Dedicating, faking, and surviving

Disclosing tensions in how three women university students negotiate collectively celebrated norms across European contexts

Datos Bibliográficos

ID21589415
AutoresKaterina Pia Günter (0000-0002-8520-2642, Uppsala University, autor de correspondencia), Luc F Bussière (0000-0001-8937-8381, University of Gothenburg), R Gromes (0000-0002-4693-6491, Heidelberg University)
Año2023
Volumen45
Número12
Páginas1032-1052
Fecha de publicación2023-08-13
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaInternational Journal of Science Education, Part B (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 2154-8455 • E-ISSN: 2154-8463
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/09500693.2023.2183098
OpenAlexW4353040727
IdiomaEN
Referencias citadas44

Higher education biology (HEB), a discipline where women undergraduates are numerically overrepresented in most Western universities, has been given little attention in exploring norms of scientific practice from a student perspective. This study brings into focus how biology students negotiate identities in relation to figured worlds of HEB. Through thematic analysis of 27 timeline interviews from a Swedish, German, and British university as a collective case, we identified three hegemonic imaginaries across narratives: showing dedication through sacrifice, faking it to make it, and surviving as the fittest. Using a theoretical framework of feminist science critique, science identity, and figured worlds, we then offer a multiple case approach to how three women students negotiate the collective imaginaries identified, while simultaneously disavowing and challenging them. This conflict suggests they consider themselves successful despite the pressure to engage in ‘typical’ scientific practices they simultaneously contest. Consequently, this study demonstrates that celebrated imaginaries do not remain unproblematised by successful students, but create tensions in their identity work. This provokes discussions on how science imaginaries shape women’s participation in HEB and beyond. Visualising these tensions makes it furthermore possible to challenge and change hegemonic academic norms in HEB, moving towards more socially just and inclusive spaces

Aesthetics · CONTEST · Epistemology · Hegemony · Identity negotiation · Media studies · Narrative · Negotiation · Pedagogy · Political science · Politics · Qualitative research · Science education · Social science · Sociology · Thematic analysis · Timeline · Career Development and Diversity · Gender Diversity and Inequality · Gender Studies · Interdisciplinary Research and Collaboration · Law