Postcolonialism, culture, and values in evaluating scientific collaborations with minority-serving institutions

Abstract

Postcolonial theory can be paired with a values-engaged educative evaluation approach to resist imperialism and colonialism in evaluation spaces, de-Westernize conceptualizations of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and extend the capacity of culturally responsive evaluation. Beyond the joining of the values-engaged educative approach and postcolonial theory, Collaboration Research Network theories offer another distinct but complementary avenue for exploring structural power imbalance and invisible hierarchies in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics evaluation contexts. Using these three theories, values-engaged educative, Collaboration Research Network, and postcolonial theory, this qualitative study examined the perceptions and experiences of faculty and students at three minority-serving institutions participating in a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics Center. This study aims to bridge theories traditionally used in research with evaluation frameworks to reconceptualize concepts of diversity, equity, and inclusion.