In this study, I inquire into Teacher Ambassador Programs through the utilization of theoretical concepts such as aspirational labor (Duffy, 2017), capital (Bourdieu, 1984; 1986), and cruel optimism (Berlant, 2011). I describe how women are produced to aspire for neoliberal capitalist subject positions, such as the "good enough woman…

Neoliberalism is a pro-capitalist ideology that cycles money and power to the elite class by deregulating or privatizing the public sphere and is fueled by economic exploitation and oppression. This dissertation examines the neoliberal construct at work in the privatization of Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) from an ethnographic lens using the…

The scholarship on school privatization and market-oriented reforms has demonstrated the negative effects on segregation and inequity triggered by this model, not only in Chile but globally. Less is known about how to transition toward a democratic-oriented education approach after decades of embedding the values rooted in a competition-based…

The aim of this dissertation is to explore issues of privatization in teacher education. While other research has sought to address specific aspects of privatization affecting teacher education in the United States, the aim of this dissertation study is to conceptualize the influence and impact of neoliberalism on contemporary trends in teacher…