Ph.D., Antioch University, 2019, Leadership and Change

This dissertation investigates the potential of linking intersectionality and leadership theories utilizing a theoretical bricolage research strategy. In order to explore a theoretical merger between these two disparate disciples warrants a preliminary understanding of how the production of knowledge has constructed a long-standing epistemic bias against marginalized perspectives. This analysis will seek to illustrate how androcentrism pervades the corpus of intellectual thought and the resulting impact which extends beyond the traditional canon of epistemology to the field of leadership. Intrinsic to this analysis will be an exploration of social identity and how it interacts with larger social environmental factors such as power, privilege, and the nominal integration of intersectionality within leadership studies. This level of analysis will be used to construct a conceptual framework connecting the constructs of complexity, interdisciplinarity, epistemology, and oppression. Beyond exploring this theoretical merger, this examination will consider how an intersectional understanding of identity development can expand the epistemology of leadership theory. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA: Antioch University Repository and Archive, http://aura.antioch.edu/ and OhioLINK ETD Center, https://etd.ohiolink.edu/

Committee: Lize Booysen DBL (Committee Chair); Philomena Essed PhD (Committee Member); Gaile Pohlhaus PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Epistemology; Gender; Higher Education