“It hurts to do work like that”: The nature and frequency of culturally based ethical barriers for Indigenous people in STEMM

Abstract

AbstractThis article presents data from a survey of over 400 Indigenous students and professionals in STEMM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics, medicine) fields to answer the questions: What are the perceived ethical/cultural/spiritual conflicts Indigenous students and professionals in STEMM face? Is there an association between the cultural characteristics of Indigenous students and professionals and the ethical, cultural, and spiritual conflicts they face? Our findings indicate that many standard practices in STEMM fields do indeed conflict with taboos in various Indigenous communities and that these conflicts are more prevalent for people with higher cultural characteristics scores and for those in specific STEMM disciplines. Our research provides an empirical complement to the rich and growing body of literature on Indigenous science, epistemologies, and traditional ecological knowledge.