The Rhetoric of Everyday-Entrepreneurship: Reframing Entrepreneurial Identity & Citizenship

Abstract

My dissertation forges a response that continues and expands\ndiscussions of entrepreneurialism in the 21st century. I seek to\nanswer Welter and colleagues’ call to embrace the entrepreneurial diversity\noffered by the folks that are embedded in local communities. I argue for a\nreframing of entrepreneurship that acknowledges the work of\neveryday-entrepreneurs — people that operate in mundane contexts, beyond\ncapitalist agendas, guided by socially aware objectives seeking to promote\nequity for the greater good. This undertaking is stretched across a three part\nstudy informed by feminist perspectives. Tracing the narratives belonging to\nwomen of historically marginalized identities reveals not only the exclusionary\naspects of mainstream entrepreneurship, but also the innovative practices these\nwomen embody as they balance the social variables of identity politics within\nand across their communities. The participants of this study demonstrate\nentrepreneurial citizenship, a term I propose as the many ways\neveryday-entrepreneurs contribute to world-building and history-making for each\nof the different communities they belong to. Chapter one establishes the\nexigence for this work and provides commentary on the cultural framework from\nwhich entrepreneurship emerged. Chapter two offers a survey of the surrounding\nliterature, and addresses how a bridging of interdisciplinary gaps helps\nscholars better understand everyday-entrepreneurship. Chapter three presents a\ncase for taking an interdisciplinary approach towards diversifying\nentrepreneurial scholarship. Chapter four outlines the study design, methods,\nand methodology. In Chapter five, I present empirical observations that\nquantify the qualitative data collected for the study. And, finally, chapter\nsix presents participant profiles in conjunction with case study vignettes that\nhighlight snapshots of everyday-entrepreneurship in practice. Ultimately, this\nproject seeks to show that there is much to be learned from the lived realities\nof everyday-entrepreneurs; widening discourse on entrepreneurship to include\nthese individuals: (1) dismantles grand narratives of entrepreneurship that are\nintrinsically oppressive, especially for those with intersectional identities,\n(2) exposes interlocking forms of oppression operating within the obscure,\nshadowed margins of familiar spaces that render individuals invisible, (3)\ncontributes to new models of entrepreneurial identity, and (4) diversifies\nentrepreneurial scholarship. \n\n\n\n\n\n@font-face\n {font-family: Cambria Math ;\n panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;\n mso-font-charset:0;\n mso-generic-font-family:roman;\n mso-font-pitch:variable;\n mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}@font-face\n {font-family: Times New Roman \\(Body CS\\) ;\n panose-1:2 2 6 3 5 4 5 2 3 4;\n mso-font-alt: Times New Roman ;\n mso-font-charset:0;\n mso-generic-font-family:roman;\n mso-font-pitch:auto;\n mso-font-signature:0 0 0 0 0 0;}@font-face\n {font-family: Malgun Gothic ;\n panose-1:2 11 5 3 2 0 0 2 0 4;\n mso-font-charset:129;\n mso-generic-font-family:swiss;\n mso-font-pitch:variable;\n mso-font-signature:-1879048145 701988091 18 0 524289 0;}@font-face\n {font-family: \\@Malgun Gothic ;\n mso-font-charset:129;\n mso-generic-font-family:swiss;\n mso-font-pitch:variable;\n mso-font-signature:-1879048145 701988091 18 0 524289 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal\n {mso-style-unhide:no;\n mso-style-qformat:yes;\n mso-style-parent: ;\n margin:0in;\n line-height:150%;\n mso-pagination:widow-orphan;\n font-size:12.0pt;\n font-family: Times New Roman ,serif;\n mso-fareast-font-family: Malgun Gothic ;\n mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;\n mso-bidi-font-family: Times New Roman \\(Body CS\\) ;\n color:black;\n mso-themecolor:text1;\n mso-fareast-language:KO;}.MsoChpDefault\n {mso-style-type:export-only;\n mso-default-props:yes;\n mso-fareast-font-family: Malgun Gothic ;\n mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;\n mso-bidi-font-family: Times New Roman \\(Body CS\\) ;\n color:black;\n mso-themecolor:text1;\n mso-fareast-language:KO;}.MsoPapDefault\n {mso-style-type:export-only;\n line-height:150%;}div.WordSection1\n {page:WordSection1;}