging
Tagged Divisions: Liberal Education/Engineering & Society Division (LEES) and Equity, Culture & Social Justice in Education Division (EQUITY)
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/46406

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Paper Authors

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Kaitlyn Anne Thomas University of Nevada, Reno

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Ms. Thomas is a doctoral student at University of Nevada, Reno in Engineering Education. Her background is in structural engineering. She received her bachelor's and master's degrees in civil engineering from Southern Methodist University. Her research focus is in epistemology and epistemic injustice.

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Kelly J Cross Georgia Institute of Technology orcid.org/0000-0001-5879-9001

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Dr. Cross is currently an Assistant Professor in the Biomedical Engineering Department at Georgia Tech.

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Isabel Anne Boyd University of Tennessee, Knoxville orcid.org/0000-0002-6244-9335

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Isabel recently graduated from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville earning her Bachelor's of Science in Biomedical Engineering with Honors. She has assisted with several qualitative and mixed-methods research projects centered around diversity and inclusion in engineering. She will begin a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering with a focus on Engineering Education at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Fall 2024.

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Marie C. Paretti Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University orcid.org/0000-0002-2202-6928

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Marie C. Paretti is a Professor of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech, where she directs the Virginia Tech Engineering Communications Center (VTECC). Her research focuses on communication, collaboration, and identity in engineering.

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Abstract

Engineering culture consists of the knowledge and traditions of the hegemonic, middle-class, white, male majority in the field. The default dominance of whiteness and masculinity can be perceived as unwelcoming to traditionally underrepresented and underserved student populations, like women of color (WOC). As a result, engineering culture may serve as an invisible boundary for WOC to gain positive experiences in the field. This invisible boundary is understood, in this paper, as the hidden epistemologies in engineering: the unspoken but understood rules about knowledge and knowing that influence interactions in engineering spaces. Unacknowledged problematic engineering epistemologies (e.g. hidden curriculum) create an invisible gap in knowledge, specifically for women (and more so for WOC) and their experiences. We utilize the theoretical backing of hidden epistemologies to answer the research question: How do the experiences of WOC on engineering teams reveal the hidden epistemologies embedded in engineering culture? To answer our research question, we performed a secondary analysis on interview data from a larger study using a phenomenologically informed procedure to identify hidden epistemologies embedded in the participants’ experiences. We used interviews of nine undergraduate engineering students who self-identified as “African American” and “female” on a screening survey and an open coding method. These interviews centered around the participants’ engineering teaming experiences, and within them, we found evidence of the hidden epistemologies of engineering. Specifically, we noted that knowledge is filtered through the majority white, middle-class, male shared identities that form engineering culture, and technical knowledge is valued more than other types of knowledge. The fact that these hidden epistemologies were revealed in data on engineering teams also implies that hidden epistemologies are revealed and reinforced through the social interactions and phenomena of the education process itself. Implications of this work reveal that some difficulties experienced by WOC in engineering teams have epistemic origins and may serve as barriers to entry into engineering. By addressing and changing these fundamentally problematic epistemologies that drive engineering culture, engineering education researchers help to reform engineering culture so the ways of knowing cultivated in engineering do not oppress the ways of knowing formed from WOC’s experiences.

Citation
Format

Thomas, K. A., & Cross, K. J., & Boyd, I. A., & Paretti, M. C. (2024, June), “I’m Not Like a Human Being”: How the Teaming Experiences of African American Females Reveal the Hidden Epistemologies of Engineering Culture Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/46406

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Engineering culture consists of the knowledge and traditions of the hegemonic, middle-class, white, male majority in the field. The default dominance of whiteness and masculinity can be perceived as unwelcoming to traditionally underrepresented and underserved student populations, like women of color (WOC). As a result, engineering culture may serve as an invisible boundary for WOC to gain positive experiences in the field. This invisible boundary is understood, in this paper, as the hidden epistemologies in engineering: the unspoken but understood rules about knowledge and knowing that influence interactions in engineering spaces. Unacknowledged problematic engineering epistemologies (e.g. hidden curriculum) create an invisible gap in knowledge, specifically for women (and more so for WOC) and their experiences. We utilize the theoretical backing of hidden epistemologies to answer the research question: How do the experiences of WOC on engineering teams reveal the hidden epistemologies embedded in engineering culture?
To answer our research question, we performed a secondary analysis on interview data from a larger study using a phenomenologically informed procedure to identify hidden epistemologies embedded in the participants’ experiences. We used interviews of nine undergraduate engineering students who self-identified as “African American” and “female” on a screening survey and an open coding method. These interviews centered around the participants’ engineering teaming experiences, and within them, we found evidence of the hidden epistemologies of engineering. Specifically, we noted that knowledge is filtered through the majority white, middle-class, male shared identities that form engineering culture, and technical knowledge is valued more than other types of knowledge. The fact that these hidden epistemologies were revealed in data on engineering teams also implies that hidden epistemologies are revealed and reinforced through the social interactions and phenomena of the education process itself.
Implications of this work reveal that some difficulties experienced by WOC in engineering teams have epistemic origins and may serve as barriers to entry into engineering. By addressing and changing these fundamentally problematic epistemologies that drive engineering culture, engineering education researchers help to reform engineering culture so the ways of knowing cultivated in engineering do not oppress the ways of knowing formed from WOC’s experiences.
AU  - Kaitlyn Anne Thomas
AU  - Kelly J Cross
AU  - Isabel Anne Boyd
AU  - Marie C. Paretti
CY  - Portland, Oregon
DA  - 2024/06/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - “I’m Not Like a Human Being”: How the Teaming Experiences of African American Females Reveal the Hidden Epistemologies of Engineering Culture
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/46406
ER  -