Black, Brown, Bruised: How Racialized STEM Education Stifles Innovation

Product Description

Drawing on narratives from hundreds of Black, Latinx, and Indigenous individuals, Ebony Omotola McGee examines the experiences of underrepresented racially minoritized students and faculty members who have succeeded in STEM. Based on this extensive research, McGee advocates for structural and institutional changes to address racial discrimination, stereotyping, and hostile environments in an effort to make the field more inclusive.

Black, Brown, Bruised reveals the challenges that underrepresented racially minoritized students confront in order to succeed in these exclusive, usually all-White, academic and professional realms. The book provides searing accounts of racism inscribed on campus, in the lab, and on the job, and portrays learning and work environments as arenas rife with racial stereotyping, conscious and unconscious bias, and micro-aggressions. As a result, many students experience the effects of a racial battle fatigue—physical and mental exhaustion borne of their hostile learning and work environments—leading them to abandon STEM fields entirely.

McGee offers policies and practices that must be implemented to ensure that STEM education and employment become more inclusive including internships, mentoring opportunities, and curricular offerings. Such structural changes are imperative if we are to reverse the negative effects of racialized STEM and unlock the potential of all students to drive technological innovation and power the economy.

Review

“Overall, the book is impressively expansive in its discussion of theories and empirical evidence that address the macro-level structure of systemic racism, as well as the micro-level daily experiences of URM students in STEM fields, while also providing clear directions for making improvements across the spectrum.” —
Teachers College Record

”
Black, Brown, Bruised highlights the plights and detrimental stresses that minority groups have to face on a daily basis that others might not be aware of. Although McGee’s case studies and stories focus on a US context, I think her insights are equally useful for people elsewhere, particularly those who might not realise what prejudices minority groups encounter everywhere. I would say that even people not working in Stem may gain a lot of insight by reading McGee’s work; it definitely does bring fuel to the fire in the push for equity.” —
Chemistry World

”
Black, Brown, and Bruised challenges STEM educators—and not only them—to deal openly and honestly with the racism that currently dominates all too many of STEM programs. McGee’s volume certainly fills a space that needed to be filled with the book’s role as an internal critique of the limits and effects of these programs and as a suggestive guide to changes that would make a difference. This book has been published at exactly the right time.” —Educational Policy
 

From the Back Cover

Drawing on narratives from hundreds of Black, Latinx, and Indigenous people, Ebony Omotola McGee examines the experiences of underrepresented racially minoritized students and faculty members who have succeeded in STEM and the toll that such success has exacted. In
Black, Brown, Bruised, McGee advocates for structural and institutional changes to address racial discrimination, stereotyping, and hostile environments in an effort to make the STEM field more inclusive.

“
Black, Brown, Bruised tells the whole story. Most scholarship on STEM access narrowly focuses on test performances, as if the result were without a cause. Dr. McGee’s brilliant narrative weaves together research on psychology, education, learning sciences and science to warn us of the critical mistake STEM makes by remaining an exclusionary space. This brilliant, timely, and visionary book takes a one-of-a-kind exploration into the intersectional forces that impede the progress of STEM.”

—Bryan A. Brown, professor of teacher education, Stanford University

“In this ground-breaking book, McGee