Conceptualizing Scale in the Science of Broadening Participation of Underrepresented Groups in Higher Education

Abstract

The Association of American Geographers Catalyzing Research on the Geographies of Broadening Participation Creative Scholarly Retreat explored ways in which geographers can advance approaches to broadening participation of underrepresented groups in higher education and the scientific workforce. Conversations during the retreat revealed the need for theoretical models to guide research and policy development. In this article, I ask how the geographic concept of scale can inform the problem of broadening participation of underrepresented groups in higher education. First, I explain how the concept of scale can drive future research using the literature within geography. Next, I propose the situational matrix as an analytical schema using the concept of scale. I then analyze various scales first as ordering devices and then as politically produced entities in conversations about underrepresentation in higher education. I conclude by arguing that identifying the scales that are in operation and then figuring out ways in which they function simultaneously and even in mutually contradictory ways will push the project of broadening participation forward.

美国地理学家协会的“催化扩大参与地理的创意学术培训之研究”，探讨地理学者能够促进扩大高等教育及科学劳动力中未被充分再现的群体之参与管道。培训中的对话，显示出须以理论模型引导研究和政策的发展。我于本文中，探问地理学的尺度概念，如何能够有助于扩大高等教育中未被充分再现群体的参与之问题。首先，我解释尺度的概念，如何能够驱动未来运用地理学文献之研究。再者，我提出情境式的矩阵，作为运用尺度概念的分析概要。我接着分析不同的尺度，其中尺度作为排序的装置，亦作为探讨高等教育未充分再现问题之中，由政治所生产的本质。我于结论中主张，透过指认运作中的尺度，接着找出它们同时运作、甚至是相互冲突的方式，将能更进一步推进扩大参与的计画。

El Retiro Académico Creativo para Catalizar la Investigación sobre las Geografías de la Participación Incluyente promovido por la Asociación de Geógrafos Americanos exploró opciones que los geógrafos pueden adoptar para desarrollar enfoques que permitan ampliar la participación de grupos infrarrepresentados en la educación superior y en la fuerza laboral científica. Las conversaciones adelantadas durante el retiro revelaron la necesidad de modelos teóricos que guíen la investigación y el desarrollo político. En este artículo pregunto cuál puede ser la contribución del concepto geográfico de escala alrededor del problema de ampliar la participación de grupos infrarrepresentados en la educación superior. Primero, explico la manera como el concepto de escala puede jalonar la futura investigación usando la literatura dentro de la geografía. Después, propongo la matriz situacional como un esquema analítico usando el concepto de escala. Luego, analizo varias escalas, primero como estrategias ordenadoras y enseguida como entidades producidas políticamente en conversaciones sobre infrarrepresentación en educación superior. Concluyo argumentando que identificar las escalas que están en operación y luego descifrando el modo como estas funcionan simultáneamente, e incluso de maneras mutuamente contradictorias, darán mayor impulso al proyecto de ampliar la participación.

Key Words:

• academic pipeline
• broadening participation
• higher education
• scale
• scientific workforce
• STEM

关键词:

• 学术管道，扩大参与，高等教育，尺度，科学劳动力，STEM。

Palabras clave:

• canal académico
• ampliando la participación
• educación superior
• escala
• fuerza laboral científica
• STEM

Acknowledgments

The author wishes to acknowledge the helpful guidance and suggestions of Barney Warf and the anonymous referees, as well as members of the Association of American Geographers Catalyzing Research on the Geographies of Broadening Participation Creative Scholarly working group for providing a supportive setting to discuss challenging issues.

Notes

1 In this article, I refer to the terminology used by the AAG to define underrepresented groups, which include racial and ethnic minorities, women, persons with disabilities, economically and socially disadvantaged or marginalized persons, and others. See http://www.aag.org/cs/gbp.

2 This is a response to recent theorizations that acknowledge that geographical scale is in no sense given and that there is nothing inevitable about global national, or local scales (Newstead, Read, and Sparke 2003). These units of analysis are themselves socially constructed and are specific to historical and geographical processes that change over time. Thus, those units that I construe as most relevant to the problem of underrepresentation might be different from what other researchers believe are the central organizing platforms in which the process unfolds.

3 The 2013 special issue of The Professional Geographer coedited by Solis and Miyares provides critical insight into diversity, inclusion, and broadening participation in geography.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Emily Skop

EMILY SKOP is an Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Geography, as well as founding director of the Global Intercultural Research Center at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, Colorado Springs, CO 80918. E-mail: [email protected]. Her interests include international migration processes; the social and spatial constructions of racial and ethnic identities; and urbanization, segregation, and inequality in a variety of contexts.