#likeagirl: Out-of-School Lessons From Pedagogical Thirdspace Roller Derby Learning Communities

• In Event: 41.084 - Roundtable Session 16
  In Roundtable Session: 41.084-7 - Narratives of Professional Identity Building

Abstract

This micro-analysis of the experiences of female, flat-track roller derby skaters who are also teachers or students examined epistemic, identity, and experiential shifts perceived between in-school and out-of-school spaces. Using Soja's (1996) concept of Thirdspace, this exploratory case study investigated how students and teachers who skate flat-track roller derby experience an all-female pedagogical Thirdspace and how this experience shaped their identity and their experience in other traditional teaching and learning spaces. Implications for practice are drawn from the study's main themes: fluidity/continuity, voice, resilience, atypical measures, “bridging,” presence, recognition/visibility, validation/acceptance. The case study is framed in crystallization (Ellingson, 2009) and presented in a layered text.

Author

• Mary Catherine Nino Breen, Stephen F. Austin State University