Thinking with the Posts: Towards a New Understanding of Identity Formation and Agency of Aspiring Latina Leaders

Drawing on Butler’s (1990, 1997) concept of performativity and the new materialist work of Barad (2007), Coole and Frost (2010), Pickering (1993), and others as a theoretical framework, this dissertation presents three articles that demonstrate the new ways to envisage the agency of human, nonhuman, and material bodies in the educational environment by examining the discursive, performative, and material practices of six Latina aspiring educational leaders. Guided by Gee’s (2014) critical discourse analysis methodology, the first article examines how my participants were constrained from moving toward their career goals and how they subverted constraints as they moved towards their goals. The second article aims to show how these women use performative, material, and discursive agency to position themselves as viable leaders in their school districts. The third article provides an argument for using posthumanist and new materialist concepts as a new way of understanding women’s leadership ontology by drawing on two examples from my broader study with aspiring Latina educational leaders.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Graduate College

Grantor dc:publisher

The University of Arizona.

Year dc:date.issued

2016

Author dc:creator

• Matyjasik, Erin Laurel

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Ylimaki, Rose M.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Koyama, Jill
• Casper, Monica J.
• Ylimaki, Rose M.

• educational leadership
• Latina
• new materialism
• performativity
• posthumanism
• agency

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10150/613101

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.arizona.edu:10150/613101