Abstract
This study explored how socio-cultural and contextual factors influence construction of
identity of self-as-principal. Bakhtin's theories of intertextuality, self and other, and
utterance and the theories of Mead, Dewey, Bruner, and Cherryholmes regarding the social
construction of the self provided a context for examining self-as-principal as described
through retrospective narratives. Discourse analysis was used to examine transcripts of 83
oral history interviews with retired Virginia principals whose careers spanned the 1920;s to
the 1990's.(see footnote) Focus was on construction of the identity of self-as-principal through
examination of structural metaphors (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980), descriptions of others,
storying of self as protagonist, storying of conflict situations and how stated opinions and
philosophy are reinforced/contradicted by examples provided within the texts (Potter &
Wetherill, 1987). Certain socio-cultural factors such as race, gender, and religion, and
certain contextual factors, such as level of school (i.e., elementary, middle school, high
school), era, school size, open space schools, career track, special education, school district
emerged as determiners of cohorts sharing discourse features about self-as-principal. The
most profound discourse contrasts about self-as-principal resulted when the cohorts
analyzed took into account both race and gender. Very different structural metaphors for
each cohort by level and race/gender regarding self-as-principal emerged during the
analysis. Age, years of tenure as principal, educational background, rural vs. urban locations,
and areas of the state did not seem to generate defined discourse cohorts. The findings of
this narrative/discourse analysis provide insight into how self-as-principal is constructed,
understood and primarily influenced and confirm that this is a rich approach to better
understanding how socio-cultural and contextual factors influence role definition for
educators.
Footnote: These interviews were collected as part of the Oral History of the Principalship project, directed by Dr. Patrick Carlton,
here at Virginia Tech.
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