A Critical Exploration of Science Doctoral Programs: Counterstories from Underrepresented Women of Color
Year: 2014
Type: article
Abstract: Most studies exploring the experiences of underrepresented doctoral students of color in science fields focus on their socialization into predominantly white institutions.While the socialization process is fundamental to doctoral success and consequently deserves attention, it is critical to inquire into how the widespread and lasting perception of people of color as socio-culturally deficient shapes underrepresented students' socialization into science doctoral programs.Further, the existing research literature and educational policies addressing the persistent underrepresentation of students of color in science doctorates remain fixated on increasing racial diversity for U.S. economic security rather than racial equity.In view of the limitation of existing research literature, in this study, drawing from critical race theories, fictive-kinship, and forms of capital, I use counterstorytelling to recast racial inequities in the education of science doctorates as a problem of social justice, not as an issue of the students' sociocultural deficits or as a matter of economic security.Through interviews I examined the experiences, from elementary school to current careers, of three women of color who were science doctoral students.Participants' counterstories revealed institutionalized racism embedded in doctoral programs exploited their identities and dismissed their lived experiences, thereby, relegating them to outsiders-within academe.This marginalization precluded the inclusive socialization of participants into their doctoral programs and ultimately set up barriers to their pursuit of scientific careers.iv This study divulges the academic and career consequences of the sustained privilege disparities between underrepresented students of color's experience and the experiences of their white and Asian counterparts.In light of the participants' experiences, I recommend that, in order to change the existing policy of socially integrating students into oppressive cultures, researchers and policymakers must forefront the humanity of underrepresented students of color when forming research questions, determining data collection instruments, and selecting analytical tools, thus changing the sociocultural structure of the science doctoral process.v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This doctoral journey has exceeded my most ideal imaginings because of the chain reaction of encouragement that began with Dr. Jennifer Milam.Jenn was a constant presence in the first two years of my coursework, and her willingness to share her struggles with her doctoral process provided me with the early-on enlightenment that my own struggles with the doctoral process were worth further exploration.Thank you.Thank you to the wonderful Dr. Francis Broadway, whose astounding insight into societal and educational power structures has been instrumental in shaping the theoretical framework of this study, forever changing the way in which I know and live in the world.To Dr. Huey-li Li, whose discourse provided me with incredibly valuable perspectives, our conversations have been few, but everyone has indelibly shaped the questions I ask and how I seek to answer them.Thank you to Dr. Sandra Spickard Prettyman and Dr. Susan Kushner Benson, who each took me in as a research apprentice and provided me a steady confidence as I moved through this study's research design and into data collection and analysis.Thank you to Dr
Author: Senetta F. Bancroft
Institution: University of Akron
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2601494195