Hybrid spaces for traditional culture and engineering: a narrative exploration of Native American women as agents of change

This study sought the lived and told stories of Native American women working in engineering and technology so that their voices may be heard in engineering education scholarship and challenge assumptions surrounding universal understandings of what it means to be a minority woman in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The study was directed by two research questions: (1) What are the lived and told stories of Native women in engineering and technology who are leading initiatives to improve their Native communities and (2) How do Native women’s understandings of their identities influence their work and acts of leadership? The study employed narrative inquiry as the methodological framework and was guided by theoretical frameworks of identities as constructed, multiple, and intersectional (Crenshaw, 1989; Tajfel & Turner, 1979), hybridity, and “third spaces” (Bhabha, 2012). The inquiry was also informed by feminist theories of Native scholars (Green, 1983; Kidwell, 1978) and engineering education (Beddoes & Borrego, 2011; Riley, Pawley, Tucker, & Catalano, 2009). The narrative analysis presented three narratives, based upon interviews, field notes, observations, and documents: (1) the story of a Navajo woman working within a large technical corporation (Jaemie); (2) the story of an Akimel O’odham-Mexican woman working within a tribally-owned technical business (Mia); and (3) the story of a Navajo woman growing her own technical business (Catherine). The narratives revealed a series of impactful transitions that enabled Jaemie, Mia, and Catherine to work and lead in engineering and technology. The transitions revolved around themes of becoming professionals, encountering and overcoming hardship, seeking to connect and contribute to Natives through work, leading change for their Native communities, and advancing their professional selves and their Native communities. Across the transitions, a transformation emerged from cultural navigation to leadership for the creation of new hybrid spaces that represented innovative sites of opportunity for Native communities. The strength of the Native spaces enabled Jaemie, Mia, and Catherine to leverage their identities as Native women within the global context of engineering and technology. The narratives denote the power of story by contributing the depth and richness of lived realities in engineering and technology.