ABSTRACT
Consistent with a Foucaultian feminist perspective that emphasises the importance of locality and contextuality in women’s accounts (McLaren 2002, 31), this chapter contains a brief contextual narrative about each woman based on information provided during the interviews, especially in relation to her educational history. These histories were commonly the focus of conversation at the outset of interviews. It was through the introductory accounts of women’s educational histories that I began to refl ect on the operations of agency, especially in relation to descriptions they gave of thinking through, navigating or contesting various challenging circumstances in pursuit of educational opportunities.
