Native Voices in STEM
“Many of the research meetings I have participated in take place at long rectangular tables where the power and primary conversation participants are at one end. I don’t experience this hierarchical power differential in talking circles. Talking circles are democratic and inclusive. There is still a circle at the rectangular table, just a circle that does not include everyone at the table. I find this to be representative of experiences I have had in my STEM discipline, in which it was difficult to find a place in a community or team or in which I did not feel valued or included.”
Native Voices in STEM: An Exhibition of Photographs and Interviews is a collection of photographs and texts created by Native scientists and funded by the National Science Foundation. It grew from a mixed-methods study conducted by researchers from TERC, the University of Georgia, and the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES). According to the exhibition creators, the artworks speak to the photographers’ experiences of “Two-Eyed Seeing,” or the tensions and advantages from braiding together traditional Native and Western ways of knowing. The exhibition was shown at the 2022 AISES National Conference.