Hører jeg overhovedet til? - Minoriseringsprocesser og tilhørsforhold i STEM: En kvalitativ undersøgelse af minoriserede studerendes oplevelse af tilhør og mulighedsrum i studiemiljøet

Abstract

In this thesis I explore how minoritized students from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) experience their study environments and how gendered and racialized processes of minoritization influence their sense of belonging as well as social opportunities within academic spaces. Motivated by ongoing challenges related to inequality, lack of inclusion and different treatment at the university, this thesis aims to understand the lived experiences of students who are positioned as non-normative in relation to dominant somatic and social norms. Grounded in a queer-phenomenological research framework, this study centers the students’ own perspectives and embodied experiences. The analysis is informed by theoretical concepts such as Nirmal Puwars space invaders, Kimberle Crenshaw's Intersectionality as well as Sara Ahmed’s affect theory. These perspectives offer insight into how individuals are read and positioned in relation to social normative ideals of race, gender and embodiment - and how these positions shape possibility for recognition and belonging. The conducted research is based on four qualitative interviews: two focus group interviews with six students of color (both male and female), and two individual interviews with white, female students. In total I have interviewed eight students who identify with a minoritized group at the university. The empirical foundation is interpreted through the queer-phenomenological lens and theoretical framework. This highlights how social structures and norms guide individual and social orientation and affective responses and shape not only access to social and academic spaces and recognition but also self-perception. The analysis shows how minoritized students are positioned differently in relation to dominant norms of whiteness and (hyper)masculinity. These norms not only determine who is read as being out of place but also shape the emotional and relational conditions of participation. It also highlights how intersecting identity markers influence whether students are read as familiar strangers who can be accepted despite their minority status. Particularly striking are the experiences of the minoritized students who are unable or unwilling to conform to dominant norms. Most of the female students report being subject to (overlapping) processes of sexualization, racialization and gendered marginalization either by Andrea Becker Hilgart Læring og forandringsprocesser, AAU Kbh 10. semester kandidatspeciale 3 Andrea Becker Hilgart Læring og forandringsprocesser, AAU Kbh 10. semester kandidatspeciale peers or both peers and faculty. These interactions invoke feelings of desire, inferiority and weakness that stick to them, shaping their perceived legitimacy and constraining their academic and social agency. This doesn’t just affect the way others perceive them, but also how they perceive themselves and how they orient and distance themselves in social spaces. These experiences internalize themselves as feelings of helplessness and insecurity, compelling the students to navigate by adapting to unwanted norms and limit their social opportunities in an attempt to get through. These forms of navigation give rise to complex emotional responses, resulting in feelings of shame, self-doubt and a feeling of not belonging. Such affects, as I discuss, are not just individual but structurally produced and sustained by a culture that reproduces inequality through normalized exclusions. The analysis and discussion highlights how students with intersecting marginalized identities in relation to their study environment face the most complex and vulnerable positions, often requiring them to fight harder for acceptance, legitimacy and equality. The thesis argues that minoritization is not only about exclusion from space but also the affective and embodied challenges of navigating within it. The findings speak to broader structural issues in academia and affirm the need to acknowledge that rather than expecting minoritized students to adapt to dominant norms, institutions must actively interrogate and transform the conditions that render certain bodies and identities as invasive or out of place.

A master thesis from Aalborg University

Hører jeg overhovedet til? - Minoriseringsprocesser og tilhørsforhold i STEM: En kvalitativ undersøgelse af minoriserede studerendes oplevelse af tilhør og mulighedsrum i studiemiljøet

[Do I even belong? - Processes of minoritization and belonging in STEM]