Making, Materiality & Power

Abstract

Engaging minoritized youth in making to produce 3D or digital artifacts using a range of material tools in makerspaces have been deemed promising in democratizing STEM education. We problematize this assumption through reframing what it would mean for minoritized youth to author a Rightful Presence in STEM-rich making (making that draws on and further builds STEM knowledge and practices). Drawing on the Rightful Presence for justice-oriented teaching and learning framework and on longitudinal critical participatory ethnography across four community-based youth maker programs, this study unpacks the relationships between the materiality of making and the artifacts youth produce. Using four illustrative vignettes, we unpack how youth engaged in making to create artifacts necessary for their and their communities’ well-being, leveraging STEM-rich making toward a more rightful presence now and in the future. The sociopolitical interactions between materiality and relationality in youth making programs are discussed.