Restorying Belonging in STEM by Unpacking Affective Politics at Work in Higher Education and Beyond: A Response to El Halwany and Adams

Abstract

In this response to El Halwany and Adam's paper as part of the special issue Centering Affect and Emotion Toward Justice and Dignity in Science Education, I restory belonging in STEM by unpacking further the affective politics at work in Higher Education. As illustrated in the paper and expanded on in this commentary, to become somebody in STEM is a complex lifelong process which I suggest can be understood through conceptual lenses such as wayfaring, knots, and complex meshworks. The latter make possible the highlighting of infinite ways of figuring science and becoming a science person as one is on the move, a life-long embodied process, entangled and marked by intersectionality and emotions. Through engagement with affect, the political, and the kinds of methodological footings called for, the commentary aims to highlight the generative and transformational potential of such work for the weaving of an otherwise of postsecondary STEM.