Identity and ideology in the lives of nomad teachers in Taiwan

This dissertation analyzes the impact of neoliberal oriented teacher education reform in Taiwan by examining identity and ideology in the lives of nomad teachers who are certified teachers but can not find full time teaching jobs. It considers the making of nomad teachers as a process that is constituted out of multiple dynamic interrelationships among social structures, cultural structures and social agencies. The dissertation takes reproduction and resistance theories as analytic lenses to demonstrate how neoliberal ideology (which simplifies lives as processes of choice-making on the basis of self-interest) helps to strengthen existing social relations and how nomad teachers respond to different moments of choice-making and being chosen in their lives in the pro-choice social context.;Through the examination on the logic of five nomad teachers' choice-making processes in their lives, the dissertation finds that the processes of how the five nomad teachers made choices (among schools, careers, and future job markets) and how they interpreted why they were excluded (by educational and exam systems) illustrate their belief in the idea that competence is the key factor that determines their roles as "losers". This dissertation also argues the necessity of recognizing the heterogeneity of the nomad teacher group. Although all five research participants are categorized as nomad teachers, this dissertation indicates that their gender and class differences contribute to qualitatively different life conditions under neoliberalism. Such differences are also reflected in how they respond to their identity as nomad teachers. Their different self perceptions further influence their conceptions of what is the most appropriate choice and what is an acceptable condition for them. While the three working-class female nomad teachers are struggling for their autonomy in job markets, the capital possessed by the middle-class male nomad teachers has exempted them to a large extent from the new job market mechanism and allowed them to remain on the professional track expected within their respective families. However, this dissertation also argues that the way the five nomad teachers redefine their lives and re-create their identities also challenges the original social structures that tend to maintain the social relations that disadvantage the subordinate.