MIAMI UNIVERSITY The Graduate School Certificate for Approving the Dissertation We hereby approve the Dissertation of Roselyn Chigonda Banda Candidate for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy ______________________________________ Director Dr. Lisa Weems ______________________________________ Reader Dr. Denise Taliaferro Baszile ______________________________________ Reader Dr. Peter Magolda ______________________________________ Graduate School Representative Dr. Gwendolyn Etter-Lewis ABSTRACT EVERY WOMAN HAS A STORY: NARRATIVES OF SOUTHERN AFRICAN WOMEN IN U.S. HIGHER EDUCATION by Roselyn Chigonda Banda My paper presents the tensions between the concepts of global feminism and transnational feminism and outlines the difficulties and contradictions of inclusions that continue to be characterized by power and hierarchical relationships that present (neo)-colonial tendencies. Attentively listening to the stories told by six women who are or have been through U.S. institutions of higher education, I sought to establish the availability of what I termed “global spaces” where difference is not only tolerated but accepted. The research questions that guide this study are what stories do Southern African women tell about their experiences in U.S. higher education in this era of globalization? What space is available for a healthy conversation that does not perpetuate the “them” “us” dyad that has complicated the formation of a global sisterhood? My theoretical foundations of transnational feminism and postcolonial theory challenge ethnocentrism, and implore curriculum to go beyond Tomlinson’s (1991) “zone of intelligibility” to learn, understand and accept our differences. My findings revealed that items of our “experience” are not in and of themselves unique phenomena in experience, but instead they are in relation to some other structures of meaning, in particular, location, space, and time. I also found out that identities can be ascribed due to stigma and stereotype, making it very difficult for some groups to claim a “global space”. Even though migration of women from Southern Africa, the so-called Global South, may cause a traumatic upheaval of dispossession of status, I argue for the possibility of locating oneself in a global context without erasing the cultural specificity of oneself. This study is particularly significant because these women speak of historicizing and denaturalizing the ideas, beliefs, and values of globalization such that the underlying exploitative social relations and structures are made visible. EVERY WOMAN HAS A STORY: NARRATIVES OF SOUTHERN AFRICAN WOMEN IN U.S. HIGHER EDUCATION. A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Miami University in partial Fulfilment of the requirements of For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Educational Leadership by Roselyn K. Banda Miami University Oxford, Ohio 2014 Dissertation Director: Dr. Lisa Weems © Roselyn K. Banda 2014 Table of Contents Dedication .................................................................................................................................... v Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................ vi Chapter One ................................................................................................................................ 1 Prologue: My Personal Journey ..................................................................................................... 1 Introduction and Background ....................................................................................................... 4 Statement of the Problem and Research Questions ............................................................... 9 So What? Significance of the Study ............................................................................................ 10 Definition of Terms ......................................................................................................................... 11 Chapter Summary ............................................................................................................................ 17 Overview of Chapters ..................................................................................................................... 17 Chapter Two: Literature Review ....................................................................................... 18 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 18 Sisterhood as Global ....................................................................................................................... 18 Intersectionality .............................................................................................................................. 25 Globalization and the Power to “Other” .................................................................................. 26 Struggle for Definitions ................................................................................................................. 30 Identity Formation .......................................................................................................................... 33 Theoretical Frameworks .............................................................................................................. 36 Chapter Summary ............................................................................................................................ 37 Methodology ...................................................................................................................................... 38 Paradigm influences and methodology. ............................................................................................. 38 Feminist methodologies. .......................................................................................................................... 39 Narrative inquiry. ........................................................................................................................................ 41 Methods ............................................................................................................................................... 44 sampling. ......................................................................................................................................................... 44 study participants. ...................................................................................................................................... 45 data collection............................................................................................................................................... 48 data analysis. ................................................................................................................................................. 50 Reflexivity, Ethics and Trustworthiness ................................................................................. 51 Limitations ......................................................................................................................................... 52 iii Chapter Summary ............................................................................................................................ 53 Chapter Four: Participant Narratives ............................................................................. 54 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 54 Participant Stories .......................................................................................................................... 55 Zorro’s tune. .................................................................................................................................................. 55 Christine’s tune. ........................................................................................................................................... 64 Kondwane’s tune. ........................................................................................................................................ 67 Odala’s tune. .................................................................................................................................................. 72 Identified Themes ........................................................................................................................... 82 Identity. ........................................................................................................................................................... 82 power. .............................................................................................................................................................. 84 knowledge. ..................................................................................................................................................... 84 difference. ....................................................................................................................................................... 85 agency and resistance. .............................................................................................................................. 86 Emerging Themes ............................................................................................................................ 88 self-identity.