PERC 2021 Abstract Detail Page
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| Abstract Title: | Objectivity, culturelessness, and apoliticism: how cultural beliefs prevent the advancement of equity in astronomy graduate programs |
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| Abstract: | After decades of interest in promoting diversity and inclusion in the field and higher education more broadly, physics and astronomy departments in American universities remain predominantly white and male. Whilesome STEM fields have made progress in recent years towards correcting the historic overrepresentation ofwhite men, 75% of physics and astronomy PhDs awarded in 2019 went to this demographic that constitutesonly 30% of the US population, higher than chemistry, math, computer science, and engineering (NSF, 2019). This workseeks to understand the barriers to creating a more diverse field by examining how its cultural beliefs can workto maintain inequity in graduate programs. In this paper, we present a subset of the results from a larger study which used the lived experiences of 12 female and gender-non conforming students of color to understand how physics and astronomy graduate pro-grams in American predominantly white institutions maintain equity gaps between majoritized and minoritizedstudents. This paper focuses on the theme of equity work in departments, and how it relates to a foundationalcultural belief in Western physics and astronomy: that physicists comprise an objective, cultureless, and apolit-ical community, impervious to social influence (Traweek, 1988). By contextualizing participants' observations of attitudes,policies, and behaviors with the literature, we attempt to demonstrate a how departments can systematicallyprevent the advancement of equity goals, and subsequently, create negative outcomes for minoritized students.We emphasize the design of program structures as a critical point of intervention, and conclude the work withrecommendations based on participant input. |
| Abstract Type: | Contributed Poster Presentation |
| Session Time: | Poster Session 2 Room D |
| Poster Number: | 2D-12 |
| Contributed Paper Record: | Contributed Paper Information |
| Contributed Paper Download: | Download Contributed Paper |
Author/Organizer Information | |
| Primary Contact: |
Fatima Abdurrahman UC Berkeley Department of Astronomy Berkeley, CA 94703 |
| Co-Author(s) and Co-Presenter(s) |
Alice Olmstead, Department of Physics, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, USA 78666 |
