Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Date of Degree

2-2026

Document Type

Doctoral Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Program

English

Advisor

Jessica Yood

Committee Members

Amy Wan

Talia Schaffer

Subject Categories

Adult and Continuing Education | Language and Literacy Education | Other English Language and Literature | Rhetoric and Composition | Women's Studies

Keywords

Student-Parents, Rhetorical Studies, Discourse Analysis, Higher Education, Critical University Studies, Childcare

Abstract

This dissertation is an interdisciplinary project that uses interview data collected from six student-parents attending Bronx Community College during 2024 to 2025. Using rhetorical and critical discourse analysis, this dissertation argues student-parents enact their rhetorical agency to transform their college experience. Specifically, student-parents use their rhetorical agency to interpret time and place in a way that centers their own wellbeing as well as the wellbeing of their children. This dissertation focuses on interpretations and ordinary practices that reimagine what time and place can look and feel like on a college campus. Additionally, student-parents enact their rhetorical agency through ordinary practices to align their college experience with their own articulations of what it means to be a student and parent. Through their interpretations and ordinary practices, The Rhetorical Agency of Student-Parents: Assembling, Archiving and Naming Practices and Interpretations that Transforms Worlds argues student-parents expand our history of rhetorical traditions. This dissertation ultimately illustrates student-parents are an integral rhetorical population to study for a richer, more nuanced perspective of higher education.

Download

This work is embargoed and will be available for download on Saturday, August 01, 2026

Share

COinS