Date of Award

2016-01-01

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Communication

Advisor(s)

Stacey K. Sowards

Abstract

In today’s world, being a stay-at-home mom still carries a stigma whether one chooses to stay at home or one is forced to by unforeseeable circumstances. My master’s thesis is a personal narrative, written through the scope of an autoethnography. It envelopes the vulnerability surrounding the internal conflict, and external interference and influence of cultural, societal, and familial norms. The purpose of this autoethnography is to share my own experience with identity crisis, loss of career, and embracing the identity of being the mother of a special-needs child, and to share my personal struggle with the pressure in having to choose between career and motherhood as well as arrive at cultural analysis and interpretation regarding the research question: What is the phenomenology of the Latina woman and career? The objectivity and subjectivity position within this autoethnography will be coupled and supported by a feminist theoretical framework. Rom Harré’s and Fathali Moghaddam’s explanation of positioning theory in The Self and Others Positioning Individuals and Groups in Personal, Political, and Cultural Contexts will also be used as a theoretical framework to better understand the psychology behind the phenomenology. The objective behind this autoethnography is to open the door to much needed discourse, and to establish literature on the intersectional identities of women, especially those who are mothers of special-needs children, and women from all walks of life who have found themselves in the vacuum of loss of career, loss of identity, and who face the challenges that come with being a woman, wife, and mother. Feminist epistemology about womanhood, motherhood, and career are examined, and the research method of phenomenology will serve as the vessel by which knowledge will be constructed, and made sense of, in an effort to make connections to our culture, to our society, and to each other.

Language

en

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Size

122 pages

File Format

application/pdf

Rights Holder

Olga Alexander

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Included in

Communication Commons

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