FROM INVISIBLE TO INVALUABLE: THE CRITICAL ROLE OF RECOGNITION IN LATINA STEM CAPITAL ACTIVATION

The purpose of this study was to highlight factors that support smooth transitions in two-year to four-year transfer in STEM fields for Latinas attending postsecondary institutions in the southwest United States. Through STEM pathway interviews with 20 students at multiple points along their postsecondary experiences, we identified instances of STEM capital mobilization, as well as instances in which students failed to recognize resources as valuable to their success. Our interpretation of student agency in the activation of students’ STEM capital toward real academic or career gains uncovered the act of recognizing a resource as valuable to one’s STEM advancement as an important precursor to STEM capital activation. We address two research questions in this study: (1) What types of capital are available to Latinas as they progress along two-year to four-year STEM academic transfer pathways? And (2) When and how do Latinas in our study activate capital to support momentum along the trajectory, and what serves as friction along the way? Our data indicate differences our participants exhibited in accessing STEM capital made available through formal instruction and cocurricular support services, as well as the differences interviewees exhibited in recognizing STEM capital as potentially beneficial for their learning and advancement in STEM. STEM equity theories of change may make assumptions of students' adeptness at capital recognition which limit the effectiveness of "leveling the playing field" without changing postsecondary systems of education based on privilege and middle-class mores. The data illustrate the agency participants used in navigating STEM postsecondary transfer pathways, as well as the ways in which negative experiences provided STEM capital in the form of knowledge supportive of future action. Findings from this study illuminate how structural barriers continue to oppress students who are intent on earning STEM postsecondary degrees.