IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2020 - 26

white people. Color-blind racism
theory can help educators iden-
tify the places where they produce
engineering as depolicitized, to the
advantage of white students over
others whose concerns, framed as
political, no longer merit attention by
engineers or engineering, and then
make different choices that are inclu-
sive of the concerns of minoritized
engineers. Colorblind racism theory
can provide an opportunity for engi-
neers to recognize individuals' own
political agency and recognize them
as problem definers taking agentic
roles in engineering activities.

Potential to Expand
Understanding
We embarked on this illustrative
exploration of Bonilla-Silva's color-
blind racism theory because we think
the theory has the potential to expand
our imagination of how race plays out
in U.S. engineering education in high-
er education, and more international-
ly. We laid out an illustrated argument
in order to advance some of the think-
ing that would be necessary to then
use the colorblind racism theory in
engineering education research and
practice. While there are many ways
to continue with this work through
research, we hope that this paper
serves to initiate conversations and
continue work that connects practice,
policy, and research.

Acknowledgment
This material is partially based
upon work suppor ted by the Na-
tional Science Foundation under
Grant No. 1055900 and 1644976.
Authors appreciate the thoughtful
and substantial feedback offered
by the anonymous reviewers. Some
of this material is based on a prior
publication [30].

Author Information
Joel Alejandro Mejia is with the De-
partment of Integrated Engineer-

26

ing, University of San Diego, San
Diego, CA.
Renata A. Revelo is with the Elec-
trical and Computer Engineering
Department, University of Illinois at
Chicago, Chicago, IL.
Alice L. Pawley is with the School
of Engineering Education, Purdue
University, West Lafayette, IN.

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