Aʻohe pau ka ʻike i ka hālau hoʻokāhi: all knowledge is not taught in the same school: a multiple-case study on the navigation of personal, cultural, and professional identities of Native Hawaiian members of Hawaiʻi's science, technology, engineering, and math community

Abstract

This project was a multiple-case study of the life stories of ten individuals of Native Hawaiian ancestry who have made beautiful lives for themselves in science, technology, engineering, and math. Each participant's oral narrative was related over three one-hour periods in which they were interviewed in a semi-structured format. The focus of the first interview was life context and life history. Each second interview built on the biographical background from the previous interview and focused primarily on cultural and scientific areas of expertise. The third interview directed the participants to reflect on themes/meanings both individually and collectively. The themes gleaned from their experiences give a deeper understanding of the experiences being Native Hawaiian members of the STEM community and the challenges and opportunities that come from merging, separating, and navigating the sometimes treacherous waters of personal and professional identities. Their respective stories represent their inspirations, influences, challenges, and experiences. Initial coding of each narrative revealed four major themes: identity salience, personal/cultural connections to science, a Hawaiian doing things vs. doing Hawaiian things, and being a first generation Native Hawaiian scientist.