This thesis considers the potential of using women's traditional folk songs as a primary resource in the context of women's educational programs in India. Listening to the voices of protest in women's ancient songs will not only keep women in touch with the long history of their struggle, but will also return worth and importance to the devalued oral narratives that have been the repositories of women's knowledge and experience for centuries. Education programs that grow out of the rich and varied material of folk songs will, by definition, deal with the issues that are repeatedly raised, like embroidered patterns, in the songs themselves. Family, love, child-rearing and the myriad problems of fulfilling personal desire within the confinements of patriarchy will all, under scrutiny, yield crucial subject matter for education programs. At the same time, spinning new folksongs out of old ones will challenge women to think critically, and with the creativity essential to reworking our cultures so that both women and men are able to realize themselves more wholly.

In this thesis I ask: "What are Nova Scotia women's narratives concerning authority in their education? Does 'shyness' come into play in these educational narratives? What are the ways in which these women accepted and/or resisted authority?" This research grows from my position as an academic initiate, and my experiences of "growing up girl" in Nova Scotia. Using a qualitative feminist methodology, I interviewed three women who moved through the Nova Scotia educational system. Here I situate their stories in relation to scholarly work on authority and the context of class, race, and gender in Nova Scotia, and explore the strategies the women undertook to enact agency in their educational lives. These narratives provide rich perspectives on power, agency, and authority as they are lived in local contexts, and point to a need for more educational stories to be told by women of all backgrounds in Nova Scotia and beyond.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Teachers College, Columbia University, 1986. / Typescript; issued also on microfilm. Sponsor: Elizabeth Swain Kasl. Dissertation Committee: Victoria J. Marsick. Bibliography: leaves 138-147.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Catholic University of America, 1943. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 161-174).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--George Peabody College for Teachers, 1930. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 223-229).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Catholic University of America, 1943. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 161-174).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--George Peabody College for Teachers, 1930. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 223-229).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1965. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 145-150).

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