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Dealing with ‘fragile identities’: resistance and refiguring in women mathematics students

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journal contribution
posted on 2011-07-19, 10:56 authored by Yvette Solomon, Duncan Lawson, Tony Croft
Many learners may be successful in mathematics but nevertheless see themselves as existing only on the margins of the practice, or as lacking stability in it – in this sense, they have what can be called a fragile identity. Although this kind of relationship with mathematics is not limited to girls and women, they do appear to express such fragile identities more often or more readily. Drawing on qualitative and quantitative data from undergraduates in three English universities, this paper presents an analysis of the way in which university mathematics is differentially experienced by men and women, and of the part this may play in women’s ongoing narratives of self as mathematicians. It is suggested that some women resist traditional positionings in the mathematics world, drawing on local resources which enable a sense of agency as successful students and a refiguring of their relationships with mathematics.

History

School

  • Science

Department

  • Mathematics Education Centre

Citation

SOLOMON, Y., LAWSON, D. and CROFT, T., 2011. Dealing with ‘fragile identities’: resistance and refiguring in women mathematics students. Gender and Education, 23 (5), pp. 565-583.

Publisher

Routledge (© Taylor and Francis)

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Publication date

2011

Notes

This item was published in the jounal, Gender and Education [© Taylor and Francis]. The definitive version is available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09540253.2010.512270

ISSN

1360-0516;0954-0253

Language

  • en

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