This work employs the mechanism of differential consciousness to create a bricolage of content and structure. It examines the intersections of feminism (as it has been brought into the academy through women’s studies), theatre, and early childhood education, particularly as they work together to create a personal and professional identity that defines, and is defined by, a unique pedagogy of transdisciplinarity. Specifically, it is designed to address six primary points:
1. It provides an exemplar of how to employ differential consciousness as a mechanism for constructing a bricolage of narrative, research, and theory.
2. It demonstrates the application of feminist theory through specific disciplines into a transdisciplinary discourse.
3. It advocates for and furthers a transdisciplinary conversation in relation to the social, cultural, political, and academic intersections of early childhood education, women’s studies, and theatre.
4. It adds to the body of historical knowledge of women in the academy through the stories of Patty Smith Hill and Winifred Ward.
5. It offers, by blending the stories of Hill and Ward with my own, a cogent example of the ways in which biography can be contextualized to provide inspiration for non-traditional career paths.
6. It challenges early childhood educators and caregivers to embrace feminism, it challenges feminists to more thoroughly ally with early childhood education, and it challenges both to expand their thinking about the function of gender roles in educational settings, and demonstrates the application of performance theory to this process.