Decolonial Feminist Pedagogy and the Experiences of Low-Income Women Undergraduates in Community College
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Syracuse University SURFACE Dissertations - ALL SURFACE May 2016 Claiming Knowledge, Claiming Lives: Decolonial Feminist Pedagogy and the Experiences of Low-Income Women Undergraduates in Community College Meredith Madden Syracuse University Follow this and additional works at: https://surface.syr.edu/etd Part of the Education Commons Recommended Citation Madden, Meredith, "Claiming Knowledge, Claiming Lives: Decolonial Feminist Pedagogy and the Experiences of Low-Income Women Undergraduates in Community College" (2016). Dissertations - ALL. 443. https://surface.syr.edu/etd/443 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the SURFACE at SURFACE. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations - ALL by an authorized administrator of SURFACE. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ABSTRACT This qualitative study explores the experiences of low income women undergraduates in a community college classroom anchored in decolonial feminist pedagogy. Analyses of in-depth interviews, student writings, and questionnaires are offered to further understanding of the impact of decolonial feminist pedagogy on the experiences and learning outcomes of low-income women undergraduates in community college, and also works to shed light on how the praxis of decolonial feminist pedagogy disrupts traditional hierarchies and claims to epistemic authority in the community college classroom. Claiming Knowledge, Claiming Lives: Decolonial Feminist Pedagogy and the Experiences of Low-Income Women Undergraduates in Community College by Meredith Madden B.A. Hobart and William Smith Colleges, 1999 M.P.P. The George Washington University, 2002 M.S. Mercy College, 2007 C.A.S. Syracuse University, 2013 Dissertation Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Cultural Foundations of Education Syracuse University May 2016 Copyright © Meredith Madden 2016 All Rights Reserved ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There were many people who invested their time and energies into this dissertation. My advisor and dissertation chair, Gretchen E. Lopez, was an integral part of the process at every stage. Gretchen, I am grateful for your guidance, feedback, expertise, and support. Your work has always been an exemplary model for me as an educational researcher. I am so fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with and learn from you. Thank you, Gretchen. I wish to also thank Chandra Talpade Mohanty for her dedication to my work on this dissertation. Chandra, I am ever grateful that you were a member of my dissertation committee. You offered invaluable insights that influenced my approach to my research and writing. I thank you for your generosity as a committee member, teacher, and mentor. I also thank Dalia Rodriguez for her work as a member of my dissertation committee. Dalia, you championed this project along and in doing so kept me motivated and inspired. I appreciate your many contributions. Thank you. Thank you also to Kendall Phillips, Christine Ashby, and James Rolling, Jr. for the feedback they provided me on this dissertation. My acknowledgements would be incomplete if I did not mention my family. To my parents, Peter and Linda Madden, thank you for believing in me and encouraging me. I give my warmest thanks to my son, Ronan Milne, who as I was in the final stages of writing this dissertation told me I was his inspiration. Ronan, you are my inspiration. You inspired me to follow a dream, do work I believed in and work I could be proud of. Thank you, Ronan. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 1 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM AND PURPOSE OF THE STUDY .......................................... 1 RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE .............................................................................................. 13 CHAPTER OUTLINE AND SUMMARY ............................................................................. 14 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................................. 16 COMMUNITY COLLEGE BACKGROUND ......................................................................... 16 RESEARCH ....................................................................................................................... 17 THEORY .......................................................................................................................... 21 CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS ........................................................................ 42 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 42 RATIONALE FOR STUDY ............................................................................................... 43 METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................... 43 RESEARCH SITE AND PARTICIPANT RECRUITMENT ....................................................... 45 DESCRIPTION OF SAMPLE ............................................................................................ 50 METHODS FOR DATA COLLECTION .............................................................................. 52 DATA ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................. 55 RISKS AND ETHICS ..................................................................................................... 57 LIMITATIONS ................................................................................................................... 62 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................... 65 CHAPTER 4 DISSIDENT STUDENT BORDER CROSSINGS IN THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE CLASSROOM: CRITICAL CONSCIOUSNESS, EMPOWERMENT, ACTION, AND SOLIDARITY ...................................................................................................................66 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 66 STUDENT EXPERIENCES .................................................................................................. 67 CHALLENGES ................................................................................................................... 80 STUDENT OUTCOMES ..................................................................................................... .85 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................... 92 CHAPTER 5 LIVES WORTH KNOWING: PEDAGOGY, STANDPOINT, EPISTEME, AND THE VALUE OF WOMEN’S TRUTHS ............................................................................. 100 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 97 CRITICAL MOMENTS: AWARENESS, IDENTITY, AND PUBLIC SPACE ............................. 99 CRITICAL MOMENTS: DECOLONIAL FEMINIST PEDAGOGY AND STANDPOINT DEVELOPMENT .............................................................................................................. 123 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................. 136 CHAPTER 6 DISENGAGEMENT AT “DEMOCRACY’S COLLEGE”: COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS’ EXPERIENCES ....................................................................................... 139 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 139 COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS’ CLASSROOM EXPERIENCES ................................. 141 SOCIOLOGY OF GENDER STUDENTS’ CLASSROOM EXPERIENCES ................................ 150 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................. 161 CHAPTER 7 CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................. 169 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 169 SYNTHESIS OF EMPIRICAL FINDINGS ....................................................................................................................... 170 RESEARCHER ASSUMPTIONS ......................................................................................... 174 RESEARCH IMPLICATIONS ............................................................................................. 175 RECOMMENDATIONS ...................................................................................................... .177 PARTING CONSIDERATION: ON KNOWLEDGE ............................................................... .178 REFERENCES .............................................................................................................. 181 APPENDICES ..................................................................................................................191 APPENDIX 1 ............................................................................................................... 191 APPENDIX 2 ................................................................................................................. 193 APPENDIX 3… ............................................................................................................