Learning Empowerment, Resistance and Female Identity Development from Popular Television: Trans-women Tell Stories of Trans-formation

This paper explores how and why three British trans-women, who were biologically male when they watched The Avengers in 1962-1964, engaged in self-directed learning while modeling part of their new female identity on the character of Dr. Cathy Gale

A Different Definition of “Boob-Tube”: What Dr. Catherine Gale, of The Avengers, Taught Women

This paper summarizes a qualitative research project exploring the impact of the first feminist television character, Cathy Gale, of the 1962-64 British television program, The Avengers. Contemporaneous British women viewers reveal how Gale’s character helped them reject traditional roles, incorporate the character’s strengths, and seek out other feminist role models

Class, Popular Culture, and the Academy: Critical Comments of Scholars from the Working-Class

Twenty-five self-identified working-class scholars were interviewed about their life histories in an effort to understand their career choice. Participants credited the incidental and informal learning they received from consuming film, television shows, popular music, comic books and novels as expanding their world view and instilling a desire to succeed academically

Vampires and Zombies as Critical Public Pedagogy: Using Horror for Critical Adult Education and HRD Instruction

This paper explores the connections among the increasing popularity of Zombie and Vampire films, and the current economic crisis, multi-national corporate abuses, over-consumption, consumerism, and environmental degradation and their effects on adult learners

Adult education, popular culture, and women's identity development: self-directed learning with The Avengers

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of popular culture, especially prime-time television, on women learner-viewers’ identity development. More specifically, this study explores one specific television show, the 1962-64 Cathy Gale episodes of The Avengers as a portal to adult learning. It further explores the ways in which television, as a form of public pedagogy, can help facilitate the formation of a critical or feminist identity among adult learner viewers. The research questions guiding this study were: 1) How and what did women learn from watching The Avengers? 2) How did women incorporate that learning into their lives and into their identities? and 3) How did women interpret and accommodate the feminist example of Cathy Gale? Data for this study was collected over a two-and-a-half year period. Data consisted of interviews with contemporaneous viewers of the Cathy Gale Avengers episodes, interviews with scriptwriters and the actor who played Cathy Gale, Honor Blackman, numerous documents from statistics obtained at the British Film Institute, fanzines, and newspaper articles of the period. Analysis revealed that in particular historical times and situations television viewing can become a form of public pedagogy, facilitating transformational learning in adult viewers that produces lasting, life-changing effects. The investigation revealed that not only did biologically-born women incorporate Cathy Gale’s feminist example into their identities and actions, but biologically born males whose core gender identity was female did also. This dissertation is written in article format. Each of the six sections has been designed as stand-alone pieces to aid accessibility and enhance readers’ engagement with the study

Uncovering Disney’s Pedagogy of Classism in Their “Reality” Programming

Disney now saturates cable television with programs like Duck Dynasty, Swamp People, Lady Hoggers, and Appalachian Outlaws. These shows are actively promoting cultural myths that reinforce the neoliberal agenda that oppressed many adults with which we work. Our responsibility, then, is to expose those messages for what they are

Class Dismissed: Exploring the Semiotic Niche of Academicians with Working Class Roots

This paper is one part of a larger study of scholars with working-class backgrounds. The purpose was to find factors in their working-class upbringing that led to their pursuit of a doctorate and life in the academy. In this section, I use symbolic conversion theory and biosemiotics to in the analysis and discussion of two major threads running through the study: the role of parochial education and an early passion for reading. Keywords: class, social justice, biosemiotics, symbolic convergence, higher education, embodied

Examining the Embodied Learning Experiences about Gender in Gay and Bisexual Male Actors

Using the theoretical frameworks of embodied learning and gender performativity, we examine the narratives of nine other-than-heterosexual adult male actors for their experiences of gender identity development through theatre performance