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SYNS: Nature of Science

SYNS 1: The Nature of Science

SYNS 1.2: Invited Talk

Tuesday, March 22, 2022, 14:30–15:00, Audimax

What kinds of identities are deemed in/our of place in physics? — •Lucy Avraamidou — University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands

By adopting an intersectional approach, I will present the findings of an empirical study that aimed to examine the ways in which physics identity intersects with other identities (i.e., racial identity, gender identity, Islamic religious identity, social-class identity, single-motherhood, and ethnic identity) and influences women's recognition. To do that I draw upon a life history, multiple case-study of three women in physics: a native to Western Europe, late-career white woman; two immigrant women to Western Europe, one is an undergraduate student of color, and the other, an early-career Muslim woman. With evidence gathered from this empirical study I will argue that a conceptualization of physics identity that does not value people for who they are in their entirety, made up of multiple and intersectional identities, but only values how people produce or consume scientific knowledge is exclusionary and only serves to create suffering. For an exploration of women's participation in physics, any attempt to examine gender in isolation instead of in intersection with other multiple identities is an ill-equipped way of examining the complexities and dynamics of contemporary identity politics embedded in recognition.