Navigating equity work in engineering: contradicting messages encountered by minority faculty

Diana Chen, Joel Alejandro Mejia, Samantha Dawn Breslin

    5 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    The lack of diversity in engineering and perpetuation of inequities through engineering designs have motivated the rise of new curricula centred on the integration of traditional technical content with social aspects of technology. However, the ‘revolutionizing’ of curricula has primarily been spearheaded by junior faculty, women and faculty of colour. This article uses an autoethnographic approach to explore the development of social justice-oriented curricula within engineering from the perspectives of junior women and faculty of colour. Drawing on feminist and critical race theory, we discuss how power dynamics within the school, university and engineering more broadly have shaped the development and teaching of justice-oriented engineering. Through the lens of our experiences, we show that, despite the support from some institutional allies and administrators, stereotypes, hegemonic norms and microaggressions can undermine efforts for social and structural change in engineering education, even as such changes are supported and promoted by the institution.
    Original languageEnglish
    JournalDigital Creativity
    Volume30
    Issue number4
    Pages (from-to)329-344
    Number of pages17
    ISSN1462-6268
    Publication statusPublished - 2 Oct 2019

    Keywords

    • Faculty of Social Sciences
    • Intersectionality
    • institutional change
    • Engineering education
    • autoethnography
    • engineering culture

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