“Speaking Out More in Class” and “Talk[ing] Less and Less about My Goals” 1

This chapter presents findings from an analysis of two undergraduate Latina women’s identity constructions as negotiations of their mathematical success and persistence as engineering majors. Our analysis exemplifies the promise of critical transdisciplinarity in the Learning Sciences, which leverages resources across multiple disciplines to yield emergent understandings of how ideological and institutional forces shape dominant views of learners and learning. Critical transdisciplinarity centers historically marginalized voices to disrupt epistemological norms and values in disciplines responsible for exclusionary conceptions of who and what “counts” in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education. In this theoretical vein, our study synthesized concepts and methodologies across disciplines to propose creative, socially responsible solutions for the long-standing issue of STEM retention among historically marginalized populations, particularly Latina women. We employed intersectionality from Black feminist thought, counter-storytelling methodology from critical race studies, and field observations from cultural anthropology to center Latina women’s voices for informing socially affirming educational practices that disrupt oppressive STEM epistemologies.