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Pursuit Is Purpose: A Critical Autoethnography of One Black Man's Journey Through Engineering Education

<p>Black men experience numerous
systemic challenges in pursuit of their education, yet they also possess
strength to achieve academic goals. The purpose of this autoethnographic
study is to describe the meaning of my experiences at an undergraduate engineering
program at a historically White institution to increase awareness of the ways
that Black men experience undergraduate engineering programs at historically
White institutions. The overarching research question is: How do I make
meaning of the formative experiences along my engineering education journey at
an historically White institution through the lens of African American Male
Theory? To answer this question, I chose critical autoethnography because it
enabled me to use my role as the researcher along with my own experiences as
part of the topic and group of study. Through this methodology, I described my
experiences through the lens of African American Male Theory, which was not
available to me at the time the events were occurring. I analyzed personal
memory data (e.g., poems, speeches, applications, resumes and interview
transcripts) and my researcher journal to provide a thorough personal account
of my collegiate experiences and relative perspectives on those experiences.
The findings of this study provide an in-depth understanding of how I
experienced an engineering program at an HWI in such a way that offers insights
to better support Black men in engineering. As such, this study calls for
holistic support for Black male students in engineering through interventions
such as culturally relevant curriculum, narrative evaluation, standards of
inclusion for classrooms, culturally competent counselors, and hiring
minoritized faculty. Finally, this study appeals for more research to
investigate how Black men experience freedom while pursuing their engineering
degree at HWIs. </p>

  1. 10.25394/pgs.17149211.v1
Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:purdue.edu/oai:figshare.com:article/17149211
Date19 December 2021
CreatorsDonovan Colquitt (9713051)
Source SetsPurdue University
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeText, Thesis
RightsCC BY 4.0
Relationhttps://figshare.com/articles/thesis/Pursuit_Is_Purpose_A_Critical_Autoethnography_of_One_Black_Man_s_Journey_Through_Engineering_Education/17149211

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