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New Source Code: Spelman Women Transforming the Grid of Science and Technology

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Abstract

From a seminary for newly freedwomen in the 19th century “Deep South” of the United States to a “Model Institution for Excellence” in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and math education, the narrative of Spelman College is a critical piece to understanding the overall history and socially constructed nature of science and higher education in the U.S. Making a place for science at Spelman disrupts and redefines the presumed and acceptable roles of African American women in science and their social, political and economic engagements in U.S society as a whole. Over the course of 16 months, I explore the narrative experiences of members of the Spelman campus community and immerse myself in the environment to experience becoming of member of a scientific community that asserts a place for women of African descent in science and technology and perceives this positionality as positive, powerful and the locus of agency.

My intention is to offer this research as an in-depth ethnographic presentation of intentional science learning, knowledge production and practice as lived experiences at the multiple intersections of the constructs of race, gender, positionality and U.S science itself. In this research, I am motivated to move the contemporary discourse of diversifying in science and engineering fields in the US academy beyond the chronicling of African American women scientists as statistical rarities over time, the conceptual production of auditable subjectivities and the deficit frameworks that theoretically encapsulate these narratives. Spelman students, staff and alumni are themselves, the cultural capital that validates Spelman’s identity as a place and its institutional mission. It is a personal mission as much as it is an institutional mission, which is precisely what makes it powerful.

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This item is under embargo until February 11, 2025.