Unpacking Racism Among Puerto Rican Scientists: Intersectionality of Colorism, Colonialism, and the Culture of Science

ABSTRACT

This mixed-methods study reports the results of a survey completed by a sample of Puerto Rican social and natural scientists (STEM-S) regarding their perceptions of the intersectionalities of racism, colorism, colonialism, and the culture of science. Most participants ranked themselves as light-skinned and were familiar with the racist stereotypes presented in the survey, with female participants reporting hearing racial stereotypes significantly more frequently than males. Dark-skinned Latinx scientists were more likely to experience discriminatory practices in general, in K-12 schools, and at meetings with colleagues or peers. The higher the professional level, the fewer the interactions with coworkers or peers who were darker-skinned. Power differences among lighter and darker-skinned scientists were attributed to systemic and covert racism, discrimination, and the influences of slavery and colonialism. Fostering anti-racist education in K-16 STEM courses, and more Black and Afro-descendant mentors and role models were suggested as ways to challenge racial inequities in STEM-S fields.

KEYWORDS:

• Racism
• colorism
• colonialism
• STEM
• social science
• Puerto Rico

Acknowledgments

The study was partly funded by the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust (#21044PG-EDU023) to the TIDES program of the Association of American Colleges & Universities. Additional support came from the HHMI-Inclusive Excellence Program (grant number GT11071). We want to acknowledge the support of Dr. Lola Aagaard-Boram from Morehead State University, and Kelly Mack and Orlando Taylor from the AAC&U for their kind suggestions for this manuscript, and Isar Godreau from the UPR-Cayey for her efforts in the design of the initial survey. Thanks to Ciencia Puerto Rico for making the survey accessible to the participants. Thanks to the Institute of Interdisciplinary Research at the University of Puerto Rico Cayey.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the HHMI Inclusive Excellence [GT 11071].