{"id":832,"date":"2017-06-14T16:23:10","date_gmt":"2017-06-14T20:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/inclusionexclusion\/?p=832"},"modified":"2017-07-06T13:04:46","modified_gmt":"2017-07-06T17:04:46","slug":"feminist-theory-and-methodologies-for-more-socially-affirming-undergraduate-mathematics-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/inclusionexclusion\/2017\/06\/14\/feminist-theory-and-methodologies-for-more-socially-affirming-undergraduate-mathematics-education\/","title":{"rendered":"Feminist Theory and Research Methodologies for More Socially Affirming Undergraduate Mathematics Education"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left\">Gender research in education explores, among other things, the possible reasons for women\u2019s lower rates of achievement and retention than those of men across STEM fields including mathematics. However, much of this scholarship, particularly in mathematics education, limits its analyses of gender to binary comparisons (namely, female-male or women-men) with males\u2019 and men\u2019s achievement and participation often held as standards for success (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nctm.org\/Publications\/Journal-for-Research-in-Mathematics-Education\/2017\/Vol48\/Issue4\/Unpacking-the-Male-Superiority-Myth-and-Masculinization-of-Mathematics-at-the-Intersections_-A-Review-of-Research-on-Gender-in-Mathematics-Education\/\">Leyva, in press<\/a>). In addition, the sampled populations in this empirical work were mostly White, thus leaving mathematics achievement and participation among historically marginalized students of color at intersections of gender, race, and other social identities underexplored.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Analyses of gender as non-binary and dynamically shaped by other social identities (e.g., race, class, sexuality) hold promise in illuminating how mathematics operates as a <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/everydayfeminism.com\/2015\/07\/what-is-heteronormativity\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">White, heteronormatively masculinized<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> discipline to shape variation in students\u2019 experiences and thus further inform more inclusive educational opportunities. With mathematics serving as a gatekeeper for access to undergraduate STEM majors such as engineering and physics, the adoption of such analyses in higher education is critical for the advancement of socially-affirming learning and student support opportunities toward inclusion and broadened STEM participation.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_846\" style=\"width: 348px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-846\" class=\"size-full wp-image-846\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/inclusionexclusion\/files\/2017\/06\/intersectionality.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"338\" height=\"198\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/inclusionexclusion\/files\/2017\/06\/intersectionality.jpg 338w, https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/inclusionexclusion\/files\/2017\/06\/intersectionality-300x176.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 338px) 100vw, 338px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-846\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Image from Emily Griffith&#8217;s blog on Rhetorical Criticism.)<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Feminist theory and research methodologies can be used to explore and disrupt forms of gender inequities in different parts of society, including education. Intersectionality, a theoretical perspective and methodology from Black feminist thought, allows for detailing forms of oppression and privilege that marginalized individuals uniquely experience at different intersections of their social identities such as gender, race, and sexuality (Crenshaw, 1991). In this blog post, I highlight the findings of intersectional studies from three interdisciplinary scholars &#8212; <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.oise.utoronto.ca\/ctl\/Faculty_Staff\/Faculty_Profiles\/2026\/Lance_McCready.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dr. Lance McCready<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.terc.edu\/display\/Staff\/Mia+Ong\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dr. Mia Ong<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Terrell_Lamont_Strayhorn\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dr. Terrell Strayhorn<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u2013 who pursued feminist analyses using queer of color critique, theories of body and embodiment, and the concept of othermothering. This blog post also raises questions about conceptual and methodological implications from this intersectional research for the advancement of more socially affirming undergraduate STEM educational opportunities. Please\u00a0share your thoughts about the review, posed questions, and suggested references for other feminist scholarship in the comments section below.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><b><i>Queer of Color Critique: \u201cMaking Space\u201d for Multiply Marginalized Communities in White, Heteronormative Spaces in Undergraduate STEM Education<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_845\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-845\" class=\"wp-image-845 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/inclusionexclusion\/files\/2017\/06\/Lance-McCready1-300x250.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-845\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lance McCready. (Photo from his personal webpage.)<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">McCready\u2019s research adopts intersectionality theory to capture the interplay of gender and sexuality with other social identities, including race and class, in shaping the marginalization that gay and gender-nonconforming Black boys experience in urban public schools (Blackburn &amp; McCready, 2009; McCready, 2004b). His intersectional scholarship across K-12 urban educational contexts engages a <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/researchmethodswillse.voices.wooster.edu\/files\/2012\/01\/Ferguson.pdf\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">queer of color critique <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">(QOCC)<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, an epistemology and research methodology that \u201cdebunk[s] the idea that race, class, gender, and sexuality are discrete formations, apparently insulated from one another\u201d (Ferguson, 2004, p. 4). QOCC, according to <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1111\/curi.12024\/full\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">McCready (2013)<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, allows his research to \u201cinterrupt\u201d marginalizing discourses about Black gay youth\u2019s urban schooling and identify \u201cpedagogical possibilities\u201d for more socially affirming learning spaces and opportunities. More specifically, McCready\u2019s work disrupts the heteronormativity in discourses of Black boys\u2019 schooling \u201ctroubles\u201d and illuminates opportunities for challenging the normalization of heterosexuality and Whiteness in urban public schools (Venzant Chambers &amp; McCready, 2011; <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1207\/s15430421tip4302_7\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">McCready, 2004b<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">). \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">One of the major forms of intersectional marginalization that gay and <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.genderdiversity.org\/resources\/terminology\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">gender non-conforming<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Black boys experienced was their sense of isolation and lack of belongingness in schools\u2019 social support programs for lesbian, gay, bisexual, <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.slate.com\/blogs\/outward\/2017\/05\/30\/the_7th_circuit_bars_discrimination_against_transgender_student.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">trans*<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, and questioning (LGBTQ+) students such as <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/notebook.lausd.net\/portal\/page?_pageid=33,1159973&amp;_dad=ptl\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Project 10 in the Los Angeles Unified School District<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (Blackburn &amp; McCready, 2009; Venzant Chambers &amp; McCready, 2011; McCready 2004b). Project 10 in a California high school site for McCready\u2019s research, for example, was largely populated by white lesbian students and membership was \u201cunder surveillance by their heterosexual Black peers\u201d (<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1300\/J367v01n03_05\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">McCready, 2004<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">a, p. 42), thus bringing gay and gender non-conforming Black boys to feel that joining would be socially risky and not supportive in addressing their needs as <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/nadia-cho\/being-queer-means_b_3510828.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">queer<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> boys of color. McCready identified various strategies that the gay and gender non-conforming Black boys employed to \u201cmake space\u201d (<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.peterlang.com\/view\/product\/28215?rskey=QuO1ij&amp;result=2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">McCready, 2010<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">), or manage their marginalization in ways that affirmed their oppressed social identities in schools. This included self-expression that challenged heteronormative ways of doing Black masculinity (e.g., dress, dance program engagement) as well as becoming leaders in LGBTQ+ support organizations to inform change for increased inclusivity of queer students of color (<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1177\/0042085911400322\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Venzant Chambers &amp; McCready, 2011<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Although McCready\u2019s research focuses on urban K-12 public schools, it brings me to consider its transferability in better understanding the social spaces of undergraduate mathematics education that shape intersectional oppression and privilege for different student populations. In particular, I think about the importance for STEM support programs in higher education [e.g., chapters of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ostem.org\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Out in STEM<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.shpe.org\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Society for Hispanic and Professional Engineers<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (SHPE), and <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aps.org\/programs\/women\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Women in Physics<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">] to attend to the intersectionality of members\u2019 experiences in providing meaningful forms of academic and social support. My research on <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/entry\/why-people-are-using-the-term-latinx_us_57753328e4b0cc0fa136a159\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Latinx<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> students\u2019 experiences as engineering majors at a predominantly White four-year university, for example, captured how SHPE meetings were on-campus spaces where Latinx men participants established meaningful connections with fellow Latinx peers who understood their struggles of negotiating STEM academics with gendered cultural expectations of becoming family breadwinners (<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Leyva, 2016b<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">). Although the university\u2019s SHPE chapter upheld the national organization\u2019s mission of racial empowerment for the Latinx community in becoming future engineers, the meetings provided members with opportunities to \u201cmake space\u201d for their whole social selves to feel affirmed as Latinx engineering students who were underrepresented in mathematics classrooms and other STEM spaces on campus.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Findings from McCready\u2019s scholarship on gay and gender non-conforming Black youth in urban schools raise the following questions for future feminist research in undergraduate mathematics:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">What are implications for future research that employs a queer of color critique to better understand the mathematics experiences of queer students of color and other subgroups whose marginalization in undergraduate STEM education has gone largely underexplored?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">How can intersectional research inform practices in undergraduate mathematics classrooms and STEM support initiatives to \u201cmake space\u201d for multiply marginalized students?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><b><i>Feminist Theories of the Body and Embodiment: Challenging Exclusionary Discourses for Structural and Cultural Reform in Undergraduate Mathematics Education<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_847\" style=\"width: 206px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-847\" class=\"wp-image-847 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/inclusionexclusion\/files\/2017\/06\/Mia-Ong-STEM-WOC-10-196x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"196\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/inclusionexclusion\/files\/2017\/06\/Mia-Ong-STEM-WOC-10-196x300.jpg 196w, https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/inclusionexclusion\/files\/2017\/06\/Mia-Ong-STEM-WOC-10-768x1176.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/inclusionexclusion\/files\/2017\/06\/Mia-Ong-STEM-WOC-10-669x1024.jpg 669w, https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/inclusionexclusion\/files\/2017\/06\/Mia-Ong-STEM-WOC-10.jpg 1494w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 196px) 100vw, 196px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-847\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mia Ong. (Photo from the Feminist Research in Engineering Education (FREE) page.)<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ong\u2019s research has examined the STEM post-secondary educational and career experiences of women of color from African American, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Chicanx\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Chicanx<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.formationofafilipinxamerican.com\/the-conversation-around-filipinx\/#more-897\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Filipinx<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, and Latinx backgrounds in computer science (<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/ieeexplore.ieee.org\/document\/7436638\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hodari, Ong, Ko, &amp; Smith, 2016<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">), engineering (<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/psycnet.apa.org\/journals\/dhe\/8\/3\/175\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Kachchaf, Ko, Hodari, &amp; Ong, 2015<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">), and physics and astronomy (<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dl.begellhouse.com\/journals\/00551c876cc2f027,15acf57d20c58362,25f33efa41606057.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ko, Kachchaf, Hodari, &amp; Ong, 2014<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">; Ong, 2005). Through a NSF-funded project entitled <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Inside the Double Bind: A Synthesis of Empirical Research on Women of Color in Science<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">,<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ong and colleagues reviewed 116 publications on empirical research about women of color in undergraduate and graduate STEM education to address the lack of scholarship about this population as well as identify factors associated with their achievement, persistence, and retention (<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hepgjournals.org\/doi\/abs\/10.17763\/haer.81.2.t022245n7x4752v2?code=hepg-site\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ong, Wright, Espinosa, &amp; Orfield, 2011<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">). Ong, more recently, shared findings from an interview study with 18 course instructors in first-year undergraduate engineering courses across three private, selective institutions to explore how discourses shaped their teacher identities and responsibilities in relation to gender equity in STEM (<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1002\/jee.20157\/full\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Blair, Miller, Ong, &amp; Zastavker, 2017<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">). For this blog post, I focus on Ong\u2019s intersectional scholarship in mathematics-intensive STEM disciplines such as engineering and physics at the undergraduate level.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Drawing on feminist theory on the body and embodiment (Balsamo, 1996; Butler, 1990; Grosz, 1994), <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/socpro\/article-abstract\/52\/4\/593\/1692803\/Body-Projects-of-Young-Women-of-Color-in-Physics\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ong (2005)<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> used interviews and observations to document ten undergraduate and graduate women of color\u2019s \u201cbody projects\u201d of presenting themselves as ordinary scientists as strategies for navigating contradictory discourses about physics, race, and gender. Two \u201cbody projects\u201d were observed: (i) <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">fragmentation<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> involving forms of passing as White and masculine and (ii) <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">multiplicity<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> involving stereotype manipulation (e.g., engaging the \u201cloud black girl\u201d self-presentation during instances of demonstrating physics competence) or performances of superiority through increased visibility and high recognition as physics students. These \u201cbody projects\u201d capture the oppressive perpetuation of White and heteronormatively masculine norms in the disciplinary culture of physics, tasking women of color with the \u201cadditional, invisible, and sometimes draining work\u201d (p. 603) of managing how they are perceived while engaging in practices of doing and learning physics. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ong (2005) detailed how the women of color\u2019s \u201cbody projects\u201d reflected strategies of navigating science as a \u201cculture of no culture\u201d (p. 597, as cited in Traweek, 1988) with physics perceived as a genderblind and raceless domain that leaves the privileging of Whiteness and heteronormative masculinities unchallenged. Similarly, Ong and colleagues\u2019 interview study with engineering instructors highlighted how instructors invoked a discourse of gender blindness that brought them to attribute gendered disparities in engineering success to individual differences rather than structural inequities in STEM education (Blair et al., 2017). Such genderblind and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/blog\/culturally-speaking\/201112\/colorblind-ideology-is-form-racism\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">colorblind<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> discourses of success in physics and engineering noted in Ong\u2019s research, in turn, subject students to instructor-centered, traditional teaching framed by notions of innate STEM ability.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Insights from this study push me to think about the similarly marginalizing culture and practices of mathematics. My work has detailed how Whiteness operates through discourses of colorblindness and meritocracy to shape institutional spaces of mathematics education that perpetuate perceptions of mathematics as a cultureless domain and mathematical ability as innate (<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/ed-osprey.gsu.edu\/ojs\/index.php\/JUME\/article\/view\/294\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Battey &amp; Leyva, 2016<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">). Elsewhere I argue how such maintenance of Whiteness ideologies intersects with the masculinization of mathematics (Leyva, in press). For example, mathematical learning behaviors privileged in classrooms such as independence, persistence, and being vocal are aligned with cultural values among White, middle-class men in the United States. Underrepresented students in mathematics, much like the women of color studying physics in Ong\u2019s (2005) study, experience tensions of negotiating gendered and racialized disciplinary values with their social identities in efforts to be perceived as competent by their teachers and peers. In my research, college students of color raised the discourse of innate mathematical ability in making sense of their educational experiences while also asserting that high-quality, supportive teaching largely contributed to their mathematical success (<span style=\"color: #000000\"><a style=\"color: #000000\" href=\"http:\/\/ed-osprey.gsu.edu\/ojs\/index.php\/JUME\/article\/view\/295\">Leyva, 2016a<\/a><\/span>). This finding illustrates the important role that socially-conscious undergraduate STEM teaching plays in disrupting gendered and racialized discourses of ability that position women of color and other minoritized populations as more or less competent.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Findings from Ong\u2019s scholarship in undergraduate STEM education raise the following questions for future possibilities of feminist research in undergraduate mathematics education:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">To what extent does the coupling of narrative inquiry and classroom observations methodologically provide more situated insights into the strategies that marginalized populations adopt in navigating the socially exclusionary space of undergraduate STEM?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In what ways should professional development for instructors in mathematics departments be structured to advance pedagogical reform that challenges the gendered and racialized culture of the field of study? <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><b><i>Othermothering: Identifying the Othermothers for Academically and Socially Supportive Opportunities in Undergraduate STEM Education<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_843\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-843\" class=\"wp-image-843 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/inclusionexclusion\/files\/2017\/06\/wU-BsG1p-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/inclusionexclusion\/files\/2017\/06\/wU-BsG1p-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/inclusionexclusion\/files\/2017\/06\/wU-BsG1p-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/inclusionexclusion\/files\/2017\/06\/wU-BsG1p.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-843\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Terrell Strayhorn. (Photo from Twitter.)<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A strand in Strayhorn\u2019s scholarship qualitatively details academic and social experiences among undergraduate queer students of color, including Black and Korean-American gay men, at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and predominantly White institutions (Strayhorn, 2013, 2014; Strayhorn &amp; Mullins, 2012; Strayhorn &amp; Tillman-Kelly, 2013). In an interview <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/42981251?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">study<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> about the experiences of nine Black gay male undergraduates (BGMUs) at a large, predominantly White university, Strayhorn (2013) adopted the concept of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.morehouse.edu\/facstaff\/chewitt\/Women%20in%20Society\/James%20-%20Mothering.pdf\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">othermothering<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> from feminist thought (Collins, 2000; James, 1993) to argue for how institutional actors and programs can foster a sense of guardianship to better support BGMUs\u2019 academic success and social development in higher education. Othermothering is the idea of caring for children that are not one\u2019s biological own with such practices readily observed in the African American community.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Three major analytical trends across the nine BGMUs\u2019 experiences were noted in Strayhorn\u2019s (2013) study: (i) a limited sense of belongingness, (ii) plans for \u201ccoming out\u201d during college, and (iii) navigating racism in the LGBTQ+ community and homophobia in the Black community. An ethic of care, cultural advancement, and institutional guardianship are the three main characteristics of othermothing practices that Strayhorn (2013) used to detail culturally-informed ways to better support BGMUs (Case, 1997; Collins, 2000; James, 1993). Educators serving as institutional othermothers who employ an ethic of care can help BGMUs make meaning of their gendered, racialized, and sexual sense of \u201cbetweenness\u201d to develop increased feelings of inclusion in predominantly White campuses. In alignment with McCready\u2019s calls for more socially affirming school spaces, Stayhorn (2013) addressed the important role that fellow Black and LGBTQ+ peers as well as cultural centers play in guiding BGMUs with navigating racism and homophobia to achieve cultural advancement and positive identity development.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Strayhorn\u2019s (2013) interpretations of culturally-responsive institutional support for BGMUs as othermothering remind me of one of my research findings \u2013 namely, the blending of familial forms of academic and social support that contributed to Latinx students\u2019 success in pursuing engineering degrees at a predominantly White university (Leyva, 2016b). More specifically, support that Latinx students received from fellow SHPE members and undergraduate mathematics instructors can be likened to notions of apoyo (moral support) and consejos (narratives of advisement) observed in Latinx culture for young children\u2019s educational advancement (Auerbach, 2006; Delgado-Gaitan, 1994). Analogous to Strayhorn\u2019s (2013) adoption of othermothering as an analytic, I used the concept of familismo (Marin &amp; Marin, 1991), a sense of loyalty and responsibility to the Latinx family unit, to better understand the relational support that contributed to the Latinx students\u2019 success in navigating engineering as a White, masculinized domain in and out of undergraduate mathematics classrooms.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In an interview <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/muse.jhu.edu\/article\/503123\/summary\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">study<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> with 29 BGMUs at six predominantly White universities, Strayhorn and Tillman-Kelly (2013) documented variation in the students\u2019 strategies for negotiating their identities and beliefs with discourses of Black manhood and masculinities. While some BGMUs engaged in behaviors aligned with heteronormative notions of Black masculinity by \u201cpassing\u201d as straight and compensating for lack of Black maleness through athleticism, others directly challenged these gendered norms through \u201cless masculine\u201d degree pursuits (e.g., nursing), extracurricular involvement (e.g., cheerleading), and transgressive behaviors (e.g. \u201ccoming out\u201d to Black peers). The BGMUs\u2019 negotiations of discourses about heteronormative Black masculinities parallels Ong\u2019s (2005) findings about the variation in women of color\u2019s body projects. Like Ong\u2019s (2005) discussion of how such negotiations resulted in emotional labor that took women of color\u2019s time away from doing physics, Strayhorn and Tillman-Kelly (2013) described the BGMUs\u2019 strategies as \u201cdirect[ing] energies away from important tasks and activities such as studying, reading, and thinking about course content\u201d (p. 101). \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1002\/ss.20209\/full\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Strayhorn (2017)<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> highlights the value of intersectionality as an epistemology and methodology in higher education research for more complex understandings of students\u2019 experiences of integration and marginalization. Such intersectional analyses are promising particularly in the realm of undergraduate STEM education where there is a void of scholarship that addresses the interplay of systems of privilege and oppression when engaging intersectionality theory (Leyva, Sengupta-Irving, &amp; Joseph, in preparation). In efforts to broaden the analytical gaze beyond race\/gender intersections in mathematics education research, I consider the following questions for future feminist research in undergraduate mathematics education based on Strayhorn\u2019s scholarship:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Who serves as the othermothers for multiply marginalized students pursuing mathematics-intensive majors? How does such othermothering support students in navigating intersecting discourses of oppression in mathematics and STEM higher education?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">What more nuanced insights about undergraduate mathematics teaching and STEM support program design responsive to the intersectionality of marginalized populations\u2019 educational experiences can be gained by looking across different institutions of higher education (e.g., historically Black colleges and universities, two-year community colleges)?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">References<\/p>\n<p>Auerbach, S. (2006). \u201cIf the student is good, let him fly\u201d: Moral support for college among\u00a0immigrant parents. <em>Journal of Latinos and Education, 5<\/em>(4), 275-292.<\/p>\n<p>Balsamo, A. (1996). <em>Technologies of the gendered body: Reading cyborg women.\u00a0<\/em>Durham, NC: Duke\u00a0University Press.<\/p>\n<p>Battey, D., &amp; Leyva, L. A. (2016).\u00a0 A framework for understanding whiteness in\u00a0mathematics\u00a0education. <em>Journal of Urban Mathematics Education, 9<\/em>(2), 49-80.<\/p>\n<p>Blackburn, M. V., &amp; McCready, L. T. (2009). Voices of queer youth in urban schools:\u00a0Possibilities\u00a0and limitations. <em>Theory into Practice, 48<\/em>(3), 222-230.<\/p>\n<p>Blair, E. E., Miller, R. B., Ong, M., &amp; Zastavker, Y. V. (2017). Undergraduate STEM\u00a0instructors&#8217; teacher\u00a0identities and discourses on student fender expression and equity.\u00a0<em>Journal of Engineering Education, <\/em><em>106<\/em>(1), 14-43.<\/p>\n<p>Butler, J. (1990). <em>Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity<\/em>. New York:\u00a0Routledge.<\/p>\n<p>Case, K. I. (1997). African American othermothering in the urban elementary school. <em>The\u00a0<\/em><em>Urban\u00a0<\/em><em>Review, 29<\/em>(1), 26-39.<\/p>\n<p>Collins, P. (2000). <em>Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of\u00a0<\/em><em>empowerment<\/em> (2nd ed.). New\u00a0York: Routledge.<\/p>\n<p>Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and\u00a0violence against\u00a0women of color. <em>Stanford Law Review<\/em>, <em>43<\/em>(6), 1241\u20131299.<\/p>\n<p>Delgado-Gaitan, C.\u00a0 (1994).\u00a0 <em>Consejos<\/em>:\u00a0 The power of cultural narratives.\u00a0 <em>Anthropology &amp;\u00a0<\/em><em>Education\u00a0<\/em><em>Quarterly, 25<\/em>(3), 298-316.<\/p>\n<p>Ferguson, R. A. (2004). Aberrations in Black: Toward a queer of color critique.\u00a0Minneapolis: University\u00a0of Minnesota Press.<\/p>\n<p>Grosz, E. (1994). <em>Volatile bodies: Toward a corporeal feminism. <\/em>Bloomington: Indiana\u00a0University Press.<\/p>\n<p>Hodari, A., Ong, M., Ko, L., &amp; Smith, J. (2016). Enacting agency: The strategies of women\u00a0of color in\u00a0computing. <em>Computing in Science &amp; Engineering, 18<\/em>(3), 58-68.<\/p>\n<p>James, S. M. (1993). Mothering: A possible Black feminist link to social transformation. In\u00a0S. M. James\u00a0&amp; A P. A. Busia (Eds.), <em>Theorizing Black Feminisms: The visionary\u00a0<\/em><em>pragmatism of black women <\/em>(pp. 45-56). London: Routledge.<\/p>\n<p>Kachchaf, R., Ko, L., Hodari, A., &amp; Ong, M. (2015). Career\u2013life balance for women of color:\u00a0Experiences in science and engineering academia. <em>Journal of Diversity in Higher\u00a0<\/em><em>Education<\/em>, <em>8<\/em>(3),\u00a0175-\u00ad191.<\/p>\n<p>Ko, L. T., Kachchaf, R. R., Hodari, A. K., &amp; Ong, M. (2014). Agency of women of color in\u00a0physics\u00a0and astronomy: Strategies for persistence and success. <em>Journal of Women and\u00a0<\/em><em>Minorities in Science\u00a0<\/em><em>and Engineering, 20<\/em>(2), 171\u2013195.<\/p>\n<p>Leyva, L. A. (in press).\u00a0 Unpacking the male superiority myth and masculinization of\u00a0mathematics at\u00a0the intersections: A review of research on gender in mathematics\u00a0education.\u00a0 To appear in\u00a0the <em>Journal for<\/em> <em>Research in Mathematics Education<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Leyva, L. A. (2016a).\u00a0 An intersectional analysis of Latin@ college women\u2019s counter-stories\u00a0in\u00a0mathematics. <em>Journal of Urban Mathematics Education, 9<\/em>(2), 81-121.<\/p>\n<p>Leyva, L. A. (2016b).\u00a0 Blending academic and social support through apoyo and consejos\u00a0for\u00a0undergraduate mathematics success among Latin@s.\u00a0 To appear in the <em>Proceedings\u00a0<\/em><em>of the 13<sup>th\u00a0<\/sup><\/em><em>International<\/em> <em>Congress on Mathematical Education<\/em>, Hamburg, Germany.<\/p>\n<p>Leyva, L. A., Sengupta-Irving, T., &amp; Joseph, N. M. (in preparation). Mapping the\u00a0intersections of\u00a0individual experiences and interlocking systems of oppression: A review\u00a0of intersectional\u00a0research in STEM education.<\/p>\n<p>Marin, G., &amp; Marin, B. V. (1991).\u00a0 <em>Research with Hispanic populations.\u00a0 <\/em>Newbury Park,\u00a0CA: Sage.<\/p>\n<p>McCready, L. (2004a). Some challenges facing queer youth programs in urban high\u00a0schools: Racial\u00a0segregation and de-normalizing Whiteness. <em>Journal of Gay &amp; Lesbian\u00a0<\/em><em>Issues in Education<\/em>, <em>1<\/em>(3),\u00a037-51.<\/p>\n<p>McCready, L. T. (2004b). Understanding the marginalization of gay and gender non-\u00a0conforming\u00a0Black male students. <em>Theory into Practice, 43<\/em>(2), 136-143.<\/p>\n<p>McCready, L. T. (2010). <em>Making space for diverse masculinities: Identity,\u00a0<\/em><em>intersectionality, and engagement in an\u00a0<\/em><em>urban high school<\/em>. New York, NY: Peter Lang.<\/p>\n<p>McCready, L. T. (2013). Queer of color analysis in education: Interruptions and pedagogic\u00a0possibilities. Conclusion to special issue on queer of color knowledge production.\u00a0<em>Curriculum Inquiry, 43<\/em>(4)<em>, <\/em>512-522.<\/p>\n<p>Ong, M. (2005). Body projects of young women of color in physics: Intersections of gender, race,\u00a0and science. <em>Social Problems, 52<\/em>(4), 593\u2013617.<\/p>\n<p>Ong M., Wright C., Espinosa L., Orfield G. (2011). Inside the double bind: A synthesis of empirical\u00a0research on undergraduate and graduate women of color in science, technology, engineering,\u00a0and mathematics. <em>Harvard Educational Review, 81<\/em>(2), 172-209.<\/p>\n<p>Strayhorn, T. L. (2013). And their own received them not: Black gay male undergraduates\u2019\u00a0experiences with White racism, Black homophobia. <em>Counterpoints, 383<\/em>, 105-119.<\/p>\n<p>Strayhorn, T. L. (2014). Beyond the model minority myth: Interrogating the lived experiences of\u00a0Korean American gay men in college. <em>Journal of College Student Development, 55<\/em>(6), 586-594.<\/p>\n<p>Strayhorn, T. L. (2017). Using intersectionality in student affairs research. In S. R. Jones &amp; S. K.\u00a0Watt (Eds.), <em>New Directions for Student Services: Enacting Intersectionality in Student Affairs<\/em>: no. 157\u00a0(pp. 57-67). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.<\/p>\n<p>Strayhorn, T. L., &amp; Mullins, T. G. (2012). Investigating Black gay male undergraduates\u2019 experiences\u00a0in campus residence halls. <em>The Journal of College and University Student Housing, 39<\/em>(1), 140\u2013161.<\/p>\n<p>Strayhorn, T. L., &amp; Tillman-Kelly, D. L. (2013). Queering masculinity: Manhood and Black gay men\u00a0in college. <em>Spectrum: A Journal on Black Men<\/em>, <em>1<\/em>(2), 83\u2013110.<\/p>\n<p>Traweek, S. (1988). <em>Beamtimes and lifetimes: The world of high energy physicists. <\/em>Cambridge, MA: Harvard\u00a0University Press.<\/p>\n<p>Venzant Chambers, T., &amp; McCready, L. (2011). \u201cMaking space\u201d for ourselves: African American\u00a0student responses to their marginalization. <em>Urban Education, 46<\/em>(6), 1352\u20131378.<\/p>\n<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gender research in education explores, among other things, the possible reasons for women\u2019s lower rates of achievement and retention than those of men across STEM fields including mathematics. However, much of this scholarship, particularly in mathematics education, limits its analyses &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/inclusionexclusion\/2017\/06\/14\/feminist-theory-and-methodologies-for-more-socially-affirming-undergraduate-mathematics-education\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" data-url=https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/inclusionexclusion\/2017\/06\/14\/feminist-theory-and-methodologies-for-more-socially-affirming-undergraduate-mathematics-education\/><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":130,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,26,19,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-feminist-theory","category-gender-research","category-intersectionality","category-math-education"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7Y6qR-dq","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/inclusionexclusion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/inclusionexclusion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/inclusionexclusion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/inclusionexclusion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/130"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/inclusionexclusion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=832"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/inclusionexclusion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":884,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/inclusionexclusion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832\/revisions\/884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/inclusionexclusion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/inclusionexclusion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/inclusionexclusion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}