04/06/2026
By Elizabeth Aliu

The College of Fine Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, Global Studies Program invites you to attend a doctoral dissertation proposal defense by Elizabeth. O. Aliu on “Weaving Interdependence: Relational Independence and Nigerian Women’s Leadership in the Finance Sector."

Candidate Name: Elizabeth O. Aliu
Defense Date: Thursday, April 16, 2026
Time: 10:30 a.m.-Noon
Location: Dugan Hall, Room 105, South Campus

Committee:

  • Chair: Abdelkader Deina, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Political Science Department; Director of Peace & Conflict studies, University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • Elizabeth R. Williams, Ph.D., Associate Professor, History Department, University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of African and African American Studies, Brandeis University

Abstract

This dissertation examines how independence is conceptualized, enacted, and represented in the leadership practices of Nigerian women executives in the finance sector. While women’s visibility in senior roles has increased significantly, dominant leadership frameworks largely shaped by Euro-American organizational theory continue to define independence through autonomy, individualism, and self-sufficiency. This study argues that such autonomy-centered models are conceptually misaligned with the relational, negotiated, and institutionally embedded forms of agency evident in Nigerian finance leadership.

This dissertation introduces Weaving Interdependence as a conceptual framework that reconceptualizes independence as a relational and negotiated practice, rooted in African feminist epistemologies, and drawing on key African feminist theoretical frameworks including nego-feminism, embedded subjectivity, and relational personhood. Rather than positioning independence as separation from social ties, the framework conceptualizes it as the capacity to act within and through networks of obligation, institutional constraint, and social embeddedness.

The study employs a three-part research design. First, it develops a conceptual critique of autonomy-centered leadership models and constructs a relational framework rooted in African feminist epistemologies. Second, it conducts a narrative inquiry using Dynamic Narrative Inquiry (DNI) to analyze publicly available first-person accounts of Nigerian women executives, examining how leadership and independence are articulated through relational practices such as mentorship, institutional negotiation, and collective responsibility. Third, it applies discourse analysis to institutional and media representations of these leaders, identifying how public narratives reproduce, simplify, or obscure relational dimensions of leadership.

Hence, the dissertation contributes to feminist leadership scholarship by redefining independence as a socially embedded and negotiated capacity by integrating conceptual, empirical, and representational analyses. It further advances Global South and decolonial approaches to leadership theory by positioning Nigerian women’s leadership narratives as sites of theoretical innovation. Ultimately, the study challenges autonomy-centered paradigms and offers a more contextually grounded understanding of leadership in complex institutional environments.