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.