LEGITIMIZED TONGUES: BREAKING THE TRADITIONS OF SILENCE IN MAINSTREAM ENGINEERING EDUCATION AND RESEARCH

Abstract

The dominant discourse in engineering education has legitimized certain forms of knowledge while highlighting the perceived "inadequacies" of students of color through deficit theorizing, positioning them as needing to be "fixed" in order to be functional in that system. Unfortunately, these discourses have silenced the voices of those who are the most affected, including Latinxs. While there is a broad range of research that addresses Latinx students in engineering, the current approaches are devoid of the insider perspectives and methodologies needed to (re)frame and (re)define the ways of doing research about and with Latinxs. This theory paper presents the Anzaldúa's framework of conocimiento as a tool to provide a more holistic view of the lived realities and experiences of Latinx engineering students. We provide personal testimonios to illustrate how the seven stages of conocimiento can be used to challenge epistemological injustice in engineering education in an effort to break the tradition of silence and legitimize the experiences of those who have been at the margins of engineering.