Abstract
The study we present here included doctoral students (6 women and 5 men) who, over the course of one year, participated in an ethnographic study aimed at exploring the kinds of subject positions constructed and performed by students engaged in the Discourse of recognizable physicist. We begin with a discussion of the most recognizable subject position in physics-the stereotypical physicist.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Berg AJ, Lie M. Feminism and constructivism: Do artifacts have gender? Science, Technology, & Human Values. 1993;20:332–351.
Carlone HB, Johnson A. Understanding the science experiences of successful women of color: Science identity as an analytic lens. Journal of Research in Science Teaching. 2007;44:1187–1218.
Collins, R. (2004). Interaction ritual chains. Princeton University Press.
Conefrey T. Gender, culture and authority in a university life sciences laboratory. Discourse Society. 1997;8:313–340.
Danielsson AT. Doing physics—doing gender: An exploration of physics students’ identity constitution in the context of laboratory work (Unpublished Doctoral dissertation). Uppsala, Sweden: Uppsala University; 2009.
Davies B, Harré R. Positioning: The discursive production of selves. Journal for the Theory of Social Behavior. 1990;20:43–63.
Elmesky R, Seiler G. Movement expressiveness, solidarity and the (re)shaping of African American students’ scientific identities. Cultural Studies of Science Education. 2007;2:73–103.
Faulkner W. Dualisms, hierarchies and gender in engineering. Social Studies of Science. 2000;30:759–792.
Faulkner W. `Nuts and bolts and people’: Gender-troubled engineering identities. Social Studies of Science. 2007;37:331–356.
Gee JP. An introduction to discourse analysis: Theory and method. 3rd ed. New York, NY: Routledge; 2010.
Gilbert J, Calvert S. Challenging accepted wisdom: Looking at the gender and science education question through a different lens. International Journal of Science Education. 2003;25:861–878.
Harding, S. G. (1991). Whose science? Whose knowledge?: Thinking from women’s lives. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Harding S. Science and social inequality: Feminist and postcolonial issues. Champaign: University of Illinois Press; 2006.
Hasse C. Gender diversity in play with physics: The problem of premises for participation in activities. Mind, Culture, and Activity. 2002;9:250–269.
Henwood F. Engineering difference: Discourses on gender, sexuality and work in a college of technology. Gender and Education. 1998;10:35–49.
Holland D, Lachicotte W, Skinner D, Cain C. Identity and agency in cultural worlds. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; 1998.
Holland D, Leander K. Ethnographic studies of positioning and subjectivity: An introduction. Ethos. 2004;32:127–139.
Holmes J. Gendered talk at work: Constructing gender identity through workplace discourse. Malden, MA: Blackwell; 2006.
Hughes G. Exploring the availability of student scientist identities within curriculum discourse: An anti-essentialist approach to gender-inclusive science. Gender and Education. 2001;13:275–290.
Ingram S, Parker A. Gender and modes of collaboration in an engineering classroom: A profile of two women on student teams. Journal of Business and Technical Communication. 2002;16:33–68.
Keller EF. Reflections on gender and science. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press; 1985.
Keller EF. How gender matters, or, why it's so hard for us to count past two. In: Kirkup G, Keller LS, editors. Inventing women: Science, technology and gender. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Open University Press; 1992. p. 42–56.
Nespor J. Knowledge in motion: Space, time, and curriculum in undergraduate physics and management. London, England: Falmer Press; 1994.
Rahm J, Charbonneau P. Probing stereotypes through students’ drawings of scientists. American Journal of Physics. 1997;65:774–778.
Thomas K. Gender and subject in higher education. London, England: Open University Press; 1990.
Tonso K. Student engineers and engineer identity: Campus engineer identities as figured world. Cultural Studies of Science Education. 2006;1:273–307.
Traweek S. Beamtimes and lifetimes: The world of high energy physicists. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; 1988.
Tsai, L. (2004). Women in physics?: Identity and discourse in Taiwan. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of British Columbia, Canada.
Wajcman J. Feminism confronts technology. University Park, PA: Penn State Press; 1991.
Walker M. Engineering identities. British Journal of Sociology of Education. 2001;22:75–89.
Weedon C. Feminist practice and poststructuralist theory. Oxford, United Kingdom: Wiley- Blackwell; 1988.
Wood, S. (2004). Becoming an engineer: Doctoral women’s perspectives on identity and learning in the culture of engineering. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Sense Publishers
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Gonsalves, A.J., Seiler, G. (2012). Recognizing “Smart Super-Physicists”. In: Varelas, M. (eds) Identity Construction and Science Education Research. Bold Visions in Educational Research, vol 35. SensePublishers, Rotterdam. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6209-043-9_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6209-043-9_11
Publisher Name: SensePublishers, Rotterdam
Online ISBN: 978-94-6209-043-9
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawEducation (R0)