Everyday practices of the physics culture: an intersectional approach to belonging in physics

Abstract:

Several scholars have identified that physics has it is own culture, with specific rituals, norms and practices that are shared across the physics community, locally and globally. Moreover, this physics culture is interwoven with social inequalities in terms of ethnicity, race, class, gender, sexuality, religion, disabilities and many other factors. Thus, when students learn physics, they also learn its culture and who belongs in it. This doctoral research investigates the processes by which the physics culture is created and negotiated between students and teachers in mostly implicit ways. This is done through an ethnographical study of everyday social practices in physics courses at higher-education institution in Sweden. Throughout this study, visits and interviews were conducted with physicists at CERN and INFN to acquire a picture of the physics culture in international research institutions. This allows this study to make connections between how this physics culture is transmitted and modified across time, generations, countries and environments (research/education).  By applying an intersectional perspective, this research brings to the fore both the ways that the exclusionary aspects of the physics culture are reproduced but also how they are challenged. Hence, this project aims to foster the development of more inclusive environments in physics education.