Written in Her Own Voice: Ethno-educational Autobiographies of Women in Education(44 Black Studies and Critical Thinking)

The contributors to Written in Her Own Voice illuminate how gender and gender roles affect women’s advancement, educational success, and life aspirations. Chapters provide thick, rich descriptions of the authors’ lives, using heuristic and phenomenological inquiry as guiding theoretical frameworks. These women write about how power relations within society continue to promote exclusion and marginalization along race, gender, class, and religious lines around the globe. They examine the influences of families, communities, and societies in their educational and professional lives. This unique project has produced fascinating stories from real-life anecdotes, examining the role of families in developing one’s sense of self vis-à-vis others and the role of culture and community in the development of personhood. Diasporic experiences give voice to adaptations and changes that occur when two cultures (i.e., Western and native cultures) collide. The authors courageously narrate how they find their voices amidst the noises that threaten to drown them out.

Table of Contents:
Contents: Dolapo Adeniji-Neill: Written in My Own Voice: Ethno-Educational Autobiography of Adedolapo, a Yoruba Woman – Dolapo Adeniji-Neill: Not Without Struggle: Creating a Habitable Place in White Spaces – Marsha J. Tyson Darling: Shaken Identity: A Burundian Woman’s New Take on Gender, Race, and Brilliancy in U.S. Academia – Immaculée Harushimana: Journey Into Academia: Reflecting on the Cultural Experiences of a Black British Scholar – Titi I. Kunkel: An Auto-Ethnography of a Black Woman From a Disadvantaged Home Environment: A Wellness Perspective – Meahabo Dinah Magano: An Auto-Ethnographic Life Story of a Black Academic Woman: A Story of Triumph in the Face of Adversity – Gladys Kedibone Mokwena: The Quest for a Better Life – Anne M. Mungai: Silent No More: African-Born Women Faculty Expose Their Triple Marginalization in U.S. Schools of Education – Zandile P. Nkabinde and Immaculée Harushimana: In Their Own Words: Exploring the Leadership Experiences and Challenges Faced by African American Women Scholars in Higher Education – Comfort O. Okpala and Evelyn Leathers: Carrying the Burden of What Africa Means: Journey of an African Woman in the Academy – Shirley Mthethwa-Sommers: Metaphors, Mementos, and Myths of Motherwork: A Visual Essay on Motherhood in Art and Education – Courtney Lee Weida.

About the Author :
Dolapo Adeniji-Neill is Associate Professor of Education at the Ruth S. Ammon School of Education at Adelphi University. She is a social anthropologist, ethnographer, and social sciences educator, and an educational researcher, writer, and poet. Her research interests and work include sociological and cultural implications influencing individual and group educational opportunities in the U.S. and internationally; class and gender influences in K-12 and higher education settings; immigrant education; African philosophy, and multiculturalism. Anne Mungai is Professor of Education, Chair of the Curriculum and Instruction Department, and Director of the Graduate Special Education Program at the Ruth S. Ammon School of Education at Adelphi University. Her research agenda over the last several years has revolved around multicultural, special education inclusion, staff development, gender, and learning issues. She is the author of Growing up in Kenya: Rural Schooling and Girls (Peter Lang, 2002) and a co-editor of Pathway to Inclusion: Voices from the Field (2005) and In the Spirit of Ubuntu: Stories of Teaching and Research (2009). She is the vice-president of the Caroline W. Mungai Foundation.